If you discover leaked oil contact a removal specialist to avoid potential hazards.
Buried oil tank on property.
How do you find out if your property has an underground oil tank.
It was common practice to install tanks underground to save space indoors.
An abandoned tank means while you may not be using oil as your heat source you may still have a buried tank and pipes full of oil on your property if you do you re susceptible to the risks that come with having oil heat.
From a previous use a buried oil tank may be present or may have been present at a property even if it is now served by an indoor above ground oil tank or even by lp or natural gas.
The presence of a buried or above ground oil storage tank at a residential property does not need to be reported to the dec provided the onsite storage volume is less than 1100 gallons.
The best way to find a buried oil tank is to locate the venting or fill pipes.
Moreover stained oil inside of your basement may indicate the presence of an oil tank.
On the inside of the house go to where the furnace is installed and look for small copper lines.
There may be old oil lines that have been cut but still stick out of the wall or floor.
Your underground oil tank puts you at risk.
Is there an underground oil tank.
Buried oil tanks generally epa regulations exempt residential buried oil tanks from oversight when they re buried on the premises where they re being used.
Many times there are obvious clues in the basement near the furnace.
They often come as a set and the copper tubes will usually be pinched on the ends.
The presence of both a gas meter and an oil tank indicates that the tank may be abandoned.
So don t assume that because you don t see a tank that none was ever used or present at a property.
They have been successfully sued for nearly 45 000 by buyers who later discovered an oil tank was buried in the yard.
To find the vent pipes and fill pipes look around the foundation of the home.
Underground oil tanks could also corrode and collapse creating a sink hole in the yard.
If the buried oil tank has been properly decommissioned they will usually remove or cut the breather tube and fill valve so there will be no signs of an oil tank on the outside of the house.
The pipe on the left is an oil tank breather tube on the outside of a house.
This tells you the house was once heated using oil and may have a buried oil tank.