Tank Sweeps with GPR

A tank sweep is a specialized due diligence completed when buying a property when prior oil heat to the property was possible.

When was oil heat possible?

Pre 1980 homes

When owner cannot guarantee that homes never used oil heat

It is estimated that 75% of the housing stock in the Northeast had oil heat at one time.

When you use GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar to complete the tank sweep you are using what would be utilized for commercial properties.

Is commercial better?  Well, there is greater risk and expense for commercial properties as the environmental standards are stricter, so buyers of commercial sites want the best technology to protect their investments.

The number one method for finding buried objects such as petroleum tanks, water lines, sewer lines and other buried objects is by performing a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey. GPR surveys are nondestructive evaluation (tank sweep) of buried objects.

Are other tank sweeps cheaper?

For sure, metal detectors cost about $1,000 and you can hire someone working out of their house to scan a property for metal, but the results are mixed.   Soils have metal, as do buried utilities and surface obstructions (the house, a fence) which will all trick a metal detractor to think its a tank.  Actually, trick is not appropriate wording, as a metal detector detects metal, any metal, the fallacy is the belief that a tank is the only metal on a property.

The photo below shows a tank found using GPR, you can see the image on the screen which are the radar waves reflecting back off the tank giving the technician a positive ID of a tank. We do tank sweeps for many buyers of real estate and when we find a tank the seller (owner) will on occasion dispute that a tank is present (most times the owner never did a tank sweep or if they did they used a metal detector). 

Tank sweep Questions?

Call 888-301-1050

Why would a house have oil heat?

Today many homes are heated by natural gas, but oil tanks have been installed both above and below ground as recently as 2001, in NJ, PA & DE.    Most people do not realize that natural gas was expensive until the oil embargo of the 1970's which lowered the cost to the point it was cheaper than heating oil.  Homes using oil before the 1970's typically converted to natural gas.

You do a tanks weep because people did not plan for a heater to fail and when it did there was an unplanned expense to replace the heater.  An oil furnace that died and yes, they die when you are using them in winter, require a homeowner to quickly get a new furnace installed with a bill into the thousands of dollars.  The oil tank, if they di don't have to spend anymore unplanned monies the tank remaining the ground or basement.  Perhaps in the spring they would cut the pipes sticking out of the ground and cap the pipes with concrete, leaving a tank with oil in it to rot.

Thats why you do a tank sweep, because that ignored the expense.  Next to a home inspection, a tank sweep is an important inspection when buying a home.  Environmental regulations are not fair and place the responsibility of cleaning up contamination on the property owner, not the party that caused the contamination. When buying or selling a home have a tank sweep performed helps manage the liability of oil tanks.  In short metal rusts, holes appear, and oil will leak out of the tank to the extent that remediation is required by law and the owner is responsible for cleanup.   I would hope that both buyers and sellers understand that a $25,000 oil tank leak devalues a property and it also an expense a new homeowner wants to avoid, hence the need for tanks weeps, to find a problem before you find a problem.  And yes, an undisclosed oil tank is a problem.

Below is a snip from a home inspection report, that also used a metal detector to look for a tank.  If you read it, you will see that they found a metal object, could be a tank, and they recommend a GPR survey!

The photo below relates to 25k worth of cleanup from a tank that was not supposed to be on the property.  No tank sweep was performed prior to purchase.  The buyer's realtor also documented that this area does not have buried oil tanks but was apparently wrong.

What is a tank sweep?

It is an evaluation of a property for prior oil heat and evidence of abandoned oil tanks.   Historically most buyers will end up leaving their homes within 5-10 years after purchase.    A home built in 1950, could have had 8 owners when measured from 2023.  An oil to gas conversion on a home could likely have been performed 3 owners ago, providing plausible deniability of the current owner having no knowledge of prior oil heat, since they purchased the home with natural gas as a fuel source.

You do a tank sweep to prevent this from happening to you.

Can you scan 100% of a property?

No, no one can provide 100% coverage.   People install additions over tanks, park cars, decks, moving PODS, etc.  Note the photo below, a tank could be under a car, or the POD and no one would be able to survey those locations.

Ditto for this gem of a backyard.   The possessions strewn across this area will prohibit scanning the area.

Best Tank Sweep

At Curren we feel we provide the best possible sweep for a number of reasons:

Over 25 years in business

Licensed to remove tanks in 3 states, meaning we know tanks.

'Tens of thousands of tanks removed, knowing how tanks are buried and where helps when you are looking for a hidden tank.

Because we remove tanks, when we find a tank you can get a cost to remove the tank.  Clearly the owner must pay for removal but having instant cost helps with at least one of the unknowns.   In short it keeps the process moving forward.

Tank Sweep Questions?

888-301-1050