When you have an existing oil tank and want to know if there is any leakage, a contractor can come in and do a test on your property. This test will be a yes or no test. What does this mean? This test’s sole purpose is to discover if there is a discharge or not from the oil tank. If the contractor takes a single soil boring or takes three, they are still going to find out if there is contamination or not. If contamination is found in the first soil boring, then the job is over. If the first soil sample is clean, then the tests will continue.
I Want To Know If My Oil Tank Is Leaking
If you suspect that there is an oil leak from your oil tank, it is best to get in touch with an experienced professional contractor. You will want to make sure that you do your research and find a contractor with credentials and experience. If you do not, you run the risk of a contractor potentially cutting one of your copper lines and creating more problems than there were before. An experienced contractor will know how many samples to take and will be able to provide you with a yes or do answer concerning your soil. A contractor should stop testing once a contaminant is discovered. One of the only ways to know if your oil tank is leaking and how severe is to take samples of the surrounding soil. So, it is important to do this step properly. This is especially true if you are planning on selling your home.
Why There Will Never Be Four Soil Samples?
A contractor will never need to do four soil samples and here is why. Imagine that the oil tank is a soda can, laying on the ground. It is a cylindrical shape. There are four sides. The two ends and the two sides. So, why don’t you take a fourth sample? A contractor will never take a sample between the tank and the house. The oil tank is typically set up a few feet away from the house. There are two copper lines that run from the house to the oil tank. The oil is getting from the tank to the house through one copper line. The other copper line returns the excess oil. These lines are about a quarter inch large. It would be easy for a contractor to accidentally cut the lines, which would cause a leak. This is why you never sample between the house and the tank.
What If The Soil Is Dirty?
Typically, a contractor will do three soil bores. However, if the soil has presented contaminants after the first or second bores, then the contractor will cease because contamination has been found and that is what they have been hired to do. All three samples will not be analyzed. The samples are being used to formulate a yes or no answer for the client. Those samples will then be combined into one. That one sample will then be sent to the lab.