I heard a very sad story yesterday that should be a warning to anyone who heats with oil.
A burglar broke into a home and stole the toyo stove early this winter. Toyo and Monitor heaters are about the most efficient way to heat with oil so they are very popular here. They are also very popular with burglars.
The loss of the stove and the freezing of the house was only a small problem compared to the disaster caused by the leaking of the fuel oil. With the stove gone and the pipe broken the oil tank drained into the house and leaked through the floor into the crawlspace and into the ground.
The ground under the house was contaminated to a depth of 20 feet in places. This will be very time consuming and expensive to clean up. The costs could easily exceed the value of the house.
The value of this property has been reduced to almost nothing because of the unknown clean-up costs. It is not the only property in the Mat-Su Borough that has been de-valued by leaking fuel storage tanks. Many of the gas stations had leaking underground storage tanks…but the government helped them get cleaned up.
As far as I know, there are no programs to help a homeowner clean up a contaminated property caused by leaking fuel oil. All who heat with fuel would be wise to consider ways to prevent a similar disaster. Here is the State Of Alaska Guide For Heating Oil Tanks.
