A Bit About Highland, MD
Highland, Maryland is a fairly small community in southern Howard County. With a population around 1,100 people, it uses the zip code 20777. Highland is relatively small with the total land area only being approximately 2.5 square miles. It is surrounded by other cities such as Clarksville, Dayton, Glenelg, Brookeville, Fulton, Scaggsville and Glenwood (among others).
Oil Storage Tanks in Highland
What’s more is GreenTRAX Inc. has removed many a buried heating oil tank from this small area. Since there are many large properties, farms, horse fields and wooded land in this part of Howard County, one popular primary heat source for homes is heating oil. And when the houses were built, most properties had underground storage tanks (USTs). You may also have an aboveground storage tank (AST).
Oil Tank Lifespan
Residential heating oil is a very warm, good quality heat for your home. But the big thing to be aware of is a UST will only last about 20 years. The same goes for most ASTs. A good portion of the houses in Highland, MD are 30 or 40+ years old. And in many cases, the UST is just as old as the house, which means so the tanks are well past their useful lifespan.
Common Oil Tank Sizes
The most common size home heating oil tank that we see in Highland is a 550-gallon, with some tanks being 1,000-gallon or even 300-gallon. These buried oil tanks are just single-wall steel; they have no protection from groundwater or other below-ground factors that corrode the metal.
If your tank is over 20 years old, then it is time to call GreenTRAX to have the tank removed and replaced.
GreenTRAX has a 30-year history in the tank business and has the expertise to handle any situation you may have.
Highland Oil Tank Abandonment
In the event your tank would be a better candidate for a (legal) tank abandonment, we can perform this also. A legal tank abandonment involves several steps that are required by the Maryland Dept. of the Environment (MDE), and cannot be performed by the homeowner themselves, or by a plumber, HVAC contractor, or a general contractor. A tank removal or abandonment must be performed by an MDE licensed tank contractor – that’s GreenTRAX, Inc.
Buried Oil Tank Removal
When performing an underground tank removal, we will take soil tests onsite and send them to the lab. We must ensure you do not have any contaminated soil. We also make sure the tank is thoroughly cleaned out and that the oil and sludge in the tank is properly disposed. If your soil below the tank bottom is clean and tank is not leaking, we will fill the hole in with clean fill dirt.
After results are received from the lab, we will provide you with the required closure package you need to prove the soil is clean and tank was handled legally. If the tank is not leaking, we’ll complete the job in one day onsite, sometimes in as little as 2 hours.
Oil vs Electric
We will also be able to install a new tank on your property the same day as the UST removal. Are you thinking of switching to all electric once you get rid of the UST? We don’t recommend it.
If you have electric ONLY, the electric will NOT be able to keep up with very cold temps when we get into the 20’s for long periods or in the teens and single digit temps. Then the house will feel cold, not to mention the high electric bill. Plus, when you do switch to electric you have the added expense of the new furnace. So, it definitely would be less expensive for you to stick with oil heat and let GreenTRAX install a new aboveground tank. We’ll hook it up to your existing furnace or boiler.
However, if you did still want electric, we would recommend a new heat pump/furnace that works with an oil backup. That way we would install a new aboveground tank for your backup heat. The oil heat kicks in to warm up the house when your electric unit is working at capacity. For those people that need or prefer to have a “warm” house and not feel chilled, this is the best option for you.
While there are some benefits to having electric heat, we have heard from many customers and we also have first-hand experience with heat pumps. And they are what we would describe as a “fast moving warm air”, so even when it is working properly it does not “feel” as warm as a petroleum-based heat such as heating oil, propane, or natural gas.
Available Tank Sizes
When you are deciding on which new tank to have GreenTRAX install for you, the most common size is 275-gallon. We can offer you tanks that have manufacturer warranties that start at 10 years, but also offer you longer warranties of 25 and 30 years. If your property needs more than 275 gallons, we can offer larger tanks as well, such as 330-gallon, 400-gallon, 500-gallon and 1,000-gallon. With some of these tanks on the smaller end, also being able to be installed in the basement, where appropriate or desired by homeowner.
Things to Keep in Mind
If you:
- you stop using the UST and switch to a new heat source, the MDE requires that you remove/abandon the tank within 180 days, so call GreenTRAX.
- smell oil in the house or oil in the sump pump basin, call GreenTRAX.
- are buying or selling a property and have a UST, call GreenTRAX; We will need to remove the tank before settlement.
- have a tank older than 20 years, call GreenTRAX for a removal and replacement.
- have an aboveground tank that is leaking, we need to address this immediately, call GreenTRAX.
Beginning to see a pattern here?
Are you the trustee, realtor, executer, or other responsible party for a property where the owner is no longer available? Call us and we will help you through the process.
We can offer you a no-contact, no-hassle, same-day proposal for the tank removal, abandonment, replacement, or installation. You do not have to take off work to meet us. In most cases, our standard pricing allows us to send you a proposal sometimes within minutes of your initial phone call to us.
Talk soon.
