The Norwesco 6500 Gallon Black Heavy Duty Vertical Storage Tank is built for serious bulk water storage on farms, fire-protection reservoirs, and industrial reuse systems where you need real volume in a single footprint. It holds 6,500 gallons in a vertical polyethylene body standing 150 inches tall on a 119 x 119 inch square footprint. This is the heavy-duty 1.9 specific-gravity wall, so at this size the decisions you make underneath the tank matter as much as the tank itself.
Will it work for your site?
The 1.9 SG rating is the headline. Where the standard Norwesco 6500 carries a 1.5 SG wall, this version is rated for liquids up to 1.9 times the density of water, giving you a large safety margin on plain water (SG 1.0) and the option to store denser liquids later without re-buying the tank. Full of water it weighs about 54,210 pounds; at its maximum rated contents weight it reaches 102,999 pounds. For siting, plan a level pad slightly larger than the roughly 119-inch (just under 10 ft) square footprint, with clearance overhead for the roughly 150-inch (12.5 ft) height so you have room for fill access and overflow/vent runs. Confirm 6,500 gallons matches your draw-down and refill cycle with the Tank Sizing Calculator and Tank Sizing Guide.
Fittings and the technical drawing
Fitting sizes and locations — inlet, outlet/bulkhead, manway and lid, vent — are confirmed on the technical drawing on this page and by phone before you order. Check the outlet thread size against the drawing before you buy plumbing, because that size determines the bulkhead fitting and gasket material you will need to seal it. If anything is unclear, call us and we will walk the drawing with you.
Foundation: the mistake to avoid
The biggest error on a tank this large is under-building the foundation. The spread between empty and loaded is enormous: roughly 27 tons full of water and up to roughly 51 tons at the 1.9 SG rated maximum. Design the concrete pad to the maximum weight you will actually store, not to the empty shell — an undersized or unlevel pad lets the tank settle unevenly, stresses the wall, and shortens its life. Walk through our concrete pad sizing guide before you pour. This is a water-service tank; any chemical use should be confirmed against the resin and an OEM chemical-resistance chart before you fill it.
Common applications
At this capacity the tank is a frequent choice for rural fire-water reservoirs, where stored volume is the whole game; our fire-water reservoir design guide covers NFPA 22 sizing discipline and cold-climate freeze protection. It also serves industrial water reuse trains that aggregate grey-water, rainwater, and HVAC condensate — our water reuse topology guide shows how to band storage by quality. For harvested-rainwater setups, our first-flush diverter sizing guide helps keep stored water clean.
This Norwesco vertical storage tank ships LTL freight, quoted live to your ZIP. Because it stocks at two plants — Hanford, CA and St. Bonifacius, MN — shipping from the nearer of the two materially changes the freight on a tank this size, so run your ZIP through our Freight Cost Estimator before you commit. For an exact number, or help confirming the right tank for your site, call us at 866-418-1777.
