We’ve got great pallet handling questions coming in through our articles – keep them coming please!

These inquiries are always interesting because they transcend the more general guidelines set forth by various regulatory agencies.

Calculating Loads for Safe Pallet Stacking

The latest question was regarding safe pallet stacking; specifically, how to safely calculate maximum pallet loads when stacking pallets.

Question:

Q: Hi Robin. We place four 55 gallon drums of juice onto a pallet. Each drum is about 450 pounds. We want to stack these pallets of juice on top of each other in our freezer. How high can we stack these? Since it is sitting on a cement floor I assume this would be figured out as a static load. We have 40 by 48 wooden pallets. Since our finished pallets are not subjected to other forces (Dynamic, conveyors, racking) the static load can exceed the dynamic rating of the pallet. Is this an accurate statement?

My Initial Reaction

Whoa, 1,800 pounds of juice on each pallet is serious business. I can see why this is important; overloaded pallets are dangerous. Plus, upsetting 220 gallons of juice would result in a costly, time-consuming mess.

Answer:

This is not an accurate statement, necessarily. At some point, you will be moving the juice onto the pallet and stacking the pallets, exceeding the dynamic load during the process could be disastrous and should be avoided.

For safety’s safe, please make sure the following guidelines are followed:

• The load per pallet load cannot exceed: the pallet’s dynamic load capacity.
• The total load of the stacked pallets cannot exceed: the pallet’s static load capacity.

The safe number of laden pallets per stack will depend on your pallet’s load capacities. Please use this formula to calculate the safe number of pallets per stack:

RoundDown (Static Load Per Pallet Total Laden Weight Per Pallet)

Example: Static Load Per Pallet is 10000 lbs, Dynamic Load Per Pallet 2200 lbs, Total Laden Weight Per Pallet is 2100 lbs

Round Down 10000/2100 = Round Down 4.76 = 4 Pallets!

As long as the total weight of the stacks doesn’t exceed the bottom pallet’s Static Load Capacity, you should be fine.

But once you have completed your stack, do not move any multiple pallet stacks unless the bottom pallet load is safely under the Dynamic Load capacity.

Thanks for the question and let us know if you need help finding the most competitive price for your plastic pallets and container bins. We’ll be happy to help you with any performance calculations you may have!

About Robin Kiefer

Robin Spencer Kiefer connects customers with solutions and products. Robin is the Digital Marketing Manager of One Way Solutions.

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Pallet Stack Height Calculations

Our Customers Continue To Inspire Us

Just when we think that we’ve reached new heights of pallet wisdom, one of our prized customers steps in and pulls us back to earth.

Sure, we routinely optimize pallet shipments to find our pallet buyers the most competitive shipping rates- so why not share that wisdom on our blog?

Here’s a Note we received from our Customer

I am interested in your 24 x 32 Nestable Plastic Semi Pallet Item ; # PP-O-24-NL. I would like to stack several together to achieve a particular height. Your website indicates that one pallet is 5.1″ tall. Can you tell me the height of just the pallet’s deck so I can calculate how many pallets I would need to stack together to achieve a particular height?

Calculating Nestable Pallet Height

One of the most basic, yet elusive calculations we perform is the stack height of plastic pallets. We want to fit as many as possible into the truck that delivers your pallets, to reduce your freight cost per unit.

Here Is How To Calculate Pallet Stack Height

Nestable Pallets

Nesting Height Calculation Explained

To calculate the stack height of nestable pallets, you simply need to add the full height of one pallet, plus product of the additional number of units and the pallet’s nesting height.

Example:

Total Pallet Units (Quantity): 10
Pallet Full Height Per Unit (Full Height): 5.1″
Pallet Nesting Height (Nesting Height): 1.60″

(1 x Full Height) + ((Quantity-1) x (Nesting Height))

(1 x 5.1) + ((10-1) x (1.6))
= (5.1) + (9 x 1.6)
= 5.1 + 14.4
= 19.5 Inches

Use Our Handy Nesting Height Calculator

About Robin Kiefer

Robin Spencer Kiefer connects customers with solutions and products. Robin is the Digital Marketing Manager of One Way Solutions.

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Believe it or not, there are some very important warehouse safety lessons that we can learn from this focus-siphoning life-stealer of a browser game.

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About Brian Pigott

Brian Pigott is an engineer and customer-centric entrepreneur. Brian is the Managing Director of One Way Solutions.

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