Wondering how to handle a leaking heating oil tank? This is not just a good topic for homeowners to know about. This also applies if you are a real estate agent, property manager, landlord, home inspector, home buyer, or home seller.
We at GreenTrax have more than 25 years of experience and are happy to provide some more details. This blog specifically will be about leaking aboveground tanks, and how to manage them safely, whether they’re in a basement, crawlspace, or located outdoors.
If you’re looking for more about leaking underground tanks, we’ve written a fair amount. A good place to start is our recent blog about understanding the risks of damaged underground oil tanks.
How to Deal with a Leaking Oil Tank in the Basement
If you have an Aboveground Storage Tank (AKA – AST) in the basement, let’s hope that the tank is located in an area of the basement you can see frequently, not covered, behind a wall, or in a closet you never open. (Tanks should NEVER be enclosed behind drywall with no access.)
If the tank is out in the open in the basement, it’s most likely a 275-gallon tank, one that looks kind of “oval”-shaped on the end.
When it starts to leak (and all tanks will eventually leak, it’s just a matter of when), then hopefully you will see it when it happens to minimize the damage and reduce the smell of heating oil in your basement.
Before we go further, an important note: Oil tanks do not immediately “fail” and leak hundreds of gallons of oil out at once. Don’t panic. It will not explode.
Heating oil is NOT combustible the way other fossil fuels are, so there is no risk of fire like there is with gasoline.
Also, tanks have a slow progression of corrosion. First the leak will start out as a small weep, which could just make the bottom of the tank damp or wet.
Then it will progress to a slow drip, which will increase in frequency. You don’t need to call the fire department if you just have a slow drip.
Call GreenTrax, or your oil delivery company, and the tank can be pumped out. You can also minimize the damage by putting a pan or tray under the tank to catch the dripping oil.
If oil has already gotten onto the concrete floor, you can go to the store and buy cat litter and put it under the tank. That will help absorb the smell.
None of these are a long-term fix. They’ll just get you through until we can come and pump out the tank for you. Any leaking tank cannot and should not be repaired. It needs to be replaced.
You can also call the Maryland Dept. of the Environment and they will send a crew to pump out the tank into drums for you. However, they do not do any cleanup or install a new tank. This just helps in the short-term to stop the leak by pumping the oil out.
That said, if it’s winter, you will also be left with no heat. It’s best to call GreenTRAX so we can pump the tank out and install a new tank for you. We will also assess the leak and if the floor is worse than what can be cleaned up.
We often find that a small part of the concrete floor may need to be removed and replaced. It’s also worth saying that if the oil has soaked into the dirt below the floor, we may need to dig out some of that as well.
Managing a Leaking Oil Tank in the Crawlspace
The process of dealing with a leaking oil tank in a crawlspace is the same as above. However, since many crawlspaces are short, people usually avoid ever trying to go in. Also, because most crawlspaces have dirt floors, you likely won’t know the tank has leaked until it’s too late.
You will start smelling a strong diesel fuel/heating oil smell in the house or basement, or you might see oil in the sump pump pit. All of these are not good, and they mean the tank needs to be pumped out and removed.
If the oil tank is in a crawlspace, it will usually need to be cut in pieces to be removed. This is not a problem for us. We do that all the time. Then we can install a new tank for you in another part of the basement or outside.
We’re not completely done, though, because the remediation of contaminated soil will be necessary.
The moral of the story here: if you have a tank in one of these dark, dingy, dirt floor, spider-filled crawlspaces (we don’t like spiders either!), it’s probably very old and should be replaced before it leaks. A word to the wise: make life easier on yourself and install the replacement in a more visible location.
Managing a Leaking Oil Tank Located Outside
Most tanks outside are sitting on concrete blocks and have dirt or gravel below them. Despite popular belief, you usually do not “catch” the leak on these tanks until it’s too late.
Even though you may be outside regularly, that’s no guarantee you’ll find the leak. Maybe the tank is on a side of the house you rarely go to. And besides, who is looking at their tank that much?
Sometimes you will get lucky, but many times once you start “smelling” oil, it’s too late. It’s really bad if you’re smelling oil in the basement… but the tank is outside.
Many times the tank has been dripping for much longer than people realize. That can happen because on the surface the leak looks small, but once the oil seeps into the ground it spreads out to the sides and rain spreads it further.
Aboveground oil tank leaks like that are bad and can be very costly to deal with.
One of the easiest ways to avoid that is to know how long a heating oil tank lasts. The average life of a tank is 20 years. If you do not know how old the tank is at your home, or if you lived in the house 15 years or more and the tank has never been replaced, it’s time to have it replaced.
Don’t overcomplicate it. Don’t risk a leak. Get in touch with GreenTrax and we will take care of this for you.
We offer new tank options that are double-walled and ones with long warranties from the manufacturer.
Call The Experts To Help Manage Your Leaking Heating Oil Tank
If you have a leaking tank outside, the way to correct this is to call GreenTrax. We will excavate the contaminated soil, which will then have to be hauled away.
From there, we’ll obtain soil samples to be tested at a lab, backfill the hole with clean fill dirt, and, if your property is on well water, we will also need to test the well water, too.
It is important to deal with any leaking tank outside as soon as the leak is detected. If you ignore this leak, it will get worse and become more expensive to clean up. Another reason not to wait: the leaking tank also has the possibility of contaminating your neighbors’ property, which is another mess you don’t want to deal with.
Call GreenTrax today – or send us a message here – to discuss your tank removal and or tank replacement.
