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1. Purchasing a Home Built Before 1975

The primary trigger for an oil tank scan is the age of the structure. Prior to the mid-1970s, heating oil was the dominant domestic heating source across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

When residential natural gas infrastructure expanded, homeowners switched heating systems. Thousands of exterior oil tanks were buried beneath lawns, driveways, or later additions, often without any formal decommissioning records filed with municipal fire departments. If you are submitting an offer on a home constructed prior to 1975, including an oil tank inspection subject clause is essential due diligence.

2. Satisfying Mortgage and Insurance Requirements

Canadian financial institutions and property insurance underwriters have adopted strict policies regarding buried fuel storage tanks.

Most major banks will refuse to approve or fund a mortgage on an older property unless the buyer provides an official “No Tank Certificate” issued by a licensed scanning contractor. Similarly, insurance providers frequently decline fire and property liability policies, or insert strict pollution exclusion clauses, on homes where tank status remains unverified. Completing a scan early prevents closing delays during real estate transactions.

3. Spotting Exterior Visual Clues

A property oil tank inspection is strongly recommended whenever physical indicators of historical oil heat are visible around the property:

• Vent Pipes: A small steel pipe (typically 1¼ to 1½ inches in diameter) extending above ground level with a rounded mushroom cap.
• Fill Pipes: A 2-inch threaded metal pipe or flush brass cap near the foundation or lawn edge.
• Copper Supply Feeder Lines: Crimped, cut, or capped twin copper lines protruding through basement concrete walls or foundation slabs.
• Depressions in the Lawn: Sunken circular or rectangular areas where soil has settled over an unmaintained, rotting metal shell.

Even if these pipes were cut off below ground level during past landscaping renovations, non-destructive Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) can still locate the underlying tank structure.

4. Planning Major Landscaping or Excavation Work

Before pouring a new concrete driveway, building an extension, installing an inground swimming pool, or re-grading a yard, conducting a subsurface scan is a smart precaution.

Discovering a buried oil tank after an excavation contractor strikes it with a heavy backhoe can trigger emergency containment costs, hazardous fluid spills, and immediate construction shutdowns. Locating and removing any tank before construction begins keeps project schedules and budgets on track.

What Happens If a Tank Is Found?

Finding a tank is not a catastrophe when managed by experienced environmental specialists:

1. Permits & Fire Department Sign-Off: The contractor pulls required municipal extraction permits.
2. Fluid Pumping: Vacuum trucks safely extract remaining oil and sludge into licensed disposal containers.
3. Safe Extraction: The tank is uncovered, degassed, cut open, cleaned, and hoisted out of the ground.
4. Soil Testing: Certified environmental laboratory technicians take baseline soil samples beneath the tank cavity to test for Extractable Petroleum Hydrocarbons (EPH).
5. Certification: Once clean soil is confirmed and the site backfilled, an official Certificate of Removal is issued for municipal records and insurers.