The problem ( vis a vis resale of the property) is that in the case of buried oil tanks if/when a contamination of the soil or local water table is discovered then the owner at the time of the discovery is liable for the (sometimes) considerable removal and remediation costs. Not the guy who installed the tank or the previous owner(s). It's like a game of musical chairs - no one wants to be the bozo that winds up holding the bag. And that goes double because the tank is not longer in service, and although it may be functionally empty, it probably not be truly empty so there is still some oil in it and now it also has a lot air in it, increasing the chance it may rust through. If I were a buyer and an empty tank was on my proposed property, I would refuse to close until it had been removed, inspected,( and remediated if necessary) and certified OK. No way i would take on the potential liability for a buried, abandonned, tank. Right now your 33 year old tank is probably just fine so it would be just a question of digging it up, disposing of it (that comes with some fees), getting the soil checked and backfilling. If you put it off and lots of time goes by then there is the risk hat any residual oil does leak through, and then you have all of the above costs PLUS you'll have contaminated soil that needs to be removed and the site remediated. And that most likely will be expensive. My suggestion is don't wait until some time in the future when a sale may be on the line, or your risk of leaking has increased. It will never be cheaper (relatively speaking) than it is now. Geothermal is so cool, I wish we could do that. We have oodles of room for the pipes, but alas, no central heat. HTH L.

Note: Since you are talking a gravity tank, you are also talking 2 pumps. One pump (submersible, for example) will fill the 1000 gal tank and will be controlled by the top probes. The second pump (booster pump in this example) supplies the water to the house (includes the 120 gal pressure tank) and is controlled by a standard 40/60 pressure switch. There will be a low-water cutoff probe near the bottom of the 1000 gal tank to prevent a run-dry situation and possibly a overflow cutoff in the event the primary probe fails.

This might sound far fetched but if you're building a new home, you dont need to burn anything to heat and cook and you'd save a tremendous amount of money by not. Geothermal takes energy from the ground and condenses it to make heat for your home. In the summer the system works the other way, takes energy (heat) from your home and sends it back into the ground, to cool your home. It's incredibly efficient and robust. But the cost is high, though federal incentives are still in effect, and some states have them too, in addition. Alternatively, and the option I'm choosing for my home and have more experience with: Mini-split systems / Air Source Heat Pumps. This is the same thing as geothermal, except instead of drilling a well, these use the outside air as its source. Both systems are heat pumps, they move energy from one area to another. Every home has at least one already - The refrigerator! The warm air you feel on your toes when you stand in front of the fridge (closed) is the energy being removed from inside. Air-source heat pumps do the same thing on a larger scale, and in both directions, allowing you to heat & cool your home comfortably even on the coldest and hottest days. Ultimately, it comes down to money. These systems will cost you similar up front to a typical combustion heating system with AC, but your operating costs will be less, sometimes significantly less. And it'll always be safer. There's no exhaust gases with this equipment. The catch? You might need your home to be built with energy efficiency in mind. I would love to chat more if you're interested. This is sort of my passion. The technology is there, and it's economical. I'm currently designing/building my own home that will have no combustion appliances and be 100% electric. And I'm in a cheap natural gas area, too. It'll still be less costly to own and live in.

That's a good idea tropicbreezent. I'll give that a try. I snuck up on a couple of them yesterday and caught them. I had also forgotten that instead of opening the bottom plug and letting it gush out too quickly, that I have an aquarium siphon thing that I used to let about 2/3 of the water out slowly. I let the rest settle and then try the rescue the rest of them before I open the big bottom plug. Even then, though, I run that through a net that would catch any. Funny how quickly they all disappear, even after I go to all the trouble of relocating them. Only 1-2 seem to develop into frogs next summer. But I can't bear to let them just die in the water as it flows out of the above ground tank. Now I do let the snails die. ......but I do apologize to them. ;)