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Most home heating oil USTs can be abandoned in-place. However, the tank should never be filled with sand or foam through the fill and/or vent pipe, as it is impossible to completely remove the oil and sludge without cutting the tank open. Also, the property owner should keep in mind that if leakage has occurred and is discovered at a later date, removal of the UST and contaminated soils will be required.

Many property owners, and some buyers as well, would rather not look for leakage. There are times that the removal of a UST would probably cause more problems than a little contamination remaining undisturbed in the soils at depth. For instance, when a tank is located close to a basement wall, the removal of the tank is likely to result in water drainage and/or foundational/structure problems. Or, the tank is difficult to access, surrounded by a well-established, expensive landscape, brick or stone walkways or walls, or the UST is partially buried beneath the house, a tree, or a patio. Because these tanks are not regulated, sometimes it is best to "Let sleeping dogs lie."

In the center of the upper left photo shown below, the fill and vent pipe of the 550-gallon UST can be seen. One end of the tank is uncovered. An access hole is cut in the tank. The reflection of the sky on the fuel oil in the UST can be seen in the upper right photo. The oil is then vacuumed out of the tank, and the interior is pressure-washed to remove the sludge. This cleaning of the interior of the UST ensures that, once the tank rusts away, no leakage of oil will contaminate the underlying soils. A sand/cement slurry is then poured into the tank, completely filling the void so that the tank cannot be reused and so that no sinkhole develops when the tank rusts away. As you can see in the lower right photo, when the dirt is put back in place, one would ever know that any work was done (the pruning of the shrub was done by the property owner to make my job easier, although it wasn't necessary).

When Sensible Solutions performs in-place abandonment, photographic documentation, as shown above, is provided in a Tank Abandonment Report. The report also includes a copy of the waste disposal manifest for the fluids and sludge removed from the UST. The report is signed and sealed by a NC-licensed geologist, certifying that the tank was properly abandoned.

Because contaminated soils could exist beneath the tank, it is always best to remove the UST whenever possible. However, removal is not required, nor is it possible in some cases. Many lenders and insurers require the tank to at least be taken out of service. Therefore, it is important to have good documentation that the UST was properly abandoned.