In-ground oil tank

I have an in-ground oil tank I do not use . I have pumped out as well as I can. The oil I pumped out of the tank did not have any water in it. Is it acceptable to fill it in? How would I cut a hole in the tank to fill it? Do I need to have it removed? Can I remove it myself? I am in PA.

Well not sure about PA ... but I can tell you in this state you'd be better off filling it by the light of the moon, than letting any official know it's there.

Otherwise you'd be out $30k for a hazmat crew to come in, test the soil in a 1,000' perimeter .... then test the entire neighborhood's well water to see if your responsible for that too .... and then another contractor to come in & remove it with a crane & hazmat suits to extract it from the ground, .... and then yet another fee for disposal of the tank ... and disposal of the soil. Then, news crews will be camping in front of your house talking about the headline : "ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER AT xxxxx". Then you'll receive death threats by phone & email from enviro-nazi's all over the country.

In MA, I'd choose the moonshine method. Since your in PA, you might have a better experience.

I doubt it would be much better... maybe a little better. This is what I'm afraid of. Try to do things the ("they" tell you is the)Right way and you end up doing it the best way... according to me. We don't have well water as I live in a small town. I don't want to pollute the ground but they have so many laws I can't afford to have the tank removed. I don't think there is anything wrong with the tank, but I installed two(275 gal) in the basement. I hear that people in PA. have been notified that the tanks need to come out by a certain date, (I don't no if that is true or not) I didn't receive the notification if there was one.

Hmm, that's a tough question... I just noticed that you are in Perkasie, Howdy Neighbor from over here in Harleysville!!! If you were in some back-woods part of the state then without a doubt I would go the SMITTY route and fill that thing in like an unwanted swimming pool, but Perkasie?? I guess if you are the only one that knows its there and the neighbors don't regularly arm themselves with binoculars, then maybe you could get away with it... I would have no idea what permits if any (can't imagine there would be) would be required to have it professionally removed, but I would think that a trip to ORE in Quakertown in search of a lifting device to remove it yourself wouldn't be very expensive, they rent to homeowner all day long and have nice equipment... Maybe a backhoe or a mini excavator, use to dig around the tank then to lift it out also!!!

Around here folks fill them with sand and leave them be. But this is rural WV; no codes, no worries. Unless you have nosy neighbors looking to stir up trouble.

I was afraid if I filled it in, then decided to move and had to disclose the information about an in-ground tank on the property. I may be required to remove a tank that is filled with sand.

I know someone real well who had an inground oil tank on thier property that was able to sell their last home withen the past year. Shouldnt be an issue. Very common years ago around here when oil was lets say affordable.

I just looked at the PA regs and it appears that it is exempt from the underground tank rules so you can probably do anything you want. I would give your Fire Chief or Marshall a call, they should know what's Kosher.

Keep it buried, remove the fill tube and install an above ground tank. Some guys cut the top off and fill with sand.

How big is the tank...
Your oil delivery company should have a card on the size...
Do you have access to a backhoe...
500 gal or smaller is easy...
1000ga is not too bad with some help...
Better to pull it now before you are forced to...
'They' might not know it is even there...
Did you need a permit to put the new tanks in...
Did they know about the old tank...
Common sense rules the day...
Keep it safe no flames or blades on an empty tank...

The tank is 275 gallon. Permits for new(used) tanks ... I don't have an oil company, when I need oil I call around for the cheapest price, I get to pay the winner. Lucky me! I'm not sure anyone knows that the tank is there. I think it needs to come out.

Uncover it, cut it with a sawall clean the crud out of it and pull it out. take the crud to be recycled and the tank to the scarp yard and get a recite to show where it went. do it right once and it can't come back to bite your ass. I deal with this all the time in NJ. Check to see if the state offers funding for tank removel and spill cleanup. NJ did it till April 2011 (they ran out of money). Call your state DEP or check their web site for info.

Easy choice...
Dig it up...
Make sure all the oil is out...
Before you start digging...
No point in making a mess if it was not leaking...

Here in Pa. its a slap back goverment once they have you in there sights the locusts will sworm. Fair warning

traderfjp wrote:Keep it buried, remove the fill tube and install an above ground tank. Some guys cut the top off and fill with sand.

My parents had a home in N.J. going back almost 20 years no. It had an underground tank and there was some issue with the supply line to the burner (too small, too long, crushed, something like that). Once the problem was identified, my father just installed a 275 gal tank in the garage and after pumping the underground tank empty, he unscrewed the fill and vent pipes from the top of the tank and left it.

Well, when it came time to sell the house a few years later, it came up somehow that there was an underground tank on the property. Well, now there was a tank full of water and it all had to be treated as hazardous waste (1000 gal. of it) and then the tank dug up and the ground tested for contamination. Rather than just paying to have an empty tank dug up it turned into a big fiasco at a huge expense.