How do you get an old oil tank out of the house?

If you are thinking of converting from oil to gas heating, one of the tasks ahead of you is to get a professional to remove the old oil tanks. This seems like a daunting task. It’s not. There are companies that do this. They do it all. They get the permits for removal and disposal; they come, then and an hour or so later, there is an empty spot in your basement.

Recently, a client purchased a house that had abandoned oil tanks. The house had long-ago been converted, but the seller left the old tanks. They had to go before my client closed. (This is a legal matter.) So, as a condition of the sale, the tank removers came the tanks went.

My client and I hung out to watch the process. There were two tanks. The whole thing took about an hour and a half.

First thing is to disconnect the pipe from the tank to the outside.  out1

Next, suck out any remaining oil. suck hole

 

 

 

suck

 

 

This house had a big door, so the tanks went out whole. The last time I watched this, the tank was cut in half inside.

outside

Even though the tanks were drained, the dregs were left.  sludge

These were scraped out and collected in a bucket.

scraped

 

 

 

 

 

The empty tanks were then collected down the driveway.

 

 

in driveway

 

 

 

 

 

Important! The holes where the pipes were are sealed with concrete. This keeps critters from hole fullgetting in, but more importantly, it ends the possibility of some distracted oil company driver from filling the basement with oil.

hole.open

 

 

 

cornerThey swept the corner where the tank used to be.

 

 

 

 

loadingThen the tanks are loaded onto the truck.

 

Bye bye.  packed truck

 

 

It was noisy when the tanks were being cut open. It was smelly when the tanks were being mucked-out. But all in all, the process is fast and efficient.