Volume Calculator
Calculate cylindrical tank volume in liters or cubic meters using radius and height
Height Calculator
Calculate cylindrical tank height from volume and radius in millimeters or meters
Weight Calculator
Calculate the weight of liquid in cylindrical tanks using volume and material density
Diameter Calculator
Calculate cylindrical tank diameter and radius from volume and height
Cylindrical Tank Weight Calculator
Calculate the weight of liquid in cylindrical tanks using volume and material density.
Height
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Radius
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Diameter
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Volume
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Not to scale · updates live
Result
Enter dimensions and select a liquid material to see the result.
How to calculate the weight of a full tank
Volume times density gives the contents. Add the shell material and wall thickness for the total.
- 01
Enter the tank's radius or diameter and height
Pick the length unit first. The tool assumes the tank is full to the height you enter, so for a part-full tank enter the liquid depth instead of the tank height.
- 02
Choose what's inside
The presets are water (1,000 kg/m³), diesel (830), petrol (740), oil (900), milk (1,030) and a generic chemicals option (1,200). Pick Custom to type the density from a product's data sheet.
- 03
Add the shell if you want the total
Optionally pick a tank material (steel, stainless, aluminium, PVC or copper) and enter the top, bottom and side wall thicknesses. Without these, you get the weight of the liquid only.
- 04
Read liquid, shell and total weight
Each is shown in kilograms, tonnes and pounds. Liquid weight is volume × density; shell weight is the area of the two ends and the side wall × thickness × the material's density.
How much 1,000 litres of each liquid weighs
Density is mass per volume, so 1,000 L (one cubic metre) of a liquid weighs its density in kilograms. These are the preset values the tool uses. Real fuels vary by grade and temperature: the European diesel standard allows 820–845 kg/m³ and petrol 720–775.
| Contents | Density used | Weight of 1,000 L | Per US gallon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 1,000 kg/m³ | 1,000 kg | 8.35 lb |
| Milk | 1,030 kg/m³ | 1,030 kg | 8.60 lb |
| Oil | 900 kg/m³ | 900 kg | 7.51 lb |
| Diesel | 830 kg/m³ | 830 kg | 6.93 lb |
| Petrol | 740 kg/m³ | 740 kg | 6.18 lb |
| Chemicals (generic) | 1,200 kg/m³ | 1,200 kg | 10.01 lb |
The chemicals preset is only a placeholder. Concentrated acids and brines can be much denser, so for anything other than the listed liquids, use the density from the safety data sheet with the Custom option.
Worked example: a full steel tank on a roof
Take a steel tank 1.2 m across and 1.5 m tall, with 3 mm side walls and 4 mm top and bottom plates. Filled with water, it holds 1,696 L, so the water weighs 1,696 kg. The shell adds about 204 kg, for a total near 1.9 tonnes.
Now spread that over the floor. The tank's base is 1.13 m², so the water alone presses down at roughly 1,326 kg per square metre, about 13 kN/m². India's loading code, IS 875 Part 2, sets the design load for ordinary residential floors at 2 kN/m². A full tank is a concentrated load several times that, which is why it should sit over beams or columns, and why a structural engineer should sign off on anything this heavy.
Why the weight matters
Planning a rooftop tank
Get the full weight before you buy, so the person checking the roof has a real number to work with.
Loading a fuel bowser
5,000 L of diesel at 830 kg/m³ is about 4,150 kg. Compare that with the trailer's payload rating, not just its tank size.
Quoting freight for a filled vessel
Couriers and crane hire both price by weight. The total includes the shell, which is easy to forget for steel tanks.
Where the estimate can be off
- The shell maths is a thin-wall estimate. It uses the same radius for the liquid and the walls, which is close for walls a few millimetres thick and less accurate for thick ones.
- Fittings aren't counted. Legs, ladders, manholes, flanges and valves can add a lot to a steel tank, so add the maker's figures.
- Ends are treated as flat discs. Dished or cone ends hold different volumes and weigh more than a flat plate.
- Density changes with temperature. Diesel stored in the sun expands, so the same 1,000 L weighs slightly less than it does on a cold morning.