Cleaning up an oil storage tank leak:

Here we give some first-response suggestions for indoor or outdoor heating oil storage tank leaks. Professional cleanup assistance will be required for underground oil storage tank leaks or spills but even for those tanks, following the suggestions here can reduce the spill size, help contain it and can reduce the ultimate cleanup costs for the oil spill.

This article series includes storage tank leak or oil spill cleanup companies who handle abandonment or leak cleanup for buried oil tanks as well as for above ground oil storage tanks.

Oil Tank Leak Cleanup Indoors or Outside

First stop the oil tank leak if you can.

• If the leak is in oil supply piping to the oil burner, turn off the oil supply line at the oil tank or for a buried oil tank, turn off the oil safety valve or shutoff valve where the oil piping enters the building.
• If the leak is in an above-ground oil storage tank it may be possible to temporarily stop a pinhole leak using a special plumbing screw and neoprene washer but be careful: poking around at a thin rusted oil tank can, if you're not careful, make a hole larger and the leak worse.
• If the leak is in a buried oil storage tank you may be able to reduce the total leakage and thus reduce the environmental damage and thus reduce the ultimate cost of the oil spill cleanup by having the oil tank pumped out by your oil company.

Next Report the oil leak or spill

Report the oil leak or spill as required by regulations that apply depending on where you live. You can find the appropriate reporting or emergency contact information from your heating oil supplier, from your local building department, or from your local, state, or provincial department of environmental protection. Reporting oil spills or leaks within 24 hours is required by law in most jurisdictions.

See

• OIL TANK LEAK & SIZE REPORTING
• OIL TANK LEAK REPORTING REGULATIONS - ALL
• OIL TANK LEAK & ABANDONMENT REGULATIONS lists all leak reporting and related oil tank and spill regulations

Stop Deliveries of Heating Oil

Contact your heating oil delivery company for advice; do not continue to deliver oil to a leaking oil storage tank. It may be necessary to seal the oil delivery pipe, cap it, and place a DO NOT DELIVER OIL sign conspicuously on the oil delivery pipe and vent pipe as we have indeed had reports of oil deliveries to leaking, abandoned, and even disconnected oil filler pipes.

Soak up Spilled Heating Oil Indoors

• For small heating oil spills use cat litter or bentonite clay to absorb liquid heating oil spills.
• Larger indoor heating oil spills may require emergency or makeshift damming to try to contain the spill area using anything at hand: towels, sandbags, hoses, rags.
• Your heating oil company will be able to provide additional cleaners and deodorants that can help reduce the odors from an indoor oil spill.

Environmental Issues & Regulations for Oil Tanks

In the U.S. and many other countries state DEP/DEC/DNR (Departments of Environmental Conservation or similar agencies) have programs for registering buried tanks at any site storing (typically) more than 1100 gallons of heating oil. Requirements for gas (auto fuel), or other fuels may be different.

Eventually this concern may spread to smaller residential tanks. The concern is for leaks which contaminate the environment. Tanks located where they may leak into a local waterway or into the water supply are a special environmental concerns. (C)trap DJ Friedman.

LEAK CLEANUP - Oil Leak/Spill Cleanup Companies Directory

A Separate Directory of Oil Tank Locating, Testing, & Oil Tank Removal Companies is at a (separate page)

The directory shown below lists companies specializing in the cleanup of oil leaks & spills, with focus on residential and light commercial properties, though some of these companies may also address large-scale above oil spills on land or at sea.

• Bio remediation resources on Internet
• Environmental and Information Resources, Inc. markets a low cost way of cleaning up petroleum hydrocarbon releases called bioremediation using naturally occurring soil microbes. EIR also performs biologically based cleanups of inorganic contamination such as heavy metals and radio nuclides using phytoremediation to uptake contamination from soil or groundwater.
• Government Contacts - Contact the DEC/DEP/DNR office in your state
• A separate directory of companies specializing in locating, testing, and removing or abandoning above ground or buried oil storage tanks is
  
  at TESTING COs.
• Qualified service providers may be listed at this website at no fee. Listing submissions welcome, there is no listing fee.

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Question: can COPD be caused by exposure to heating oil fumes

(May 20, 2015) Sue said:
I bought house 10 years ago. An underground oil tank for home heating had been removed 5-7 years before I bought the home. There was a smell similar to fresh paint for a few years after I moved in. I asked the seller about it. I was then told the tank had leaked before they bought the house and the people that sold it to them then had the soil removed. I have just be diagnosed with COPD. Have never smoked. Could COPD have been caused by exposure to the fumes? They were never strong, but were there for several years.

Reply:

Sue you need to ask your doctor about the possible relationship between COPD and any contaminants that could be in your home.

Before including in the list of possible indoor air contaminants fumes from a heating oil spill you want to know where the spill occurred, when, and what cleanup steps were taken.

For example, a leak around a buried oil storage tank that contaminated outdoor soil would not be expected to affect the home interior, but there could be exceptions. A case I came across involved an oil tank buried next to the building foundation wall. The tank leaked a substantial amount and heating oil flowed beneath the building basement floor slab. Rising ground water and leaks brought some of that into the basement. So yes, it's possible, but not so likely.

Many other possible sources of indoor fumes could be involved and could be a respiratory irritant.

If your doctor agrees that your home should be investigated you may need to use the services of an industrial hygienist, but be sure that the person you hire has specific experience and expertise with residential structures.

See HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS

Reader Question: what is the cost of an oil storage tank leak clean-up?

(Mar 7, 2014) Anonymous said:
What is the average cost to a homeowner of cleanup of a buried oil tank which has been found to have leaked and contamination spread to his property.

Reply:

Fair question Anon, I don't know.

Costs vary so widely that I'm not sure what help I'd get from average. I've seen costs that little exceeded the cost of removing a tank and a small amt. of soil around the tank, to costs in the many tens of thousands of dollars when seeped under the foundation of a building. Part of the answer to the cost to a homeowner of an oil tank leak or spill cleanup depends on whether or not the homeowner carries insurance that covers that event. Such insurance is sold both directly and through some oil delivery companies, provided that the company has also inspected and tested the oil tank.

Research citations that include oil leak cleanup costs:

• Arbuckle, J. Gordon, F. W. Brownwell, David R. Case, Wayne T. Halbleib, Lawrence J. Jensen, Stanley W. Landfair, Robert T. Lee et al. "Environmental law handbook." (1989).
• Cole, G. Mattney. Assessment and remediation of petroleum contaminated sites. CRC Press, 1994.
• Kostecki, Paul T. Petroleum Contaminated Soils: Remediation Techniques, Environmental Fate, and Risk Assessment. Vol. 2. CRC Press, 1989.
• Simons, Robert A., William Bowen Levin, and Arthur Sementelli. "The effect of underground storage tanks on residential property values in Cuyahoga County, Ohio." Journal of Real Estate Research 14.1 (1997): 29-42.
• Fingas, Merv. The basics of oil spill cleanup. CRC Press, 2012.
• Dooher, Brendan P., Stephen J. Cullen, Lorne G. Everett, William E. Kastenberg, Randolph D. Grose, and Miguel A. Marino. Recommendations to improve the cleanup process for California's leaking underground fuel tanks (LUFTs). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Enviornmental Protection Department, Environmental Restoration Division, 1995.
• Etkin, Dagmar Schmidt. "Analysis of oil spill trends in the United States and worldwide." In International Oil Spill Conference, vol. 2001, no. 2, pp. 1291-1300. American Petroleum Institute, 2001.
• Bentz, Alan P. "Oil spill identification." Analytical Chemistry 48, no. 6 (1976): 454A-472a.

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Continue reading at OIL TANK LEAK & ODOR ADVICE or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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Recommended Articles

• OIL SPILL CLEANUP / PREVENTION

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