Oil Tank abandonment

Out here in the suburbs, we have to deal with all manner of irritating and costly renovations. When we bought our house, our inspector had informed us that we would be inheriting a 1,000 gallon in-ground oil tank. Now, this normally wouldn't be an issue (I could give a rat's ass where the tank is myself) except when the EPA reaches their greasy little paws into your business. If and when we decide to sell the house, the future owners may opt to have the soil around the tank tested by the EPA for contamination due to a leaky tank. If the soil is found to be contaminated, all the tainted dirt surrounding the tank will be dug up, put into 55 gallon drums and trucked off somewhere down south. Once there, apparently there's an environmental plant that burns the contaminants out of the soil. Then, the dirt is put BACK IN to the drums, trucked back to your house and put right back where it came from. Whoever is the current owner of the house (namely US) will incur ANY AND ALL COSTS associated with such an operation which can be upwards of $75-100,000 when all is said and done. No thanks!

An oil tank abandonment is basically just that - you're abandoning your in-ground tank for a new one either above ground or in your basement which by doing so basically absolves you from any future testing. During the negotiations to purchase the house, we were able to obtain a credit on the final price since we knew this was something that we were going to have to do. We could have asked for the soil to be tested, but we took the credit instead and went ahead and did the abandonment. We now also have a certificate of abandonment to show anyone who asks. They'd really only have to look in the basement at the new tank to figure it out, but it's cheap insurance against the enviro-nazis

Basically what happens is this: a crew comes to your house. They find your tank's filler tube and dig until they hit the top of the tank. Then, they cut the top off of it and fill it with sand. The old, now sand-filled tank is resealed and the dirt is back filled. The last step is to locate and install a new tank and hook it up to your current heating system. The whole thing took about 5-6 hours, almost two of which were spent waiting for the sand truck to arrive.

The crew that came to do the job were swell enough to allow me to take some pictures while it was all going on. They must have thought I was a little kooky until I explained to the head guy what I was doing. He seemed to understand, which made me feel a little less awkward.

If you've never seen what a tank abandonment looks like or had no idea that this type of thing is even done, today is your lucky day. I've provided a bunch of photos of the process to once again enlighten and entertain our readers. Cheers.

Removing remaining oil in original tank.












Digging around the filler neck. Bye bye Packasandra.













Locating and drilling hole in block for new filler tube.













Thar She blows!













Filling the old girl full of sand.













Action shot of sand filling. Note depth and scope of hole.












Brand-new 275 gallon tank in our basement, plumbed and ready for years of service. Note old, inaccurate fuel level gauge on the wall above the tank, now just for show.