Underground Oil Tank Leak

Outdoor oil tank leak.

Underground oil tank leak.

Approximately 542 000 underground storage tanks usts nationwide store petroleum or hazardous substances. Typical residential oil tank sizes range from 275 290 to 500 or 1000 gallons in capacity. The risks of an underground oil tank range from environmental and legal to financial and health related. While possible the odds are that an underground tank 10 or 15 years old probably is not leaking.

Insurance may only cover a portion of these costs further increasing your risk. If your neighbor s well or water supply becomes contaminated there is an oil tank leak affecting the water table. Oil tank leaks are concerning because they could be hazardous to people animals property and the environment. Indoor oil tank leak.

If you have an underground heating oil tank you are probably concerned about oil tank leaks. The cost of cleaning up a leak from an underground oil tank ranges from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on how much contamination has occurred and the worst part is there s a good chance your homeowner s insurance won t cover any of the costs. Oil tank leaks refers to the uncontrolled release of oil from an oil storage tank. When an oil tank leaks it normally starts with a pinhole size opening which allows oil to escape and impact the soils around the tank.

The selection of a remedial solution is optimized to consider the oil and hazardous materials present. A typical leaking underground storage tank lust scenario involves the release of a fuel product from an underground storage tank ust that can contaminate surrounding soil groundwater or surface waters or affect indoor air spaces. If you smell oil and you see it on the floor near or beneath the tank during a visual inspection you know you have a leak. In some cases water may leak into the tank or the leak may occur only when the tank is full thus hiding the problem from the homeowner.

It is relatively easy to detect an indoor oil tank leak. As the leading authority for oil tank removal in montgomery county professional tank environmental is all too familiar with the implications of a leaking underground oil tank just because the root of such a problem is buried deep underground that does not mean the issue will stay there. First if your oil tank sprouts a leak the cost of cleaning the contaminated soil and water can stretch into thousands of dollars. The greatest potential threat from a leaking ust is contamination of groundwater the source of drinking water for nearly half of all americans.

However the likelihood of a leak increases as the tank gets older. Oil tank leaks usually start out as a very small hole in the tank structure which causes the tank s contents to leach into the surrounding soil sometimes at depths. An oil tank leak usually refers to the escape of petroleum from a buried tank.