IBC ToteTexas

Reuse ledger, year to date: 41,200 totes diverted from Texas landfills this year. 2,060k lb of HDPE kept in service. 1,772k lb of steel cage recovered. 3,140 tons of CO₂e avoided. 92% of our wash water recycled on site. 68 Texas counties served from one Austin yard. Full methodology at /sustainability/reuse-ledger.

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Getting 275 gallons
out of the tote.

Gravity is free and slow. Pumps are fast and fussy. This page covers what to use, how fast it actually goes, and the one mistake that collapses bottles.

Rows of used 275 gallon composite IBC totes stacked two high in an outdoor yard under a blue sky

The short answer

For most Texas users: a 12V pump at 12–18 GPM for field and trailer work, a 120V pump at 30–50 GPM for fixed installations, and plain gravity through a full-port butterfly valve when time is not the constraint. Always vent the lid before pumping — a sealed tote will collapse.

Spec a transfer setup

Tell us the product, the flow rate you need and the power available on site.

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From the yard

Wide view of a warehouse hall filled with reconditioned IBC totes on polished concrete
Covered inventory. What you see on the rack is what goes on your truck.
Close-up of a single 275 gallon IBC tote showing its capacity label, UN placard and blue ball valve
A 275 with the plate, the capacity label and a standard 2-inch ball valve.

Options

What moves product, and how fast

Transfer options for a 275 gallon tote
MethodTypical flowPowerEmpties a 275 inBest for
Gravity, 2" ball valve12–20 GPM fallingNone15–25 minWater, thin chemistry, no rush
Gravity, 2" full-port butterfly20–35 GPM fallingNone10–15 minViscous product, batch discharge
Hand rotary pump8–10 GPMArm30–35 minRemote sites, oils, small draws
12V diaphragm pump12–18 GPMVehicle battery16–22 minField work, trailers, sprayer fill
120V centrifugal pump30–50 GPMWall power6–9 minFixed installs, wash bays, batching
Air double-diaphragm25–45 GPMShop air7–11 minPlants with compressed air, aggressive chemistry
Tote agitatorn/aAir or electricn/aPolymer, slurry, settling product

Wetted materials

Match the pump to the chemistry

The wetted parts — housing, impeller or diaphragm, seals — determine whether a pump lasts three years or three weeks. The common combinations:

  • Polypropylene body, EPDM diaphragm — water, acids, bases, hypochlorite, fertilizer. The general-purpose Texas answer.
  • Aluminium body, Viton diaphragm — fuels, oils, aromatics, solvents. Do not put hypochlorite anywhere near it.
  • Stainless body, PTFE diaphragm — food product, high purity, aggressive chemistry. Expensive and worth it when it matters.
  • Cast iron — water only, and only if you accept the rust.

Also stocked

The rest of the kit

  • Discharge hose

    2 inch chemical hose in 10, 15 and 25 ft lengths with camlock ends.

  • Suction wands and dip tubes

    For drawing from the top opening when the outlet is blocked or unusable.

  • Auto-shutoff nozzles

    Fuel-style nozzles for sprayer and equipment fill.

  • Inline meters

    Turbine and oval-gear meters for batch accuracy.

  • Filters and strainers

    Inline mesh to keep grit out of pumps and injectors.

  • Grounding and bonding kits

    Required for flammable transfer. Not optional, not expensive.

  • Tote agitators

    Air or electric, mounted through the 6 or 9 inch lid opening.

The vacuum collapse problem

This is the failure we get asked about most, and it is entirely preventable. An IBC bottle is thin-walled HDPE designed to resist internal pressure, not external. Draw liquid out of a sealed tote and atmospheric pressure does the rest — the bottle folds inward, permanently, sometimes in under a minute on a high-flow pump.

The fix costs almost nothing: fit a vented lid, or crack the existing lid a quarter turn before you start pumping. On totes that will be pumped routinely, specify the vented lid at purchase and never think about it again.

Gravity setups that actually work

Height is everything. Every foot of elevation gives you about 0.43 psi, so a tote on a four-foot stand delivers roughly 1.7 psi at the outlet — enough for short drip irrigation runs and gravity trough feeds, not enough for a sprinkler. If you need pressure rather than flow, you need a pump, and no amount of stand height will substitute.

Winter and freeze

Pumps hold residual liquid and Texas freezes crack pump housings every February. Drain after use, store diaphragm pumps indoors, and never leave a wet pump on a trailer overnight in a hard freeze warning.

Questions people actually ask

+How long does it take to empty a 275 gallon tote?
By gravity through a 2-inch ball valve, roughly 12 to 20 minutes for water, slowing badly as the head drops. With a 12V pump at 15 GPM, about 18 minutes at a constant rate. With a 120V pump at 40 GPM, about 7 minutes. Viscous product can take hours through the wrong valve.
+Do I need a vented lid if I'm pumping?
Yes. Pull liquid out faster than air can get in and the bottle deforms inward. On a sealed tote, a 40 GPM pump can crush a bottle in under a minute. Vent it or crack the lid.
+Can I use a fuel transfer pump for chemicals?
Only if the seals and diaphragm are compatible. Standard fuel pumps use Viton or nitrile, which fails quickly on hypochlorite and strong bases. Tell us the chemistry and we'll spec the right wetted materials.
+What's the cheapest way to move product out of a tote?
Gravity and patience. Put the tote on a stand, fit a full-port butterfly valve, and let physics do it. A pump is for when you need speed, lift, or metering.

Related

Next

Quick reference

Numbers worth having open in another tab

The figures that come up in almost every conversation, whichever page you arrived on.

275 gallon · 1040 L

48×40×46

Tare
130 lb
Gross, water
2,425 lb
Stack full
2 high
Stock
Always in stock

330 gallon · 1250 L

48×40×53

Tare
160 lb
Gross, water
2,915 lb
Stack full
2 high
Stock
Always in stock

264 gallon · 1000 L

48×40×46

Tare
125 lb
Gross, water
2,325 lb
Stack full
2 high
Stock
Usually in stock

350 gallon · 1325 L

48×40×56

Tare
175 lb
Gross, water
3,095 lb
Stack full
2 high
Stock
Order in

Outlet thread

S60x6 — 60 mm coarse buttress. Not 2" NPT.

Grades published

N, R, F, A, B, C, X — applied at the wash bay.

Wash standards

W1 rinse through W4 caustic CIP at 160°F.

UN retest

Leakproofness 2.5 yrs, requalification 5 yrs.

From the yard notes

Longer reading on this

32 articles written by the people who wash, grade, weld and dispatch. No marketing copy in any of them.

All 32 articles

On the yard this week

Rows of used 275 gallon composite IBC totes stacked two high in an outdoor yard under a blue sky
Graded stock on the outdoor rows, stacked two high and waiting on a grade tag.
Wide view of a warehouse hall filled with reconditioned IBC totes on polished concrete
Covered inventory. What you see on the rack is what goes on your truck.

More answers

While you're here

Pulled from the full FAQ, which runs to forty-plus answers across buying, grades, food safety, sizes, selling, compliance, delivery and care.

Read the full FAQ

Where we are
3505 Montopolis Dr, Austin, TX 78744
Yard hours
Mon–Thu 7:30a–5p · Fri 7:30a–4p · Sat 8a–12p · Sun closed (Central Time)
Coverage
68 Texas counties on scheduled routes, from one Austin yard.

+Will you take totes that held chemicals?
Most of them, with the prior contents in writing. Some chemistries permanently permeate HDPE; those units go to material recovery rather than back into service, but we'll still take them off your yard.
+What thread is the outlet?
S60x6 on almost every composite IBC — 60 mm coarse buttress. It is not 2 inch NPT and NPT fittings will not screw directly into it. One moulded adapter converts it to NPT, camlock or garden hose.
+Can I put drinking water in a used tote?
For genuine potable storage, use a rebottled unit — the bottle is new, so prior contents are not a question. Documented food-grade stock is acceptable for short-term non-potable-rated use. General Grade A stock is not.
+Which grade should I buy?
The cheapest one that genuinely does the job. For water and general industrial duty that's usually B. For anything edible it's F or rebottled. For regulated chemical shipping it's rebottled with valid UN marking. For washout containment and cutting projects it's C.
+Can I buy a single tote?
Yes. Plenty of customers buy one for a garden, a workshop or a wash station. Pickup at the yard is the cheapest route for a single unit.

Tell us the product and the flow you need.

Chemistry decides the wetted materials, flow decides the pump, and site power decides the rest. Three lines in the Message field is enough for us to spec it.

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