How to Find Underground Oil Tanks - Onsite Inspection of Properties for Evidence of Buried Oil Tanks
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- How to find buried oil tanks
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This is a photo guide to finding buried oil storage tanks by visual inspection. This article assists property buyers, owners, and inspectors in the location of 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 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.
SITE INSPECTION - Visual Inspection of a Building Site for Evidence of "Nearly Hidden" Buried Oil Tanks
Buried Tanks: Look at the property before deciding to hire a tank testing company for professional inspection and testing. You can
obtain basic information such as the age (property and tank), tank location, and type of oil tank. 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. So don't assume that because you don't see a tank that
none was ever used or present at a property. Make a visual site inspection for clues suggesting that one or more tanks is or was present.
Even an alert home buyer or home inspector, not charged with an environmental site survey (nor paid for one) might discover evidence of very costly buried tank problems at a property,
simply by attending certain visual details and thinking about what they mean. For the case of buried oil tanks, the next few photographs show two cases of the discovery of a nearly-hidden
outside oil tank fill pipe which led to the discovery of buried oil
tanks. These tanks had not been properly abandoned, risking significant cost to the property owner or buyer.
The first three photos show us exploring a hole in a bald patch of grass.
Many visual or historical clues may indicate that there is or was a buried oil or other fuel tank at a property.
Visible oil tank fill or vent pipes protruding from the ground,
depressions near a building, or even areas of dead grass or plantings in a small spot where a buried or previous
fuel tank fill pipe may have been installed - from spillage of fuel.
At one site this clue led to the discovery that the tank "removal" had consisted of nothing more than the unscrewing and removal of the fill and vent pipes from the leaky oil tank.
Age and type of property, existing oil fill and vent piping locations, existing oil tank size and ratings,
abandoned heating oil lines, marks where equipment was previously mounted, footprints of old heating equipment, and other clues can form strong enough evidence of a risk of a hidden or improperly removed oil tank that we might then advise further investigation.
The next two photos show us exploring what appeared to be a simple coffee can tossed in the yard of a residential property.
The buried oil tanks discovered below these "nearly hidden" filler pipe openings needed to be tested for leakage and then properly abandoned - a significant expense.
In the author's view (DJF), oil tank testing services and professional environmental inspectors are expected to include
both a visual screen of the property for clues such as these, and also a combination of other methods to detect buried oil tanks. Some of these include
- Historical information about the site is collected.
- Oil company records may be checked for indications of deliveries or of prior tank service or removal
- Ground scanning radar may be employed to locate large buried metal objects
- Common sense observation of details, such as the location and placement of oil tank fill and vent piping, if present, can indicate the probable size and type of tanks in some cases.
- Building interior inspection for abandoned oil piping or fuel lines, or patch-marks on foundation walls where such lines may have been removed.
- An examination of the history of the property's heating systems - what equipment has been present, removed, changed.
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.
Technical Reviewers
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