Oil Heating in your Park Home
Whilst most park homes are heated by LPG, historically, many are heated by oil, usually because the park is not served by mains gas.
Oil heating is, of course, perfectly acceptable, and park home insurance policies should cover loss or damage caused by the escape of oil; they should also cover the cost of any oil lost, usually up to a set figure, and they should also cover damage to the oil storage tank, for example, damage caused by a vehicle.
One of the issues with oil heating is the problems that can result from an escape of oil given its toxicity, the gases given off by oil can be very damaging to your health, and the cost of clearing up the oil can be significant. Here at PBIS, we recently had a claim for damage caused by the escape of oil in the home and the costs are likely to run into many thousands of pounds; additionally, the park homeowners had to be moved into temporary accommodation due to the fumes and to enable the repairs to be carried out. The claim will also cover the value of the oil lost.
Claims can also arise if oil escapes from the storage tank causing damage to your home or a neighbouring property. Again due to the high costs involved in clearing up oil, the costs can be significant.
And a further incident which may give rise to a claim is if the storage tank itself is damaged by an insured peril such as an impact by a road vehicle, a falling tree or malicious damage. Policies will not, however, cover repairs or replacement due to the gradual effects of weathering, wear and tear or corrosion occurring over some time, so it is important to ensure the tank is checked regularly and is properly maintained.
Park home insurance policies from PBIS cover loss or damage caused by escaping oil from a fixed oil-fired heating installation and smudge damage caused by vaporisation due to a defective oil-fired heating installation. Oil storage tanks are also covered for a wide range of insured perils as described above, and the cost of replacing lost oil is covered under our ‘Select’ policy only up to a value of £2000. No excess applies.
