Questions,
answered straight

In Texas as of mid-2026: $105–$165 for a properly reconditioned B-grade 275 gallon unit delivered in quantity, $165–$260 for A grade or food grade, $189–$329 rebottled, and $310–$470 new. Yard-run condition — unwashed, untested, unknown history — starts around $40 and is only suitable for fabrication, ballast or non-product use.

One tote, collected from the yard. For delivery the economics start working at six units and get genuinely good at twenty-six, which is a full single-stacked trailer.

Both. Plenty of our Saturday morning traffic is people building rain systems and raised beds. Same grading, same honesty about prior contents, same parts counter.

Yes, always, and you should insist on it from any supplier. We photograph every lot at grading — bottle interior through the lid, valve, cage, pallet and data plate — and send the set with the quote.

They go back on our truck at our cost and we make it right. The photographs are the specification, which is exactly why we take them.

For established commercial customers, yes — net 30 after the first few orders. First orders are prepaid or card on collection.

Always. Some yards quote the container and charge for fittings separately; we think that is a way of appearing cheaper than you are. Our price is the price for a working container.

Yes. Mixed loads are normal. Tell us the split on the quote form and we will stage it that way.

48 inches long by 40 inches wide by 46 inches tall, on a standard GMA pallet footprint. Empty it weighs about 127 lb; full of water about 2,420 lb.

The same 48 by 40 inch footprint, 53 inches tall. About 136 lb empty and 2,890 lb full of water. Identical floor space, twenty percent more product.

Two high filled, three high empty, and check the stacking load on the data plate before assuming. HDPE creeps under sustained load and the rate roughly doubles for every 20 °F of temperature rise, so a stack that looks fine in the morning can be spreading by afternoon on a hot slab.

26 single-stacked or 52 double-stacked on a 53-foot van, by volume. Filled with water you hit legal weight limits around 18 to 20 units, so filled loads are always lighter than the trailer could physically hold.

Not a standard 36-inch doorway. Roll-up doors and dock openings only — and the forklift has to fit as well.

Roughly −0.4 °F to 140 °F for sustained service, with about 175 °F as a short-term ceiling during cleaning. Both limits shift depending on what is inside.

Most commonly S60×6 buttress on the outlet with a 2-inch NPT valve body. You will also meet S100×8 on large-outlet European cages and DIN 61 on older ones. Photograph yours with a tape across the face and we will identify it.

Not in a general-purpose used tote. For a permanent potable system, specify a purpose-built potable build: new bottle, NSF-listed valve, food-grade gasket, and shade — because sunlight through a translucent bottle plus stored water equals green water within weeks.

Excellent with water, caustics, acids, alcohols, detergents and most aqueous solutions. Poor with aromatic solvents, chlorinated solvents and strong oxidisers. Check your product's compatibility with the resin before you check anything else.

Block the light. Paint the bottle, sleeve it, build a shade or buy a black bottle. There is no chemical answer that works long term on a translucent tank in Texas sun, and this is the single most common reason people abandon rainwater systems.

Seal it while it is hot. Steam condenses, the internal pressure drops, and atmospheric pressure crushes the bottle inward in seconds. Vent it and leave the lid off until it is cold to the touch.

With a wide fan tip at moderate pressure, as a supplement to chemical cleaning. Never with a turbo or rotating nozzle — it scores a permanent spiral into the wall that becomes a stress point and a biofilm anchor.

Only a conductive or antistatic IBC, bonded and grounded, filled through a dip pipe at controlled rate. A standard poly tote cannot dissipate the static charge that filling generates, and the discharge happens into a vapour space. This is a genuine ignition risk, not a theoretical one.

If the contents would be a problem on your floor, your neighbour's floor or in the storm drain, yes. Bund to 110 percent of the largest single container — not 110 percent of a nominal 275, which leaves you short if you are actually storing a 330.

Three to five years uncovered in Central Texas before the top surface chalks and the bottle loses impact strength. Shaded or covered, ten to fifteen. UV is the whole difference.

In one with a known benign history, yes. In an unknown-history C-grade tote, no — soil contact plus root uptake plus unknown prior contents is a genuinely bad combination. We will not sell one for that purpose and neither should anyone else.