Oil Tank evaluation - Inspection Delaware
Delaware was the first state, and as to be expected, was populated early on and was one of the first states to use oil heat. Homes built in the early 1900's, 1950's really up until the 1990's used oil for heat and those oil tanks were buried in the ground.
There were many companies that filled oil tanks in place in Delaware, with no testing. These buried tanks are now coming up as an issue when the house is listed for sale. These abandoned tanks get removed and greater than 50% of them leak and require remediation. This happens in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well.
The above dwelling is circa 1955. In 1993 the owners abandoned the heating oil UST. There is no documentation pertaining to what abandoned means. Typically abandoned means not doing anything with the tank (abandoning the tank just leaving it there), cutting off the fill cap and capping the fill with concrete (so the tank can't be filled again (abandoned) or filling the tank with an inert material such as stone, sand, or slurry (abandoning).I have no idea which one it is, nor does the owner who paid for the work. The buyer and the buyers mortgage company also have questions regarding the oil tank. The concern with oil tanks is they leak and can require remediation. A small remediation can average between $8,000.00 and $15,000.00.
We were asked to inspect the abandoned oil tank for a real estate transaction. But since no one could document what "abandoned tank" means, the best course of action is to remove the tank and provide soil testing. You see if the tank was abandoned with oil remaining in the tank, no inspection will prevent the oil from leaking in the future. Hence the need to remove the tank and acquire soil samples documenting that the oil tank did not leak. Delaware has remediation standards for leaking oil tanks.
For this property the UST was abandoned and replaced with an AST for oil heat. So the UST was abandoned proactively possible due to age (the tank would have been 38 years young in 1993) or because of an issue with the tank, which would mandate replacing the tank.
Delaware has so many properties where oil tanks were abandoned in the ground and a new fuel source used for heat. These tanks while legal, represent a financial burden on the property in the event if the tank leaks. If an oil tank is abandoned in place in Delaware and there is no testing to show that the tank did not leak, you have work to do.
The abandoned oil tank like all buried petroleum tanks represents a liability. The tank should be removed and tested to ensure that tank has not leaked and requires remediation.
