Many leaking oil tanks are found by accident. These are the warning signs listed by the NJDEP in its homeowner guidance. One alone does not prove a leak, but each is a reason to look closer. The nine signs An unexpected jump in oil use. More oil used than the weather or your heating pattern […]
Before you sign a contract to remove an oil tank, verify that the company is allowed to do the work. New Jersey makes this easy, and the check takes a few minutes. Why certification matters According to the NJDEP’s homeowner FAQ, removing an underground heating oil tank requires a closure-certified individual working for a closure-certified […]
Finding a buried oil tank feels like finding a problem. It is more accurately a piece of information. What you do with it depends on whether the tank has leaked, and that is something you can start to find out in an orderly way. Step 1: Look for signs of a leak Before anything else, […]
You bought a house, or you have lived in one for years, and you learn there is an old oil tank somewhere under the yard. It was disconnected long ago. Is it safe to leave it? The honest answer has two parts. What the rules say The NJDEP treats residential heating oil tanks as “unregulated […]
There is no way to know the condition of a buried tank by looking at the lawn. That is the reason timing matters. Learning about a tank early, before closing and before any problem appears, gives you choices that you may not have later. What a leak looks like The NJDEP lists signs that a […]
People often use “dig” and “excavation” as if they mean the same thing. In the oil tank world they are different jobs, with different goals, different rules and very different cost and disruption. The goal of each An exploratory dig answers one question: what is this signal? It opens a small area to identify an […]
If a sweep has flagged a spot in your yard, an exploratory dig is the way to find out what is there. Here is what the visit usually looks like, so nothing about it is a surprise. Before anyone digs The location comes from the sweep, which marks the signal on the ground. Before opening […]
A tank sweep is a search. It can tell you that something under the lawn behaves the way a tank would. It cannot tell you what that something is. That last step belongs to an exploratory dig. Why a signal is not an answer Metal detection and ground penetrating radar respond to what is buried, […]
An oil tank can turn a smooth sale into a stressful one, especially when it shows up late. Agents who handle older New Jersey homes tend to learn this early, and many build a tank check into the timeline from the start. Where a sweep and a dig fit A sweep is the first step. […]
Walk through almost any older New Jersey neighborhood and you will find homes that were heated with oil for decades and later switched to natural gas. The furnace was replaced. The oil tank often was not. Many were left in the ground, sometimes with the pipes cut and capped, sometimes not even that. That is […]
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