After removing the oil from the tank, we cleaned both halves with solvent to remove the sludge. Next we cut the tank in to more manageable sized pieces. Each of these pieces I then clean further by using a propane torch over the entire inside surface of the tank to burn off any residuals that might be remaining.
As you can see, we were very careful to contain the oil and to mitigate any residuals that could have caused enviromental damage. The pieces of tank that we ended-up with were rendered into harmless pieces of sheet metal that I kept in the backyard until the following spring heavy trash pick-up and I finally took the 5 gallon tank that contained the residual sludge from the bottom of the tank to the Wake county waste disposal site.
The fruits of our labor. A nice clean hole without any oil spills. With the tank out of the way, I was able to finish my foundation drainage project.
