Buried oil tank

[Jack Feldmann]

60 year old house. Oil tank buried in front yard.
A large tree has grown around the vent pipe.
Nice!

[Jack Feldmann]

photo didn't load

[Vern Heiler]

At least they still have a vent pipe that can be used to test for contents. Many don't!

[wayne soper]

DIVE< DIVE< DIVE
mercedes at 350 degrees,
prepare tubes one and two
der broker ess trying to hienykablotzen
fire,fire,fire

[Jack Feldmann]

The fill pipe was about 10' away. I was concerned about what the tree could be doing to the tank itself. The tank was probably installed when the house was built 60 years ago.

[John Kogel]

I could have missed this one. I had been around the house, checking eaves and windows, foundation. Did the roof, went into the basement and saw .... two abandoned oil lines coming out of the floor. One is the feed to the furnace and the other is a return line from a pump to a tank* where gravity feed is not possible. Went back out, and spotted this right away. Good thing, it still had a bit of oil in it, no water. The sellers were going to have it removed. I trust all went well.

I did warn my clients that those oil lines will have some oil left in them.

*The return line indicates to me that a pump was needed in the past. The new configuration does not use a pump. Gravity feed. That is a clue to the location of the old tank. A buried oil tank will most likely require a pump.

[Garry Sorrells]

Just as a side note. The return line installed from oil burner pump is not installed because of the lack of a gravity feed to burner location there are other reasons.

They may have originally planted the tree to protect the vent pipe from being damaged. Do not think anyone will drive over the vent pipe now.

[Donald Bissex]

Great find, Jack. You have to be real careful with underground storage tanks (USTs) as they try to tuck the vents away where they are not obvious. I found this vent comping out of the ground at the house foundation (fill pipe and inside lines removed) and it turned out it was for a 1000 gallon tank that the seller removed. If a tank is leaking (LUST, if you will), it can be real expensive for your buyer and a liability for the inspector.

[Jerry Peck]

If a tank is leaking (LUST, if you will), it can be real expensive for your buyer and a liability for the inspector.

Had a leaking UST removed last summer from an abandoned house, after all was said and done, the bank had to pay about $18k for its removal, the removal of all contaminated soil, monitoring wells for a year, that was the cost before the state signed off on it stating that it was no longer an environmental hazard.