Oil Tank

Ray wants to get a new oil tank and move it to the side yard, or bury it in the side yard. (it is in the basement now)
I thought you were not allowed to bury oil tanks anymore?
I tried searching online for info on this but came up empty handed. If anyone knows anything or has a link I would appreciate it.

Message edited 1/16/2006 8:20:38 PM.

Re: Oil Tank

ours is buried in the ground and most of huntington has it in the ground. you are allowed to but if it bursts or leaks your are held resposible and the cost can be in the tens of thousands to clean up. some insurance companies do not cover the ones in the ground. we have state farm and they are fine with it.

Re: Oil Tank

Hmm I thought it was a law that you could not bury oil tanks? I try to google but could not find anything. I do agree with Corinne though, an environmental clean up will costs TONS of money, tens of thousands to clean a leak. And pray it doesn't affect a neighbor as well.

Many old tanks are still in the ground and people are bringing them up. In fact an underground oil tank was a home buying deal breaker for a couple of my friends.

JMO but even if it was legal to put a new tank underground I wouldn't, I couldn't live with myself if it sprang a leak and leaked into the ground affecting ground water, etc...

HTH

Message edited 1/16/2006 8:56:37 PM.

Re: Oil Tank

I was thinking that even if it was legal, I wouldn't want to put in underground.
We are about to re-finish our basement and the oil tank takes up so much space and is in a bad spot.
Anyone have theirs outside or in the garage?

Re: Oil Tank

julz, I know you are Suffolk but I found *some* info on Nassau Cty site. I presume they have similiar laws.
It doesn't look like it illegal. If I read it correctly you can have a new tank installed underground. They seem to be pretty concerned with the old ones though, and I can understand why, you really don't know what going on under there... in a couple years you may be in the same spot.

Link

ok here's Suffolk, but I am sure you are under 1100 gals so may not apply.

Suffolk tanks

Re: Oil Tank

Donna posted what I would have posted from the SCDHS. I work as an environmental engineer, and while I don't have residential clients, I've done a ton of tank work for clients in Suffolk county. Article 12 is a great set of standards to read.

Having the tank underground is not illegal... The law is that you can not abandon your underground tank, like you can in Nassau, it MUST be removed when it is closed out.

the new UST (underground storage tank) guidelines are very strict, the tank must be double walled, have cathodic protection and a host of other factors..... If you put your tank outside, it must have 100% secondary containment, which can get ugly in terms of asthetics, but its required.

ETA: I just looked at Article 12 and residentail USTs are not required to be double walled, which is usually more expensive anyway.

Re: Oil Tank

We abondoned ours underground when we moved in and had a new one put above ground on the side. We have had 0 problems with it being outside. I would recommend moving it outside and not burying it.

Re: Oil Tank

I will say this however, if you do put it in the ground, and when you get a delivery be prepared for your boiler to shut off and provide NADA until your oil company comes and services it- the reason- for some reason tanks that are in the ground develop what is called SLUDGE- its from being in the ground as oppose to being above ground, when the sludge gets into lines the boiler cannot operate. this will happen about 99% of the time and can be very annoying especially when you need hot water for a shower and you have no control of when they do the delivery- I would call the company you are using and ask them about it. We are seriously thinking of taking ours out of the ground, well they dont take it out they just put foam in it and put a new one on the side of the house.

Re: Oil Tank

i would keep it above ground - if you ever run into problems, it can lead to a nightmare if it leaks into the soil!

when searching for houses i wanted no part of underground tanks, i have heard horror stories from friends...

Re: Oil Tank

Our tank is in our garage - I would not bury it under ground if I was you - my father in laws friend did that - and it leaked - costed him over $100k to fix everything.

We didnt buy that house in n bellmore because the tank was buried in the foundation

Scott