Norwesco Saddle 300 Gallon

Two weights on one record, and the bigger one is what moves

The family column on 63021 is empty, so the question of why this cradle and not the next one cannot be answered by reading across a row. It has to be answered from this record's own cells, and the cells that separate it from every other piece of hardware in the catalogue are its length and its two weights. Ninety-six inches is the governing figure: this is a cradle built to carry a tank along eight feet of its base, which is a different proposition from a small bench frame and needs a different amount of floor. The two weights are the second thing to take in. The weight cell reads 100 lb and the ship weight cell reads 190 lb, and Norwesco does not explain the gap. What matters practically is that the figure the carrier will work from is the larger one, and that the figure two people will feel when they lift the frame is somewhere in that range rather than at the low end of it. Plan the handling for the bigger number. The 300 gallon figure in the name, meanwhile, is the capacity of the tank this cradle is sold against and not a volume, a weight or a rating belonging to the steel.

The cradle rows the sheet gives, and the one it does not

No comparison table appears on this page because no companion part numbers are printed against 63021. The only classification line Norwesco gives is Flat Bottom Cradles, and that phrase is carrying real information rather than filling space. A flat bottom cradle supports a tank whose base is flat, along a footprint, and it is a different object from a cradle shaped to hold a round shell on its side. The two are not alternatives to each other; they belong to different tanks. So the choice this page can honestly frame is not cradle against cradle. It is a purpose-made eight foot steel frame against whatever the alternative is on your site, which is usually timber, a pallet, a pair of skids or nothing at all. The steel wins on the thing that matters when a tank is going to sit somewhere for years: the support is continuous along a known length and it is the same every time the tank comes out and goes back.

What sits in a ninety-six inch cradle

An eight foot cradle is not a bench item. It belongs to a tank long enough to need support along its whole base rather than at two ends, which means a longer, lower vessel in a place where it is going to stay. The practical consequence is that the real work on this purchase happens before the frame arrives, not after. Confirm the length of the run you have: 96 inches of frame plus room for the plumbing at the ends plus room for somebody to stand beside it. Confirm what the frame is going onto, and whether that surface is flat and continuous for the full length, because a cradle that is only supported at its ends transmits every bit of that geometry into the tank sitting in it. Where the base is the open question, our guide to concrete pad sizing for above-ground polyethylene tanks is the piece that treats it properly, and if the storage volume itself is not yet fixed, the tank sizing calculator and the tank sizing guide answer that first. The cradle follows the tank; it never leads.

Steel, not painted steel, and the opening it leaves clear

The material cell on this record reads Steel, plainly, where the other cradles in this family read Painted Steel. We print the cell as it is written and draw no conclusion from the difference; if the finish matters to where the frame is going, it is a question to settle before the order rather than a question this sheet answers. What the record does settle is the geometry: 96 by 30 by 26 inches, at the two weights already named, filed as a flat bottom cradle, with NMFC 178690 on the freight line. What it does not carry is a fastener list, a mounting hole pattern, a description of how the frame is made up, or any figure at all for what it will hold. None of those is going to appear on this page.

The opening the cradle serves is the underside of the tank, and that is the half people think about last. A tank raised 26 inches has its bottom outlet 26 inches off the ground, which is what makes a drain line, a valve and a container underneath possible in the first place. Before the tank goes in, walk the plumbing through in your head from the outlet to wherever the liquid is going, and check that nothing in the path ends up pointing into a frame member, because correcting that afterwards means emptying and lifting a tank you have just set. The honest limitation on 63021 is how much of the arrangement it leaves to you: two weights that do not agree, a bare material word, and not a single line about how the tank is retained in the frame.

One hundred ninety pounds on the bill of lading

Six plants are printed on this record: Hanford in California, Griffin in Georgia, Sheldon in Iowa, St. Bonifacius in Minnesota, Owego in New York and Washington Court House in Ohio, and the ship-from list runs to ten states. The shipping size is printed at 96 by 30 by 26 inches, the freight class cell carries the literal string LTL, the ship mode cell also reads LTL, and the NMFC cell reads 178690; all of that is printed as the sheet has it and none of it is reconciled here. An eight foot shipment prices on its length as much as on its weight, so the lane is worth costing early. The listed price is before freight; put the ZIP into the freight cost estimator and get a number before it reaches a quote. At the dock, read the bill of lading twice: check the piece count, because a frame this long can arrive as more than one piece, and check the weight shown against the two weight cells this record prints, 100 lb and 190 lb, before you sign anything. A short shipment on an eight foot cradle is obvious on paper and invisible under shrink wrap. Once it is full and holding, leave it alone for a day before the plumbing goes on; a settled tank is a quiet one.