While above ground LP tanks are quite common, can they ever be stored underground? Or, are only oil tanks buried? And, if LP tanks are not buried, why not?
LP tanks can certainly be placed underground. I have a 500-gallon buried LP tank on my property here in Connecticut. We use it for heat, hot water, a gas fireplace, and a gas stove. This is an increasingly popular alternative here in New England for new residential construction in places where natural gas is not available. (Note that the most common heating source in such areas is heating oil.)
As for heating oil tanks, they tend to NOT be buried underground these days, especially for residences. This is because buried tanks inevitably corrode, and leak oil into the ground. Large commercial underground storage tanks (USTs) are now required to have double walls, leak detection systems, and must be periodically replaced. To avoid all of these issues, home heating oil tanks are generally placed in basements these days.
The reason that LP tanks can be stored underground is because nothing can leak out and pollute soil and groundwater–the LP gas would just vaporize. Also, you’d know that the tank was leaking because it would no longer maintain pressure.
We love having LP gas for our heating source. Our last house used heating oil with a so-called “power vent” on the furnace. Every time the furnace started up, it was like having a diesel truck idling in the back yard. :dubious:
In my area, East Central Missouri, I can rent an above ground tank for about $20 a year. If I want a buried tank I have to purchase it and pay for the installation. Additionally, with the rental tank they will repair and maintain at their cost.
So buried tanks are available, but most folks chose to go with above ground and eliminate the up front cost.
The rules may be different where you live.
This brings up a good point. In my area, most tanks are indeed rented, including the buried tanks. However, this means that the homeowner is locked into a contract to only get LP gas (i.e. propane) from the supplier who owns the tank. Because the supplier has no competition from other suppliers, they can charge outrageous fees to fill the tank, along with charges for tank rental, etc. This caused a bit of a scandal last year when the local newspaper consumer affairs columnist did an exposé on how badly homeowners were getting screwed in this arrangement. People who rented tanks were paying double and triple the rates of people who owned their own tanks. Even taking into account that the homeowner is responsible for maintenance and replacement of the tank, you come out way ahead if you own your own tank. Note that the life expectancy of a buried tank is 30+ years.
When I get propane prices, the price per gallon goes down dramatically if I’m getting more than 100 gallons per fill (which excludes people getting refills for the small tanks used solely for a fireplace or stove), and the price per gallon goes down even more dramatically when I remind them that I own my own tank.
An above-ground tank would not be a very good option for us. We use LP gas for all of our heating, hot water, stove, and fireplace. We have a relatively large 500-gallon tank. I’ve seen these tanks installed above ground. They are installed lengthwise, and are about 3 feet in diameter and about 6 feet long. This would take up a tremendous amount of space in my backyard. Also there are rules on how close to the house they can be, and it would be real eyesore at the end of my driveway. With it being buried, all I have is a hatch visible for refilling.
Here in NW Montana most people have above ground tanks, for all of the reasons that have been mentioned, but in our case we wanted to bury our 1000 gallon LP tank since we didn’t like having to look at it every time we walked out into our backyard.
We have a geothermal heat pump so the propane is only used for the stove, gas fireplace, BBQ and gas dryer, but to answer the OP, yes, they can be buried but you have to buy the tank and pay for it to be put in the ground… which is a non-trivial cost for most people.
Since our tank is so large (we would have been fine with a 500 gallon tank) we can pick and choose when to buy propane so we watch for the price to drop and top off when it makes sense…
Underground fuel tanks of all kinds are often regulated by local ordinances.
During the gas crisis of the 70’s, a local doctor got a permit to have an underground gasoline tank in a residential neighborhood to ensure that he would always have fuel for medical emergencies. I doubt if that permit would be granted to just anybody, and probably not today (the tank was removed when the property was sold).
Our local ordinances require periodic testing to make sure all tanks are not leaking. And after a propane tank blew up in Ellison Bay, killing a bunch of people and leveling some houses and stores, the state passed a law requiring all propane tanks to be registered in a master database. So now any contractor can check for underground lines before digging – it was thought that a backhoe nicked a line they didn’t know was there, and hours later when gas accumulated and reached a flame, it caused the whole neighborhood to explode.
Could you not have disguised it with a shed or something? Or put shrubs around it?
There’s only one thing uglier than a LP tank in your yard, and that’s an LP tank with shrubs planted around it.
Yes, I suppose, but they are still ugly, and you have to provide easy access for the trucks that refill them so placement would have made it visible from the street, which we wanted to avoid.
Most people around here are comfortable with having their LP tanks out in the open, and it’s not really a stigma these days, but in our neighborhood it would have stood out and it wasn’t an issue we wanted to deal with.