Two weeks after the discovery of a K-1 (kerosene) leak at the Union Congregational Church of South Bristol Parish House and Community Center, the precise cause of the leak remains unclear.
The church is awaiting the results of “forensic analysis” of the source of the leak, a Toyo wall heater in Rev. Dr. Peggy Dunn’s office, church spokesperson Bill Glendinning said.
The Lincoln County News previously reported that Damariscotta-based Mid-Coast Energy Systems performed maintenance on the heater Feb. 7 (see “K-1 leak damages Parish House,” Feb. 17)
According to Mid-Coast Energy Systems president Bill Morgner, however, the company never worked on the heater.
“Although Mid-Coast Energy is deeply sympathetic to the recent damage done to the Church Parish House, we would like it known that our company did not, and has never worked on the unit that caused the K-1 leak on Feb. 10,” Morgner said in a statement.
Instead, according to co-owner and service manager Dave Gamage and technician Nick Falabella, Mid-Coast installed a lift pump on a similar monitor in another room on Feb. 7.
Mid-Coast set up an appointment for Feb. 11 to return and work on the heater in Dunn’s office. Before the appointment, however, an estimated 150 gallons of K-1 fuel leaked out of the heater, forcing a clean-up crew to “gut” the building.
Gamage believes a constant level valve in the heater failed, causing the leak. A properly functioning constant level valve “shuts off the supply of fuel to the unit,” Gamage said.
Gamage, Morgner, Falabella and sales manager Gina Philippon agreed that, if Mid-Coast had been at fault, the company would have immediately accepted responsibility, as it has after past incidents.
The diagnosis matches that of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Jason Fish, an oil and hazardous materials specialist with the DEP Division of Response Services also identified the valve as the likely culprit, a fact reported in the Feb. 17 edition of The Lincoln County News.
Falabella, the Mid-Coast technician, stressed the point that he never put duct-tape on a fixture appearing in a front-page photograph in the Feb. 17 edition.
