Snyder Industries 5400 Gallon Black Vertical Storage Tank

A full tanker, low and dark

Black polyethylene absorbs the ultraviolet that ages a white wall and passes no light to the liquid, so a black tank outdoors in full sun holds water clear of algae for years and slows the light-driven breakdown of a chemical that suffers from it; it runs warmer in the sun than a white tank, which matters for anything that must stay cool, and it shows no level line, so the sender does that work. The 1.5 wall on top of that is the middle grade: a water wall is for water, the heaviest wall is for concentrated acid, and 1.5 covers the liquids most farms and small plants actually store. Full at the rating it puts 67,554 pounds on a 142 inch circle, and a low tank on a wide base needs the least strapping in its class; a slab in full contact per the concrete pad sizing guide, or a compacted, screeded gravel pad for water, and a berm sized to the tank when the liquid is a regulated chemical. The tank sizing calculator tells you whether 5,400 gallons covers the draw between deliveries, and the tank sizing guide covers the reserve to leave in the bottom.

The 142 inch low tank in its grades, and the tall 5,500 beside it

The C37, C26 and C34 are the white general grades in this same low shell at this tank's weight, for water and liquids that do not need a dark wall. The 1009200C37-BLACK is the black 5,300 turned upright to 164 inches for a site with height and no floor, and the 7000000N40 stands 5,500 gallons on a 120 inch base at 132 inches in the heavier chemical wall.

Other makers in the running? 866-418-1777 will compare them honestly; Norwesco, Snyder, Chem-Tainer, Enduraplas and Bushman are all here, or price freight on this one.

The 3 inch outlet and what it feeds

• Outlet: 3 inch polypropylene female NPT bulkhead fitting, at the base; a flanged transition and a valve supported off the pad, with a flexible connector between the bulkhead and hard pipe.
• Access: 18 inch threaded, vented manway, 91 inches up, reached from a step; fill by hose, tote pump or truck through a dip tube, and size the vent for the delivery pump.
• Service limit: 120 F / 48 C.

A 3 inch outlet is the fire-reserve and gravity-feed size: it fills a pumper's suction or a sprayer's tank at a rate a 2 inch fitting cannot, and on a chemical it drains a full tank in a working shift. Nearly eight feet of liquid above it is a flooded suction to the last few inches. A black wall shows no level, so a sender read at ground level is not optional on a tank this size, and a float switch at low level protects the pump. Mount the pump below the outlet so it primes by gravity, keep the manway closed against vapor loss, and label the tank so the fire inspector and the workplace inspector read the same thing. Where it freezes, insulate or drain the outlet valve and the first pipe run; the body takes ice from the top down without harm.

What a low black 5,400 is bought for

Liquid fertilizer and coagulant at a farm or a small plant where the liquid is light-sensitive, water storage in full sun where algae is the enemy, a rain cistern under a large roof, and a fire reserve of the kind the fire-water reservoir design guide describes, where the 3 inch outlet and the low manway both earn their place. Several are the storage stage of a reuse system for roof water and condensate, per the industrial water reuse tank topology article. If the liquid is a chemical that warrants a second wall, the Captor double wall freeboard guide explains what a contained tank gives up in usable volume and why.

From Chowchilla to the pad

The 7000400C37-BLACK ships from Chowchilla, California as freight at class 400 as the sheet lists it; at 142 inches across it is a load the carrier handles outside the trailer, and the freight cost estimator prices the lane to your ZIP, with the listed price before freight. A forklift with long forks sets 750 pounds on the pad; a crane strap goes under the tank, never through the manway. Fill it to the manway once, hold it, and check the outlet fitting and the pad edge before the pump goes on; on a chemical, drain and dry before the connection is made. Save the pallet; a tank this wide that ever has to move again is easier to move on it. Put the tank's part number on the maintenance log the day it lands; five years on, nobody remembers which shell it is.