Abandoned Underground Tank
CommTank was called to a residential property in Brookline, MA to investigate a pipe in the home with no known egress point. A home inspector had found it and couldn’t identify it. The homeowners were selling the home after living there for 32 years and wanted to avoid any future problems that might stop the sale. They had always heated the house with gas and were not aware of any other heating system in use prior to their arrival.
Our certified tank inspector used an electrical signal connected to the unknown basement pipe and traced it to the front yard where two 500-gallon underground storage tanks were found. This site was a unique challenge for CommTank’s crew as an old stonewall prevented easy access to the buried tanks. The crew worked with a mini-excavator and a backhoe from the street to remove the tanks and remediate the site, with no damage done to the wall. The underground oil tanks, full of oil and water, were pumped out, cleaned and removed. After excavation, the tanks were brought to a licensed tank recycling facility, and the hazardous waste was picked up by an environmental firm licensed to dispose of such waste. New drainage pipe was also added for the roof drains before the lawn was restored.
Dan Hoag has worked in the environmental and tank storage industry for 16 years. Dan’s range of expertise includes designing systems for oil spill clean-ups, treating soil contamination through "in situ" oxidation and testing, and inspecting underground storage tank systems. As head of Marketing and Information Technologies at CommTank, Dan draws from field experience to write about fuel, water and chemical storage technologies, and the regulations that affect them. He has developed training courses in home inspection, underground storage tank operator, ultrasonic thickness and tank tightness testing. Over the past decade, Dan has published over 60 articles about industry trends and has documented commercial, residential, and environmental projects through illustration, videos, and photography. When Dan unplugs from technology, he spends his time backyard farming, hiking, and kayaking, while masquerading as a hockey player during the wee hours of the morning.