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How to Inspect the Grounds of a Property to Find Evidence of Buried Oil Tanks InspectAPedia®  -     How to find buried oil tanks by a visual inspection of the property or grounds of a building site Questions & answers about site inspections for outdoor evidence of a buried or abandoned oil tank

How to inspect property grounds for signs of a buried or abandoned oil tank. 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.

This is a photo guide to finding buried oil storage tanks by visual inspection of the grounds around a home.

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.

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INSPECT THE GROUNDS - How to Inspect the Grounds of Properties Where There are Known or Suspected Abandoned or Removed Oil Storage Tanks

Have all abandoned tank fill pipes been completely removed from the building to prevent mistaken delivery and spill into the building? Have old indoor tanks been removed or marked clearly as "Abandoned, DO NOT FILL" ?

At this property in Rhinebeck, NY we had spotted oil filler and vent pipes inside the dense thicket along the creek.

A decade later during a period of local flooding the tank to which the oil pipes had been connected floated up out of the ground as shown in this photo. The owner no longer had an easy option of "hiding" the abandoned oil tank. Like a spring corpse it had floated to the surface.

If an outdoor buried oil tank has been properly abandoned at a property, the tank should have been excavated at its top, opened, emptied, cleaned, inspected for evidence of leaks, and then filled with an approved material (perhaps sand or a special foam) both to prevent re-use of the tank and to prevent a possibly dangerous future collapse of the old tank.

This procedure should have been performed by a qualified tank abandonment company, and documentation should be provided showing who did the work, when it was done, what inspections or tests were performed to assure that there was no evidence of oil tank leakage into the surrounding soil, and how the tank was filled-in.

If this documentation is not available for a property being purchased then the minimum prudent step would be to order a site inspection and soil testing for evidence of leakage. Surface soil tests are not as important, in our opinion, as soil borings taken from the approximate depth of the bottom of the tank since that's where more problematic leakage would have occurred.

If a property seller will not permit site inspection and testing for oil leakage we would be concerned that the owner knows or suspects that a costly contamination issue is present. One of our clients was told that she would not be permitted to perform any tests or inspections for oil tank leakage prior to purchase of the property - a sufficiently ominous warning that she did not complete the purchase. We learned that a significant oil spill had occurred and that the owner had herself had removed the tank fill and vent piping, leaving a costly problem in-ground for the next owner.

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OIL TANKS INSPECT LEAK TEST ABANDON REGS
BURIED OIL TANK ADVICE
BURIED OIL TANKS, FINDING
  OIL TANK SITE INITIAL INSPECTION
  SIGNS OF BURIED OIL TANKS
    INDOOR CLUES TO BURIED OIL TANKS
    OUTDOOR CLUES to BURIED OIL TANKS
  OIL TANK HISTORY REVIEW
  BURIED OIL TANK REPORTS

FLOATING UP OIL STORAGE or SEPTIC TANKS
FLOODED HEATING EQUIPMENT REPAIR
FLOODED WATER HEATER REPAIR
FUEL UNIT, HEAING OIL PUMPS

HEAT TAPES, Heat, Insulation prevent Freeze-Up
HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS
OIL TANK ABANDONING PROCEDURE
OIL TANK FAILURE CAUSES
OIL TANK FAILURE RATES
OIL TANK GAUGES

OIL TANK INSPECTION REPORTS
OIL TANK LEGAL ISSUES

OIL TANK LEAKS & SMELLS
OIL TANK LIFE

OIL TANK PIPING & PIPING DEFECTS

OIL TANK PRESSURE
OIL TANK REGULATIONS
OIL TANK REMOVAL COs
OIL TANK REMOVAL FINANCIAL AID
OIL TANK SAFETY
OIL TANK SLUDGE
OIL TANK STANDARDS
OIL TANK TESTING
OIL TANK TESTING COs

OIL TANK WATER CONTAMINATION

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.

• More details and advice about oil storage tank leak testing are discussed at OIL TANK TESTING
  SIGNS OF BURIED "How to Find Evidence of Buried Oil Tanks at a Property", summarizes steps that a home buyer or home inspector can perform first in addressing the question about whether or not there is or was a buried tank at a property.

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

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