Inside the tank
This is the machine buried beside oil-heated NJ houses from the 1940s through the 1980s. Select a part to see what it does and what it means for cost. Switch views to see how oil moves through it, and what happens to bare steel after decades in wet soil. Everything here runs in your browser; nothing is transmitted.
ANATOMY — select a numbered part.
Select a numbered marker on the diagram, or a part from the list below.
The numbers referenced in each part mirror the cost estimator and the NJ cost guide: 2025–2026 market data, ranges only.
Cost relevance
What the depth means in practice
The top of a typical tank sits 2–4 feet below grade, which puts the bottom of a 4-foot-diameter shell 6–8 feet down — deeper than most utility lines and well past shovel territory. That's why removal is an excavator job with utility mark-outs, why a tank under a driveway or deck adds $500 – $1,500 in cutting and restoration, and why rocky ground (Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon) or a high water table (coastal Monmouth, low-lying Hudson) adds 10–25% to the dig. The full picture is in the cost guide; your specific inputs go in the estimator.
Not sure a tank is down there at all? The fill cap and vent pipe in the diagram are exactly what to look for — how to tell if you have an underground tank covers the rest, and a $150 – $500 sweep settles it.
The "if it fails" slider is the entire economics of this decision compressed into one control. Bare steel, wet soil, and time run in one direction: the same tank costs $1,500 – $3,500 to remove while the soil is clean and typically $8,000 – $10,000 after it isn't. Where your tank sits on that slider is checkable for $300 – $1,000 in soil sampling.