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How to Find Buried Oil Tanks

OIL TANK HOME
ABOVE GROUND OIL TANK INSPECTIONS
BURIED OIL TANK ADVICE
BURIED TANKS, FIND
  SITE INSPECTION
  SIGNS OF BURIED OIL TANKS
    Outdoor Clues to Buried Tanks
    Indoor Clues to Buried Tanks
  INSPECT THE GROUNDS
  REVIEW TANK HISTORY
FLOATING UP TANKS
FUEL OIL TYPES & CHARACTERISTICS
SLUDGE IN OIL TANKS
TANK ABANDONING
TANK FAILURE CAUSES
TANK FAILURE RATES
TANK LEGAL ISSUES
TANK LEAK ADVICE
TANK LIFE
TANK REMOVAL COs
TANK REMOVAL FINANCIAL AID
TANK REGULATIONS
TANK INSPECTION REPORTS
TANK SLUDGE
TANK STANDARDS
TANK TESTING
TANK TESTING COs
WATER in OIL TANKS
More Information

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Photograph of sketch of parts of a buried oil tank

How to Find Underground Oil Tanks - Visual Evidence of Buried Oil Tanks, Part 2
OilTankAPedia ©

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  • How to find buried oil tanks
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This is a photo guide to visual clues spotted indoors or outdoors which can assist in the location of abandoned or buried oil tanks or the detection of evidence that an underground (or even an above ground) oil tank is or was in use at a property. The article and photographs used to show the reader ways to find buried oil tanks include examples of clues leading to the discovery of "nearly hidden" buried or underground oil tanks which were found at residential properties and which avoided very costly surprises later for the new owner. Underground oil storage tanks, or UST's, whether still present or previously removed, involve a risk of costly oil leaks and soil contamination which may need to be addressed. Here are some investigation methods that any home buyer, owner, or home inspector can apply to reduce these risks by looking for evidence that a buried oil tank is or was at a property. Also see Above Ground Oil Tanks: Visual Inspection. © Copyright 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website.

SIGNS OF BURIED OIL TANKS- A Photo Guide to Visual Clues for Finding Buried Oil Storage Tanks - Part 2, Indoor Clues

How to find buried oil tanks: Evidence that a buried fuel storage tank exists at a property may be direct and visually obvious, or the evidence may be subtle.

Often a series of small observations, individually not apparently very important, can add up to an increased probability that a buried fuel storage tank is or was at a property.

While environmental investigators and oil tank test companies may use magnetic scanners or even ground scanning radar to locate buried steel tanks, an astute visual inspection can often discover the presence or probable presence of a buried fuel storage tank at a property, thus suggesting that further testing is definitely in order. Here are some clues to the possible current or past presence of a buried tank at a property.

Photographs of Indoor Clues for Detecting Buried Oil Tanks

  • Oil leak through foundation wall

    Unexplained oil stains on building foundation walls     at any location might indicate that a leaky oil tank is or was outside the building near that location.

    At the home where we saw this oil stain on the foundation wall of a crawl space, further investigation found that an oil tank had been leaking and had been abandoned just outside this wall.







  • Abandoned heating oil lines

    Abandoned heating oil lines in floors     in a building may be present at or near existing oil-fired equipment, or may be at or near the previous location of such equipment.

    Look for a pair of flexible copper fuel lines protruding into the basement or crawl space wall, perhaps cut off, bent-over, and crimped. The oil pipes shown in our photo at left were smashed flat and left in place on a basement floor.





  • Abandoned oil lines

    Abandoned heating oil lines at foundation walls Here is an easy to spot pair of oil lines abandoned at a basement wall. Sometimes they're not nearly so obvious.











  • Piping indicating an abandoned oil tank

    Evidence of under-slab oil piping now abandoned: Even where no oil pipes themselves are visible, look patches or cuts in a basement or crawl space floor slab where oil lines may have been routed under the slab, or look for a small patch in the upper or even lower portion of a basement or crawl space wall in a location where logically one might have expected to see fuel lines entering the building.

    Our photo at left shows a basement slab cut in an older home in Portland Maine. The slab was poured, then later opened to route lines from an oil tank under the floor over to a heating boiler. At the time of our inspection the old boiler had been removed and a new boiler and oil tank were found in the basement. New oil lines from the oil tank to boiler passed nowhere near this floor cut. But further exploration found remains of abandoned oil supply piping.




  • Oil tank gauge for buried tankOil tank lift pump Teesdale














    Presence of antiquated oil storage tank fuel-level gauges     such as we show at above-left can also indicate that oil tanks have been in use at a property for a long time. An old fuel level gauge mounted on a basement wall is a sure indicator that an oil storage tank has been buried outside of the building. You may also find abandoned heating oil filters and less commonly you may find that an indoor lift pump (above right) was added to bring oil from an outdoor buried tank into the building's oil-fired heating equipment. The right hand photo shows a Teesdale automatic oil pump which was used for this purpose.

  • Footprints of old heating equipment and even oil stains on a basement or crawl space floor may indicate that previously oil-fired equipment was present even if it is no longer at the site.

  • Records at local oil delivery companies who serve the neighborhood may indicate a history of deliveries to the site. Records of previous building inspections may also indicate this possibility.

Use links just below at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

BURIED TANKS, FIND
  SITE INSPECTION
  SIGNS OF BURIED OIL TANKS
    Outdoor Clues to Buried Tanks
    Indoor Clues to Buried Tanks
  INSPECT THE GROUNDS
  REVIEW TANK HISTORY

More Reading::
ABOVE GROUND OIL TANK INSPECTIONS - "Visual Inspection of Above Ground Residential Heating Oil Storage Tanks - ASTs"
Advanced Home Inspection Methodology - Developing your X-Ray Vision A Promotion Theory for Forensic Observation of Residential Construction. Discussion of methods to accumulate clues to enable the detection of hard-to-find defects on buildings or other complex systems.

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Particular thanks are due to experts and also consumers who read these articles and suggest corrections, changes, and additions to the material. Content suggestions, technical corrections and content critique are invited for any of the content at our website.

  • Daniel Friedman - principal author/editor of the InspectAPedia © Website
  • Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.

OIL TANK HOME
ABOVE GROUND OIL TANK INSPECTIONS
BURIED OIL TANK ADVICE
BURIED TANKS, FIND
FLOATING UP TANKS
FUEL OIL TYPES & CHARACTERISTICS
SLUDGE IN OIL TANKS
TANK ABANDONING
TANK FAILURE CAUSES
TANK FAILURE RATES
TANK INSPECTION REPORTS
TANK LEGAL ISSUES
TANK LEAK ADVICE
TANK LIFE
TANK REMOVAL COs
TANK REMOVAL FINANCIAL AID
TANK REGULATIONS
TANK SLUDGE
TANK STANDARDS
TANK TESTING
TANK TESTING COs
WATER in OIL TANKS
More Information

InspectAPedia TM Home & Site Map
Air Conditioning
InspectAPedia Bookstore
Electrical
Environment
Exteriors
Heating
Home Inspection
Insulate Ventilate
Interiors
Mold Inspect/Test
Plumbing Water Septic
Roofing
Structure
Accuracy & Bias Pledge
Contact Us

More Information: Buried and Above Ground Oil Storage Tanks References & More Information on USTs

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05/05/2008 - 05/19/1995 www.www.inspect-ny.com/oiltanks/Buried_Oil_Tank_Location2.htm Website Content and Design © Copyright 2008-1995 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved - DJF