Black gold, Texas tea

Ok, so I learned something new this week. Heating oil does not look like car oil, it looks more like gasoline. I just always had this image in my mind of a thick black liquid that cost me so much to heat my home. Heating oil is actually a thin, red liquid.

How I discovered this amazing thing was at 11:45 on Saturday night, Melanie came running into our room to tell us that she heard something pop, vibrate the floor, and then a hissing noise and a bad smell followed. We ran to the basement to discover the pipe at the base of one of our oil tanks had ruptured and was spewing oil all over our basement. My first thought was how much money was leaking all over the floor and as I watched the oil run down the floor drain, my second thought was that it was going to contaminate our well. These thoughts were immediately replaced by a more pressing one, the several hundred pounds of food being stored in the basement. Oil has a very offensive odor that will absorb into any surface that is not glass or metal. The thought of oil flavored Cheerios propelled me into action. I quickly ran through the house gathering up bodies to come help evacuate the food storage.

We cleared out the food and turned our attention to the leak. Nothing we tried could get the oil to stop spilling out. We didn't even know who to call. Who do you call when oil is spilling all over your basement floor? So we called our insurance company to find out if they ever had to deal with this type of issue before. They told us to call 911 (seems so clear in hindsight). Within 3 minutes, the first of several companies arrived on the scene. These talented men quickly stopped the leak and had contained the spill. We believe the loss was about 40-50 gallons of oil, most of which drained into the ground beneath the house.

About 2 am, the oil company arrived to pump out the remaining oil from the damaged tank. As they investigated the damage, it quickly became clear that the tank had been placed on a 2 inch piece of wood spanning an uneven portion of the floor, decades of dampness combined with the weight of 275 gallons of oil caused the wood to collapse, taking the corner of the tank with it. When the tank shifted and crashed into the second tank, the movement caused the pipe at the bottom to crack open.

We now have 5 barrels of oil sitting in the yard next to the house, awaiting the replacement of the oil tank. We had a restoration company come today to evaluate the remaining oil damage and will wait for a quote on the repair and restoration. Could be as simple as absorbing as much oil out of the concrete as possible with a 2 process coating of epoxy to seal the concrete preventing the oil fumes from affecting the house. They will most likely need to take core samples from the concrete/ground beneath the house to determine where the oil went. We will also need to test the well for contamination, but so far, so good. Worst case, they will need to jackhammer the entire basement floor and reconcrete.

As bad as all of this sounds, we are so amazingly grateful that this did not happen earlier in the day as were were in Washington and the kids were home alone. Additionally, if it had happened while we were all at work, we would have lost almost 600 gallons of oil (at 3.55 a gallon) and our entire farm would have surely been contaminated as well as killing our beloved pets because of the dangerous fumes trapped in the house. Absolute worst case, if this had happened while the furnace was running, our house would have burned down. So, if there is a bright side, this was the best possible outcome. We saved our food, prevented the loss of our entire supply of oil, and protected our family.