Do you have an oil tank buried under your backyard? Concerns about older (pre-1990) tank rupturing and leakage have made underground oil tanks a huge liability, especially if you are planning on buying or selling a home (basically, tanks made 20 years ago were not made with the same safety precautions as newer tanks, meaning they are far more susceptible to hazardous conditions present under the soil).

If you have an underground oil tank in your backyard, call Wheat & Sons! While we can’t remove the tank, we will remove any extra oil left over, fill the tank with sand and install a newer (and safer) above ground oil tank.

Oil tank replacement step one: Remove any excess oil

The first step of oil tank replacement is removing any excess oil from your existing oil tank. This is the best way to ensure that even if your tank rusts and ruptures over time, no oil will spill out and contaminate the soil around it. Removing the excess oil from the tank during oil tank replacement is widely seen as an acceptable alternative to the costly and difficult process of removing the tank altogether.

Oil tank replacement step two: Fill the oil tank with sand

The next oil tank replacement step is technically referred to as “oil tank abandonment” - basically, this involves filling the now empty tank with sand. While it may take decades for the tank to develop even a pinhole sized hole (and literally centuries for it to collapse completely), filling it with sand can help it keep its structural integrity so it does not create a sinkhole in your backyard.

Oil tank replacement step three: Install an above ground oil tank

Our oil tank replacement services end with the installation of a new above ground oil tank. Above ground tanks are generally preferred to underground oil tanks because they are much safer – there are numerous risks associated with underground oil tanks, including:

Degradation: while oil tanks are designed to last about 30 years, shifting soil, water and electrical charges in the ground can all speed up the degradation process. In addition, any leaks or cracks in your underground oil tank will cause oil to seep directly into the soil (and they will be much more difficult to detect!).

Water: not only is there a risk of oil leaking out of your tank, there is also a risk of water leaking INTO your tank. While many underground oil tanks have water traps below the oil to catch water that sinks, there is still a serious risk of water getting into the tank and then freezing, impairing your oil tank’s operation.

If you have an underground oil tank in your backyard, and you want to replace it with a new above ground oil tank, call Wheat & Sons today! We can make sure that your underground oil tank is properly abandoned and your new above ground oil tank is installed properly and safely.