O/T House insurance question

I recieved my insurance bill and as usual it has some wrong information on it. I have corrected the misinformation but it reverts back to the wrong info for some reason. I went to see my agent at a large insurance group, and she informed me that they no longer handle my insurance company.
I said how about a price from one of the companies that you do carry.

I gave her all the correct information and she said she would put it out there and see if anybody is interested.
She called today and only one company was interested but they had a problem with me selling deer corn and the fact that I have a automatic coal stoker/boiler in my unattached garage, in a seperate room that supplies the heat and hot water to the house. The insurance company said this is against code? Any thoughts?

State farm won't insure an outbuilding with a
woodburner. They will cover a dwelling with
solid fuel heat. Might be what you're finding.

They don't know what way is up now. With interest rates at half a percent they can't work your premiums in the market and make much money. I got a full cavity interrogation paper to fill out. Then got a call back from someone wanting more information. I could tell neither the person I talked to or the one making up the questions for her to ask knew what they were asking about. I am not alone, guy at work got one too. He has no rental homes just residence built in the 80's. His phone call went the same way. Oh yes would you like an air miles card? nother way for them to pry into your life.
Later Bob

I don't blame anyone from not wanting to insure a structure with a wood burner.
Being a 35 year vol. fire fighter I have no use for wood burners.

I have a coal stoker in my family room. Erie Insurance knows it and i have no problem with my homeowners.

Rollie, I think maintenance and experiance or lack there of, would be main culprets. Soot in stove pipes is very near Blackpowder. One piece of paper up the stack and away the chimmeny and pipes go. Never forget that roar.
Later Bob

Woodburner here. Dry wood ,clean pipes twice a year. Saved me alot on heating cost. 35 dollars extra on my insurance. They come and take a few pics .

Here is what I have in the garage. I tied it in to my oil burner. When the aqua stat on the oil burner call for heat , instead of firing the oil burner unit the auqua stat starts the ciculator pump on the coal stoker which inturn heat the oil burner boiler unit.

Did you hear of the neighborhoods that vanish whenever there is a gas explosion? There are NFPT codes for wood burning stoves, and if the stove is installed to those codes, an insurance company should not be able to deny insurance for having a wood burner. I realize that they do, but as there is no heating system that has no risk, and gas has greater fire risk than wood, there is no grounds for it. Propane and LP have flash points below 140 degrees F, and there isn't a piece of oak that comes close.

check with your local Farm Bureau agent

I wasn't able to get insurance on my out building with a wood burner either.

Yet the natural fireplace in my house is ok. Sparks on the carpet and all!!

Rick

One of the reasons I put the coal stoker out in the garage was to keep coal dust from the house. Plus the residual heat keeps my garage warm.
I only have to tend it every 3 days or so. I just don't see the problem the ins. co has with it.

From your posts, I assume you modified the unit to use coal instead of fuel oil.

In doing insurance inspections on both residential and commercial applications, I've found that woodburning stoves and insurance companies are natural enemies. And insurance companies go berzerk over a heating system that has had ANYTHING modified from the original manufacture.

But--it varies greatly from one insurance company to another. One company requires me to fill out a separate two page report on a wood burning stove when I encounter one, another company just wants to know when one is there. They all want copious photos. This is not meant to cast a negative light on your setup, but some of the wood stoves I've seen people cobble together are enough to scare the daylights out of any insurance company.

Seems none of the companies I work for get too excited about wood burning fireplaces. But-most fireplaces are professionally installed with no room for modification.

Even though yours is not wood burning, if it's been modified from the original manufacture, insurance companies probably see people dying from carbon monoxide, buildings burning down, etc. If you've modified it, they aren't going to come out and admire your work, they're just going to decline to become involved.

I've got cedar siding on my house. I have left it go natural grey but
when it gets wet it looks kinda rough-black. When I wanted to
change insurance companies, they came to look at the house and
said I had black mold on the siding and wouldn't insure it till I had
it removed. Stayed where I was at and they never had a problem
with it.

I believe that the main issue is that a garage is unoccupied so there is less attention to the stove than if it is in an occupied building.

All insurance companies have done risk assessments for just about every conceivable insurance situation where a loss can occur. They set rates/refuse to insure based on risk. Like a guy with 4 DUI's may not find any company willing to insure him. Same goes with a hause. Wood heat is more likely to have a loss so rates are higher. Any heating system that has been home owner modified really raises a red flag. Most of those mods were done from an idea without any mecahnical or fabrication ability.

This is also why insurance companies proir to external_link Care could and did refuse to insure high risk people. So now because they can no longer refuse to insure someone they have to raise everyones rates to cover projected losses on the 3 pack a day smoker.

Rick

You need a different agent!! The first problem is that the agent stopped handling the company your with and you where not notified of that fact. Second she must not be working very hard. I just had some quotes done for unsurance and I had five different companies give me rates.

I have a the shop and a pellet/corn boiler plus a wood back up. None of them where concered other than they wanted extra pictures of the ehating systems.