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Buried LP Tank in driveway

Buried LP Tank in driveway

New postby Timham on Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:06 pm

Hi JP!

2003 SFH, has a buried LP gas tank under the driveway, in the rear turnaround of a 3 car garage.
The 60 KW whole house generator and septic tank are behind the drive and buried tank, which I think is a servicing problem.
The brick pavers show some settlement at the tank and the concrete rear edge border is damaged.
And to make matters worse, the generator was placed less than 4 feet of the 400A main and standby panels. There is less than one foot on north end from a subpanel. (There is no record of the generator or LP tank)
Can the LP tank be buried under a driveway?
Timham
 
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Re: Buried LP Tank in driveway

New postby Jerry Peck - Codeman on Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:59 pm

Tim,

Excellent question! The answer is ... "It depends" (on the stupidity of the AHJ ... er ... on the 'lack of proper thinking' of the AHJ).

Timham wrote:2003 SFH, has a buried LP gas tank under the driveway, in the rear turnaround of a 3 car garage.
The 60 KW whole house generator and septic tank are behind the drive and buried tank, which I think is a servicing problem.
The brick pavers show some settlement at the tank and the concrete rear edge border is damaged.


The above is plain stupid, but ... contractors doing stupid things keep all of us in business.

Here is the catch ... and quite possibly why it slipped by the AHJ:

An underground gas tank is not permitted to be installed "under" a "structure", basically all AHJ I have heard of consider asphalt driveways/walkways/surfaces, and concrete driveways/walkways/surfaces (patios) as being "structures", however, some AHJ consider paver areas to 'not be structures' because 'while each paver is a "structure", each paver can be lifted and relocated' ... the intent started (at least where I first heard it that way) was for pool decks which were laid over and within setback lines around swimming pools - a concrete deck/patio was not allowed because concrete deck/patio is 'permanent and non-relocatable' ... but pavers were allowed because the pavers could individually be relocated when/if necessary.

No problem back there - but now take that paver exception from being a structure and extend it to something else ... such as a "structure" that an underground gas tank is not permitted to be installed under ... the paver drive is no longer a "structure" in an AHJ which does not consider paver areas as being "structures" - and you end up with what you found.

And to make matters worse, the generator was placed less than 4 feet of the 400A main and standby panels.


That is not a problem as long as there is no intrusion into the required working space for the electrical service, the generator, and proper clearances of the generator from the building openings (exhaust from internal combustion engine clearances).

There is less than one foot on north end from a subpanel.


I thought you were inspecting a house, but you are now in a submarine? :) There are no "subpanels", only "service equipment panels" and 'not-service equipment panels' (which is most easily referred to as simply "electrical panel" located at blah-blah-blah.

(There is no record of the generator or LP tank)


Sounds like work without a permit, which quite possibly means there is non-complaint wiring with the generator and its wiring - standby generators are easy to get wrong.

Can the LP tank be buried under a driveway?


No, see below:
Gas Installation Drawing - Underground tanks.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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