tank formulas?

showshocka

Member
showshocka
Join Date
Mar 2011
Location
USA
Posts
510
Can anyone help me out with the "TRUE RIGHT" formula of finding how much a cylindrical tank will hold in h20 that can be converted over to lbs? i see so many other ways to do it. i'm sure it's only one RIGHT FORMULA though. I used one yesterday and can out right bUt will not work for another tank, a different size.
 
It's an easy calculation if the cylindrical tank is standing on end. Then the formula for volume is PI * r^2 * h where r is the radius of the tank and h is the height of water in the tank. Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon and there are 231 cubic inches of water in one gallon, so calculate the volume of water in the tank cubic inches, divide that by 231 to get gallons and multiply the result by 8.3 to get pounds.

If the tank is mounted horizontally, the calculation is more complicated. It gets even worse for a horizontal tank with spherical ends.
 
showshocka said:
In what units will i use when i get the answer for this?
Click to expand...

Depends on what units you're using for r and h. Whatever units you use, they need to be the same for both r and h.

Ex. If the tank is 12" wide and 24" high then its:
V = 3.14159 * (6" ^ 2) * 24"
= 2,714 cubic inches

or

For a tank that is 1 foot wide and 2 feet high:
V = 3.14159 * (0.5ft ^ 2) * 2ft
= 1.57 cubic feet
 
Last edited:
I apologize for offending anyone with my comment. I was just so astonished that we get such a wide variety of questions here on PLCTalk.net.
 
Thought it was lbs.

Lancie1 said:
I apologize for offending anyone with my comment. I was just so astonished that we get such a wide variety of questions here on PLCTalk.net.
Click to expand...

I don't think your comment was offensive. I had a similar response when I saw the question. If you are looking for pounds wouldn't your units be lbs? Or maybe the OP meant something else.
 
RTA, It seems kind of self-evident, but then I had a pretty good 5th grade math teacher. I think that is when I first heard about the idea of "units".
 

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