How to read mold testing results.

A Mold Survey involves mold sampling for the presence or type of mold. Mold sampling is completed in two ways, mold surface sampling and mold air sampling. Mold surface sampling is completed on a surface that is suspected to contain a mold-like substance, this type of sampling can be completed by performing acquiring a mold tape lift sample or a mold swab sample. Both methods involve acquiring a sample of the mold-like substance and having the sample analyzed by a laboratory. Your results should determine the type and quantity of mold. The interpretation of sample results pertaining to mold concentration has to be evaluated objectively when the analysis finds mold as you are sampling an area that has a mold-like substance, which can typically represent the suspected highest concentration (worst area), otherwise, why would you sample that particular area. The other type of mold sampling is mold air sampling. Mold air sampling is accomplished by running air through a laboratory containing that that captures microscopic airborne particles (fungi). The sample container is then analyzed by a laboratory for mold type and mold quantity. The analysis can be studied for both viable molds, meaning the sample is studied to see if the mold spores grow or by non-viable meaning, it what is the overall type and quantity of mold found. Mold non-viable air sampling is more common as it has been established that mold spores alive or dead can be an irritant.

Once you have the laboratory analysis completed, you now have to discuss the results and what they mean. Unlike soil and groundwater samples where all states have specific government-established standards, with mold there are No Federal or State Agency established concentration standards (Maximum Exposure Limits- MEL) or threshold level values for airborne indoor mold or for surface sample analysis of mold. Therefore, if you suspect there is a mold problem and have air testing or surface sampling performed, there is no regulatory standard to compare your results against. Without government standards, there is no common industry standards standard. The reason that there are no standards is that setting exposure limits or MELs would be difficult for a variety of technical reasons, which include limitations in both mold surface sampling and mold air sampling techniques, individual variability in sensitivity to microbial exposure among the human population, the occurrence of different types of biological and chemical pollutants in the indoor environment and limited data on the exposure-response relationship in humans. In essence, it is difficult to say who will be affected by mold spores and at what concentrations it would take to affect different people.

Due to the lack of set government standards, the environmental consulting industry follows general principles when evaluating mold test results. On a basic level when evaluating mold air sampling data, the mold levels should be higher outside than inside. The idea behind this approach is that there are always more molds outside in the soil, mulch, plants, decomposition of organic matter, etc. outside. Aside from an indoor and outdoor comparative evaluation, you evaluate the test results for specific types of mold. This evaluation includes looking for common outdoor molds as well as molds that are more commonly found on moist building materials. Evaluation of these molds goes a step deeper by looking for so-called opportunistic molds (marker fungi), which are frequently found on long-term water damaged building materials. The presence of these molds can point to a long-term moisture issue. These opportunistic fungi include Aspergillus and Penicillium species, Acremonium spp., Sporobolomyces spp., Stachybotrys, chartarum, Memnoniella echinata, Tritirachium oryzae, Ulocladium botrytis, U. chartarum, Cladosporium spp., and Chaetomium spp. These are molds that are not typically recovered in the outside air, so when they are found outside, they are in generally low levels. Conversely, when they are found indoors these molds typically point to an indoor water issue. The higher the indoor concentration of these fungi the more likely a long-term water issue is present.

In summary mold testing and the interpretation of the analytical results involves the evaluation of individual types of mold you find and determining why they are present.

Finding the type of mold, while interesting it does not explain why it is present. Therefore, every mold survey and mold inspection should not just confirm the presence of mold but also why the mold present is, and what created the environment for the mold to grow. The backend of the mold testing and mold sampling project includes an inspection for the physical presence of mold as well as for water damage.

More common mold questions and answers can be found at: /Mold-Frequently-Asked-Questions

Buying or selling a commercial property?   If so,  you should know what a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) is.   Phase I is a form of due diligence completed during real estate transactions. Buyers perform Phase I's to ensure they are not buying an environmental cleanup. Sellers also perform Phase I's to address any issues that would delay the sale and use it as a marketing tool when selling the property.  Properties with clean Phase I reports sell faster with no questions asked.

So what is the Phase I Process?

A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) uses the protocols as set forth in the Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process (E1527-21), prepared by ASTM International.

Phase I Purpose

The primary purpose of Phase I is to document the inquiry of the environmental professional for All Appropriate Inquiries for the subject site. This practice is intended to permit a user (person paying for the Phase I) to satisfy one of the requirements to qualify for the innocent landowner, contiguous property owner, or bona fide prospective purchaser limitations on CERCLA liability (from now on, the “landowner liability protections,” or “LLPs”): that is, the practice that constitutes all appropriate inquiries into the previous ownership and uses of the property consistent with good commercial and customary practice as defined at 42 U.S.C. 9601(35) (B). The Phase I  report is not intended to be part of the site characterization and assessment with the use of a grant awarded under CERCLA Section 104(k) (2) (B). More specifically, the scope is intended to identify conditions indicative of releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances on, at, in, or to the subject site.

 

 Phase I looks into if any past and current use of the site, adjacent and abutting property, and nearby off-site operations have or have the potential to adversely affect the environmental quality of the subject site. The information contained within Phase I is obtained from the performance of a site inspection, the use of an environmental information service company, and face-to-face and/or telephone interviews with persons familiar with the Subject site.

The scope of an ESA is to identify Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs) in accordance with ASTM E1257-21. In addition, Curren’s ESA shall include a visual evaluation or assessment of the following non-scope issues: asbestos-containing building materials (ACBMs), lead-based paint (LBP), radon, mold, and land use restrictions. No sampling was conducted as a part of this Phase I.

How is Phase I conducted?

Phase I is conducted by performing the following tasks:

• Physical site inspection
• Federal, State, and local regulatory document review and personnel contact
• Examination of aerial photographs, Sanborn historical fire insurance maps, topographic maps, etc.
• Geologic and hydrogeological data review
• A cursory inspection of adjacent properties

 

Phase I can be hundreds of pages long if no longer.   For ease of understanding Executive Summaries are included with each report so primary issues of concern can be easily accessed. 

 

Curren Environmental has over 25 years of experience performing Phase I Assessments. Call the Experts.

 

 

A 1031 exchange gets its name from Section 1031 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, which allows you to avoid paying capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property and reinvest the proceeds from the sale within certain time limits in a property or properties like kind and equal or greater value.

Not dissimilar to the photo below showing the progress of the famous tower, a 1030 Exchange can allow an investor to keep building up a real estate portfolio.   Unfortunately, skilling environmental due diligence on a commercial site can be a costly mistake when remediation is needed.

As a  real estate investor, a 1031 Exchange can allow you to leverage your investment in real estate.  In the environmental due diligence world, we find that 1031 Exchanges tend to skip over environmental due diligence, which places the parties involved at risk.     People need to understand, that the owner of the property =  the RP.  (RP = Responsible Party).  Even in situations where the seller agrees to perform the remediation, we have seen RP's disappear and regulatory agencies will also look toward the owner of the real estate. 

Generally speaking A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment should be performed for all commercial real estate transitions, including 1030 exchanges.    Learn About Phase I

 

 

Let's start with the appeal of the 1031 Exchange

First, it allows an investor to pick a new property that allows a greater ROI or diversify the portfolio of properties.

You can use the exchange to consolidate several properties into one asset or vice versa acquiring more properties in exchange for one more valuable one, possible for estate planning.

On an accounting basis, you can reboot the depreciation clock. Meaning rather than simply selling one property and buying another one the 1031 exchange allows you to defer capital gains tax, thus freeing more capital for investment in the replacement property.

That all sounds great right?  Well, the environmental rub is there are time frames for 1030 to execute and we are finding many people have skipped over doing environmental due diligence including Phase I, II & III.   The rub is all Phase I studies follow an outline established by ASTM.  ASTM updates the standard every 8 years.  Generally speaking, when a change occurs Phase I becomes more inclusive.    a Phase I from 20 years ago would be a faster read than one today.  So you can expect that today's Phase I will be more thorough.  

The oil that leaked from this previously sealed pit is now the owner's responsibility to address.

 

How do you protect yourself with a 1030 Exchange?

Real estate transactions are complicated and 1031 Exchanges add a short window to identify properties, which makes people cut corners.

1. Be savvy and have your environmental consultant evaluate the potential sites.  You can start with a cursory environmental evaluation to find any red flags, you don't always have to do a Phase I.  You can do a Records Search with Risk Assessment (RSRA): Which is where an environmental professional obtains, reviews, and summarizes an ASTM 1527-21 compliant database for the noted property and the surrounding one (1) mile. The review will focus on any pertinent listing for the Subject Property as well as any surrounding properties which could pose a potential Recognized Environmental Concern (REC). The environmental professional will also perform a reconnaissance of the Subject Property. (Access to interior building areas must be granted.).   RSRA's can be converted to Phase I after the decision is made to pursue the property.  RSRA's are helpful if you are evaluating multiple sites but only plan on acquiring one of them.  Now an RSRA is not a substitute for Phase I but rather a way for an investor to evaluate multiple properties without fully committing to Phase I.
2. Of course, you can also perform a Phase I for the target property.   Savvy investors will get the target property owner to share the cost of the Phase I which will allow both buyer and seller to retain rights and use of the report, in case the 1031 Exchange does not go through.
3. You can also have the owner perform the Phase I as a condition of your acquisition.   Hey to be fair, the property is going to need to have a Phase I for any buyer and many sellers contract for the Phase I to help expedite sales, even before the property is listed for sale.   Realtors take note, properties with a completed current Phase I go to settlement faster.  Buyers can always have the Phase I peer reviewed by an environmental professional.  Curren Environmental peer reviews a few hundred Phase I reports every month, so this is not uncommon.
4.  
5. At this point we hope you have a bit more knowledge about Environmental and 1031 Exchanges.  Want to know more?  Call an environmental professional.
   

Pro Tip:  Curren Environmental has been doing Due Diligence for close to three decades (Yea we are old).    When you need a Phase II, well we just pivot and come back to the site with some of our equipment. 90% of other companies call a subcontractor which adds cost and time.

You break it you buy it.  Look before you leap.  You only have yourself to blame.  All common phrases.  Well environmental due diligence, i.e., a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is an insurance policy of sorts that protects buyers of commercial properties.  Phase I is a historical and current assessment of a property for environmental issues (read costs to remediate contamination on a property).   But there are two "rubs" when doing a Phase I.  First, no buyer wants to find a problem with the property they are buying (trust me, I have heard clients say they hope we don't find anything countless times).  I call these people Hand Stampers because they want to get stamped that they did a Phase I and nothing was found, I call it unrealistic.   Do you think testing was required in the below photo?  The answer is yes.

The second rub of Phase I is that some 80% of the time, a Phase I is needed, apartment buildings much lower percent.   When Phase II testing is necessary the buyers are surprised by Phase II cost and the cost disparities (when they have time to price shop).  The rub is that a Phase I is 100% office work, a Phase II requires that same Phase I person, but now you are dealing with the environmental trades that 90% of environmental consultants subcontract out.  These Phase II services include Geophysical Surveys,  (GPR), and drilling (that's how you collect soil and groundwater samples). and perhaps excavation for test pits or removal of contamination (which technically is Phase III).   

All these services get marked up by the consultant.  You have to understand that consultants have insurance and workers comp that lists them as clerical, which is a very inexpensive insurance rating, most can't even use a shovel or it can place their personnel into a different workers comp rating which is more expensive.   So most all consultants subcontract services and markup the subcontractor, who does the heavy lifting so to speak.

We were asked to quote a Phase II for a buyer.   Our Phase II  cost was $3,500.00 and basically involved investigating locations where tanks were removed without testing.  The company that did the Phase I quoted the Phase II at  $7,800.00  the $4,300.00 difference represents the consultant's markup and recouping expenses from doing a discounted Phase I, Curren sees this discrepancy all the time.  Our client asked why the price differential, which I just explained to you and they said we should let more people know,  hence why you are reading this article.

 

Now, why would I want to let you know that consultants discount Phase I's knowing they will make it up on the Phase II work.   Well our recent client, who now has hired us for another property they are purchasing (Phase I), said we should.     

Curren Environmental could be considered a boutique or full-service company as we do the consulting and the environmental contracting (heavy lifting).   We find clients like being able to deal with one company and of course the financial savings.

 

Do you have Phase II Questions?

Call the experts

888-301-1050

 

 

 

 

It is not uncommon that Curren receives phone calls regarding a person purchasing a home with an in-use oil tank.  The common question is that even though the house has a new tank and should they be concerned about any other tanks on the property?   Another question asked is how long the new tank will be expected to last?

But our reality for the real concern is why was the old tank replaced?

In our culture we rarely replace an item before it breaks, newer and better cell phones excluded.

As an environmental company, we find that the replacement of an oil tank is because there was an issue with the old tank, but what was the issue with that old tank? Perhaps water entered the tank and the heater shut off or perhaps they noticed a loss of oil.    Maybe sludge built up in the tank and the heater could no longer pull oil from the tank for fuel.

Not to be a pessimist, but in our 30-plus years in business, we have found most people replace tanks because they had to, meaning the tank had a problem.   Think about yourself, have you replaced a heater or water heater before it had a problem?  How about a dishwasher or washer and dryer?  Well, the same reasoning occurs with oil tanks.

Whatever the cause we have found that we have an approximate 70% probability of finding contamination from the old tank.  This means if the old tank is still in the ground we remove it and find contamination.   We find the tank was removed from the ground sometime in the past, we do soil borings and find contamination.   This also relates to Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs).  We find contamination may have leaked from AST both outside and inside the home.      Tank owners for sure hope no one looks for contamination, but when we have a client buying a home or even selling a home, we have "the Talk" about tanks leaking and contamination associated with the leak.  The expense of a clean-up?   Well on average you could buy a new Tesla with the money spent to clean up a tank leak. 

 

The photo below was a leaking tank and yes the cost was equal to a Tesla.

We had a young couple buy a home that had an in-ground tank (UST) and an in-use AST.  Curren removed the tank before purchase and bingo it leaked.   We returned to define the contamination and yes it migrated to the neighbor's property (just by a few feet).  Clean-up was budgeted at $42,000.   Now the parents of the young couple and the attorney want a conference call, to discuss the cleanup.  A posed question was "Is this a large cleanup"?   Our answer is no.   SILENCE.   The family and attorney for the buyers were taken back since that much money could redo a bathroom or kitchen or both, which by the way the house needed.    So they were surprised a tank leak could cost so much and they were also taken back by thinking a newer tank was better.

Look, if you manage tanks in three states for over three decades and you become an expert.

Call the experts  at 888-301-1050

*Oh and yes the photo below is from one of our projects in the 1990s.

 

 

New Jersey allows sellers of real estate properties to complete a Property Condition Disclosure Statement.  The property disclosure statement relative to mold references he following. 

NJ Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement
(N.J.S.A. 56:8-19.1) A. 2685 

◦Yes    No         
[ ]      [ ]               9)        Are you aware of any water leakage, accumulation or 
                                       dampness within the basement or crawl spaces or any 
                                       other areas within any of the structures on the property? 

◦[ ]      [ ]               9a)      Are you aware of the presence of any mold or similar 
                                         natural substance within the basement or crawl spaces 
                                         or any other areas within any of the structures on the 
                                          property? 

As revised, N.J.S.A. 56:8-19.1 newly requires that if a filled-in property condition disclosure statement indicates the seller’s awareness of water leakage, accumulation or dampness, the presence of mold or other similar natural substance, or repairs or other attempts to control any water or dampness problem on the real property, the involved real estate broker, broker-salesperson, or salesperson is required to provide the buyer with a physical copy of the Department of Health’s "Mold Guidelines for New Jersey Residents" pamphlet. 

Mold Disclosure & Consumer Fraud

New Jersey consumer fraud law bans the "concealment, suppression, or omission of any material fact with intent that others rely upon such concealment, suppression or omission, in connection with the sale or advertisement of any … real estate." N.J.S.A. 56:8-2. 

The administrative rules of the Real Estate Commission provide that real estate licensees must disclose all information “material to the physical condition of any property which they know or which a reasonable effort to ascertain such information would have revealed to their client or principal and when appropriate to any other party to a transaction.” N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4.  The concern raised by this requirement is that a real estate broker or agent might be called on to answer to a defrauded buyer for passing along bad information originating with the seller. 

1. Mold disclosure in a typical real estate transaction
2. Seller answers no regarding water or mold
3. Home goes under contract
4. Buyer does due diligence including a mold inspection.
5. Mold is found and a repair request presented to the seller
6. Maybe because of mold, maybe another issue but the transaction falls apart and the property is an active listing.

The seller now has to disclose the mold even if it was not disclosed previously. If it is disclosed, the Realtor would need to provide the buyer with the mold guidelines.

Mold growth is due to a water issue, mold will grow back if the water issue is not fixed. After disclosure of mold growth by seller, ask how the water issue was fixed and for some paperwork. Regarding the mold remediation, ask the seller for paperwork from the mold remediation company. The company should provide information on the remediation was performed and warranties on the products used during remediation.

Disclosure of mold by the Seller should not make your run from the property, if you have the proper paperwork backing up that it was remediated and the water issue was fixed, it shouldn't be an issue in the future.

 

 

 

Should I Replace my Aboveground heating oil tank?

Received a phone call from a property owner in Massachusetts, who had an Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) and wanted to know what he should do with it.  There was no natural gas in his area and he has read a lot about Underground Storage Tanks (USTS) leaking and wanted to know if the same rang true for AST's.

My question was how old was the tank?

      He said over 30 years.

I said is your car that old?

      He laughed he said he has a car that is approaching  20 years old.

I asked if he felt comfortable driving that car to Florida or California.  His answer was he would not be comfortable as the car did not perform like new anymore.  Well, I said neither is your AST.  It has rust inside and out, it is well out of warranty and it has no warning system to alert you when it is going to leak.  The photo below is from a crawlspace, you can see the rust on the tank.  Why would there not be rust, it was in a crawlspace, which is moist.  

He wanted to know when the tank leaks -  will it be drip or a flow of oil, I said it could be either one.  He didn't like that answer.

My point being is If you want to store hundreds of gallons of oil, you must ensure the tank is capable of doing that.  Older tanks degrade.  You can see visible rust on the tank exterior, including the legs which support the tank.    In this case the tank did not spring a hole but the leg rusted and gave out, causing the tank to discharge.  A tank is a system consisting of the tank, piping and supports (legs), you only need the weakest link to fail to have a problem. 

The result of the tank leaking?   Well oil leaked into a sub pump which then pumped the oil outside.  

Not many people are conditioned to fix something that is not broken, but if you wait for a heating oil AST to fail, you could spend tens of thousands of dollars.   When you replace a tank, you get a warranty, which is nice when you go and sell the property.

Look we don't even install AST's, we remove them, but it is a great idea to replace a tank before it fails.   want to lean about closure of AST's?   Click the link below

AST Removal

 

NJ ISRA: The ISRA process begins with determining if the Act applies to your type of business and transaction. The provisions of ISRA only apply to industrial establishments. What is an industrial establishment? The term "industrial establishment" refers to the type of business operation and transactions that would subject a facility to review under ISRA. An industrial establishment must meet each of the following three criteria: The place of business or real property at which such business is conducted, having a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code listed in N.J.A.C. 7:26 B - Appendix C subject to the specified exceptions and limitations. The place of business must have been engaged in operations on or after December 31, 1983; and the place of business must involve the generation, manufacturer, refining, transportation, treatment, storage, handling, or disposal of hazardous substances or hazardous wastes.

What is ISRA?

The Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) is a unique environmental law which requires the remediation of certain business operations (site) prior to their sale or transfer or upon its cessation of on site business operations. Industrial Establishment is the defined term in the ISRA rule that describes those businesses regulated under ISRA.  Compliance with ISRA begins at the time of specified triggering events. 

Who Must Comply with ISRA?

Any person who owns the industrial establishment, owns the real property of an industrial establishment or is the operator of the industrial establishment must comply with ISRA.   Kind of vague

ISRA Question?  Call 888-301-1050

Aside from NJDEP notification of the ISRA occurring, you will start an environmental audit of the property called a Preliminary Assessment or PA.  The purpose of a PA is to conduct a site assessment that meets the diligent inquiry requirements of the Technical Requirements for Site Remediation (TRSR) at N.J.A.C. 7:26E-3.1 and 3.2 to determine if there may be any potentially contaminated areas of concern (AOC) located on the subject site that require further investigation.  What does that mean, imagine getting all the doctors you deal with (eye, dentist, surgeon, general practitioner, etc.) and having them inspect you, yep that's what a PA is.   Now the PA is historical  assessment and current site conditions assessment which like going to your doctor may lead to testing.

 

           

Recognized Environmental Concerns (REC)

A REC is defined as “the presence or likely presence of any hazardous substances or petroleum products in, on, or at a property due to (1) any release to the environment, (2) under conditions indicative of a release to the environment, or (3) under conditions that pose a material threat of a future release to the environment

Everything you wanted to  know about ISRA but were afraid to ask.

ISRA Overview

 

 

So many people continue to use Underground Storage Tanks (USTS), with the belief that the tank is in 100% working order, meaning no leaks.    How do you know if your tank is leaking -   Ninety-nine percent of the time you have no idea if your underground oil tank is leaking.   Let's be real, your smoke detector chirps when the battery is low, does your oil tank have an alarm or notification system?

Case in point, the following photos show a tank that is in use and was being replaced with an Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) for a future real estate transaction.  The photo below shows the tank fill pipe poking out of the ground about 18" high and in front of the rear stairs, pretty obvious a tank is present.

 

This tank gets removed, and we find that the tank was filled with oil, this oil was going to get transferred to the new AST.

So again, tank was being removed proactively, no signs the tank was leaking.  Tank gets removed, soils are a course sand.

Here is the tank out of the ground after removal.  What you need to note on the tank is the wetness on the top of the tank in the photo.  To you you see the top, but it is the bottom of the tank.   The wetness on the bottom of the tank is actually oil.   Note how soils are sticking to the tank.

So if you were on site and wiped you hand across the wetness, it would feel slick and smell oily.  Almost dead center of the photo below you can see the corrosion hole in the tank, almost big enough to put your finger through.  Now this hole was not always so large, it started as a pin hole, working through the tank as corrosion removed layer after layer of steel.  Once the hole advances through the tank shell, oil drips out, saturating soils, causing the soil to bind to the tank and form a plug that slows the oil leak, but does not stop it.

This tank, which was holding most of the oil, was slowly dripping oil for years.  The owner had no idea, because the hole was at the bottom of the tank, so water would not enter the tank and shut off the heater, the oil loss were drips, not dozens of gallons a day.  If you lost 70 or 10 gallons, you would notice, ounces a day, goes unnoticed.  Don't believe me?  Answer these questions.

• How many gallons of gas are in your car right now?
• When did or does the warranty on your car expire?  Oh the expiration of the warranty on your oil tank?
• Wait, does your oil tank have a warranty?
• How old is the tank?  Did the old owner replace the tank?  If so when?  Did you even ask?
• Do you have any salad dressing in the refrigerator that have expired?

Not trying to be funny, just making a point, that you don't pay attention to the mundane.   When your computer hard drive crashes, its a catastrophe,   well the same goes for your oil tank.  Rust never sleeps and the majority of tanks are well out of warranty and even farther out of the engineered design life expectancy.

Tanks are out of sight out of mind and people think they have a handle on the tank being in good condition, they think oil usage is normal no water in the tank are all signs the tank is not leaking.  Well water enters only of there is a hole in the top of the tank that would allow water to drain into, oil usage you only notice sudden drops in liquid, which is not the norm for a tank leak.  To be fair commercial tanks have expensive electronic leak detection systems, residential tanks do not.  To think you have a grip on how much oil your using, it giving yourself a little too much credit.

 

Some advice for knowing if your tank is at risk of leaking.

• Is the tank under warranty?
• Was the roof replaced?  If so the tank should have been replaced?
• Are you placing anything in the tank to prevent corrosion from the inside?
• Do you get the tank leak tested every year?

A no to any of these questions means you should replace the tank.  You can install a new Aboveground Tank that has a 30 or 40 year warranty, yes they cost money, but less than having to remediate a tank leak.  Tank leaks cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Call the experts   888-301-1050

Rust never sleeps, your above ground oil tank, either in your basement or outside will corrode not just on the outside, but from the inside out.  Nothing lasts forever and it is estimated that over 80% of aboveground heating oil tanks are beyond their designed life expectancy.   Those that are storing oil in vessels, will likely have that vessel fail without notice.  Your smoke alarm will chirp when the battery is low, your oil tank will leak without such notification.

The photo below is from a crawlspace tank that leaked, the oil ran to the crawlspace sub pump where it was discharged to the backyard.  The red you see is oil, heating oil is dyed red for identification.  This oil leaked from an interior AST, oil ran to a sub pump which pumped oil and water outside, about $50,000 to cleanup.

What does an Aboveground Tank Leak?

Water damage and condensation are two of the most common reasons that cause a tank to rust.  Outside, your tank is exposed to rain, snow and ice. That can pile up on the tank during winter and can mean your aboveground tank stays in constant contact with water for months.   In a basement, humidity (which also allows mold to grow) can corrode the tank shell, and moisture inside the tank will allows sludge to form that is acid and corrode the tank from the inside out.   Yep, your oil tank is not lubricated on the inside. 

This is the inside of an oil tank, all the rust-colored metal, its rust people inside the tank rust.

Winter is the most popular time for an oil tank to fail.   It is common when the weather changes that metal expands and contracts, opening up corrosion points in the tank shell and oil leaks. This is very common in the Northeastern United States from January through Spring.   You see the metal of the tank contracts in winter with the cold, warm days allows the metal to expand.  This contraction and expansion happens on the liquid in the tank as well as on the tank shell.  In areas where the metal has rusted (think layers of an onion) this movement can allow the integrity of the tank to be breached.   We see this every winter, some tanks are in use so hundreds of gallons of oil putting pressure against the shell of the tank further stresses the corrosion of the tank.   Fortunately sometimes these leaks start as a slow drip, other times as a steady stream of oil, as more and more oil moves through the corrosion holes, the holes get bigger.

 

Free Consultation

 

888-301-1050

 

The extreme temperatures that occur during the winter can also cause problems. Over time, rapid heating and cooling can cause cracks to form in the equipment, leading to leaks. Combined with moisture damage, one bad winter could mean you have to replace your tank, even if it’s still new.

How do you Know if Your Aboveground Tank is Leaking?

A leak in an above ground storage tank, or AST, can be determined in a few different ways.  First, do you smell oil?   Any home with oil heat can have a faint smell of oil (faint), but a strong oil odor, well that means fresh oil is leaking from the tank hence the strong odor.   Even a small cap full of fuel oil has an extremely pungent odor.  Discoloration of the floor below the tank is another easy cue that the tank has a leak.  If you open your refrigerator and see milk on the shelf, its a safe bet to say the milk container is leaking.    Outside your home if the grass is brown or dead by the tank, that s a sign oil has leaked.    You can also do your own tank leak test.   Simple DIY heating oil AST leak test, take a paper towel and run it along the bottom of the tank like you were polishing the tank.  If you get any oil on the towel, well its leaking oil should be on the inside of the tank not the outside.

Now if the tank is like the one below, you will have a rough time wiping the tank due to all the rust.  Well, this is a trick question because if you feel the corrosion, you should know the tank is rusting away and time to replace the tank.

 

Have tank Questions?

Want to remove a tank?

Call the experts

888-301-1050