Fuel oil tank

[Phillip]

I have seen LP tanks installed underground but I haven't seen a fuel oil tank before. I have seen photos.

Thursday's inspection had fill pipe and vent that leads me to believe a fuel oil tank under the ground. I did not find a line coming into the house.

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My question is, Is this also part of the tank?

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[Kyle Kubs]

If that is an oil tank, and it could be, the fill and vent pipe is definetely a home handyman job. A normal installation would look like this.

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Notice the vent pipe is far from the fill pipe (in the corner near the chimney base) and the easily removable cap for the fill pipe.

That second picture looks vaguely like the top of a well casing.

[MTL_Inspet_Man]

Here in my neck of the country

Old underground fuel tanks were very common

installed between 1930 - 1970

True 2nd pic looks like the top of a well.

Usually the vent pipe is further away from the fill pipe and sometimes secured to the exterior wall of the house.

[MMustola]

We have a lot of buried oil tanks in my area. Every one of them looks exactly like the one in Phillip's picture. They are not home owner or handy man installations, that's just the way they are done here.

[msteger]

Same for here in PA, although I don't see that many underground fuel oil tanks. Most are in basements or garages.

[MTL_Inspet_Man]

Sometimes the Oil Line comes in under the slab and not thru the wall

Look at slab floor for signs of patching on the inside of th wall facing th oil tank.

or near where the furnace is or used to be.. somewhere in the vicinity of the chimney too maybe.

[kurt]

Montreal man is right. Look along the wall-floor for a little fillet of cement. The fillet was laid over the flex copper fuel line to protect it.

Also, a lot of tank installs around here look like Phillips pic, although most of them have been abandoned for 45 years or more.

[Phillip]

The walls and floor had a lot of patching on them.

There was a old coal setup there also. With a little coal.

This had been added because this area was block wall where the main basement was poured cement.

The house had been added on at lest 3 times.

[Kyle Kubs]

Originally posted by kurt

Also, a lot of tank installs around here look like Phillips pic, although most of them have been abandoned for 45 years or more.

Given the other States where they are saying that installation is normal to them, I'm not really surprised, but the land of "you can't walk down the street if your not UNION"! I'm totally shocked.

The fill pipe fitting here isn't just a cap. The nozzles on the trucks that fill the tank screw and lock on to the fitting so they can't leak, fallout while the driver is napping or spill over.

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I fantasize often about leaving NJ and then I think about how I would cope with doing inspections in another state where I haven't spent the last 40 years and the trouble I would get into with things not being at all what I've always been used to. If I were to see something like that set up here, it would be cause for concern...