The signs
No single clue proves there's a buried tank. Two or three together usually mean there is, or was, one. Walk the outside of the house first, then the basement.
A vent pipe
A thin metal pipe, usually an inch or two across, sticking up out of the ground or running up the side of the house, often with a mushroom-shaped cap on top. Every oil tank needs a vent.
A fill cap
A small round cap flush with the ground, in the lawn, a flower bed, or the edge of the driveway, or on a short pipe near the house. That's where the oil truck filled the tank.
Lines through the foundation
Two small copper or steel lines coming through the basement wall near where the burner is, or was. With a buried tank, the supply and return lines have to come in from outside.
A patched wall or floor
A neat patch in the foundation wall or floor where lines used to come through. It can mean the old lines were cut and the tank was left behind.
An old oil gauge
A gauge or whistle fitting with no tank attached, or an old burner or oil filter with nothing feeding it.
The house and the block
If the house was ever heated with oil, especially if it was later converted to gas, ask what happened to the tank. If neighbors on your block had buried tanks, yours may have one too.
"But my tank is in the basement"
Then that's the tank you know about. It doesn't always mean it's the only one. Some houses had a buried tank first and a basement tank later, and the old one was never dealt with. If you see a fill cap or vent pipe outside that doesn't connect to the basement tank, ask.
"The house is on gas now"
Gas conversions are one of the most common ways a tank gets forgotten. The installer hooks up the gas and the old oil tank stays where it was. Nassau County says aboveground tanks should be removed when they're replaced or during a gas conversion. If yours is buried and still there, it needs to be dealt with too: removed or closed in place.
Why it matters
Nassau County notes that tanks around 30 years old are prone to failure. A buried tank that was never properly closed is the thing a buyer's attorney, lender, or insurer is most likely to ask about. See selling a house with an oil tank.
What to do next
- Don't dig or poke at it. Leave the fill cap closed and don't try to find the tank with a shovel.
- Take photos of what you found: the vent pipe, the fill cap, the lines in the basement. Get one wide shot showing where it is relative to the house.
- Send them to us. Add them to the estimate form or email them to info@edkinginc.com. We'll tell you what we see.
- Look for paperwork. If the tank was already removed or abandoned, there may be a county letter in the house records or your closing file.
Smell oil or see a sheen?
If you see signs of an actual spill, report it to the NYS DEC Spill Hotline at 1-800-457-7362. Cleanup is handled by environmental firms. We don't do remediation.