Oil Tank Leaking and How To See It
If you are utilizing an underground oil tank to heat your home you should be proactive and test the soil around the tank at least once every two years. I hear from my customers all the time that they don’t think their oil tank is leaking because they didn’t lose any fuel and they have been sticking the tank religiously for years. This will not always tell you if your tank is leaking. When they do leak, they usually are leaking from many tiny corrosion holes and the release is so small that you wouldn’t even notice. The amount of time the oil tank is leaking is what makes the clean-up expensive usually. So catch it early and you will save yourself a bundle of money and a huge headache.
If your oil tank is taking on water and your furnace is not working properly, then you most likely have some corrosion holes that are allowing the water to enter the tank but at the same time oil is also being released. Water in a steel oil tank is NEVER a good sign. You can have the water pumped out but this will not solve the problem of the oil leaking out.
MYTH – “All my grass is growing fine so I don’t think my oil tank is leaking!” Unless the oil tank is overflowing with oil and spewing oil all over your lawn, you cannot tell if the tank is leaking by how the vegetation is growing in the area of the tank. The oil tank is usually buried about 2-3 feet making the bottom of the tank around the 7 foot area. When the oil leaks out is doesn’t rise to the surface unless ground water is very high in your area. Generally the contamination plume will go directly down and out looking like an upside down balloon. Of course the soil conditions really determine how far and fast the plume will travel.
So if you’re wondering how to remove an oil tank, call Qualified and set up a soil test to find out if your oil tank is leaking. A technician will probe around the oil tank and extract soil to be tested by a state certified lab. We can have results in 5 business days.
