Time to check your insurance

One interesting question on the insurance form: "is someone always present when the unit is operating"?

Also, when they ask "if used for primary heat", would that only be true if there was no automatic backup heat?

We have State Farm, this is the form they have.

Just tell them what they want to know and let them fill in the forms for you. Try reading there insurance coverage book What is covered and not. Need to be a lawer to under stand it.

I don't know if it's the same for you guys, but in Ontario at least, NEVER check the box that says "Used For: Primary Heat"

That's a sure fire way to get your insurance application rejected 'round here.

My ins went up $50 a year and i didnt fill out or sign anything. They had some antiquated guidelines i had to go by. Thats why my new Madison is 12" from a wall protector. Instead of 7.5" from the wall.

I think it's actually a good thing if your insurance company get involved in your wood stove installation. First of all the more information they have on it before covering you the less chance of them denying your claim when something happens. The other thing is, the more stringent inspections they demand before they cover you, the more assured you can be that your stove actually is installed correctly and up to the latest safety standards.
It would be foolish, and I think negligent, for any insurance company to cover an old, outdated, hillbilly installed ( no offence intended to anybody living in the Missouri mountain area), creosote factory wood stove, without knowing anything about it.

I have yet to install mine, it will be done in the next 2 weeks, but when I called State Farm to see if there would be an issue they told me they wouldn't cover it. We ended up going to Allstate and they didn't have any issue with a wood stove or our fireplace we already have.

I dropped my homeowners insurance four years ago now. Just was missed by a hail storm a month ago that took out many windshields and roofs. I'm thinking next summer I might try to scrape up the cash to buy in again.

Agree with BeGreen,

I have no idea how I would answer that form. My hearth install stove sits on solid masonry all the way down to the dirt under the house as its "floor covering" and the stove pipe enters directly into the masonry of the old fireplace chimney, with about 4 feet of solid brick behind it going up 5 feet from the floor as the "wall covering"

What box do I check?


Luckily, all my insurance carrier wanted was to look at it and make a xerox of the fire department install inspection and we where good to go.

begreen said:

That is a messed up form. Looks like something from 1970. Note in the chimney section how they mix a question about connector pipe (single wall) in a section that is supposed to be about the chimney pipe. The clearances section is with a parallel installation, what about corner install? The stovepipe section doesn't seem to acknowledge the existence and safety/clearance value of double-wall connector.

Click to expand...

The form my insurance company sent me to fill out along with the local AHJ was also obviously very dated . . . it was asking if the woodstove was at least 3 feet from all combustibles, including the wall.

We have State Farm,when we called to find out about installing a stove, they told us and did come out after the install , took measurements and filled out the paperwork themselves. Our insurance only went up $50 a year.

Liberty Mutual just made a note in my file and no premium increase.

State Farm wouldnt insure a wood stove or wood furnace so i ended up switching to Country Financial. C.F kind of makes me uneasy, all they did was come take a picture of my stove and furnace, they never took one measurement or ask if it was inspected. My house premium never went up and my car insurance thru them is half as much as S.F was. Im very happy with them, just seems to good to be true.

Was the stove installed before you moved into your home or after? You said new home so I was wondering if it would be covered in your cert. of occupancy or CO? Another thought is to call the company that did the install and ask them if they have anything on it. Do you have your paperwork from the purchase and / or install? I am a contractor and was a building inspector back in the day. Ultimately the permit and inspection is the homeowners responsibility. At least around here it is.

I would only worry about it as much as your insurance company is. Answer the questions they have and let them figure it out or forget about it. They know you have an insert so they should guide you as to what they need.

I'm in the same situation as jharkin. My fireplaces don't fit their form. Rear wall: solid stone. Floor: stone on dirt. Chimney... more like a stone tunnel with a liner slid inside.

My State Farm agent came out and took photos of the first stove install, at the time they wrote the original policy. Had no questions for me, and made no fuss about it. When I pulled the gas insert out of the second fireplace and installed the second stove, she just asked me to email her some photos. I think the policy up-charge for having a woodstove was $50, but can't even remember for sure.

The entire issue is over rated. Mainly insurers are being nosey and making sure some meth head hill-billy isn't cooking product in his living room on his home made rocket stove made out of brake rotors and miscellaneous junk yard parts taken off of the '76 Ford Pinto hatch back. Check out the thread on here in wood burners ( I believe) on the custom gas / wood / burning stove for sale on Craigslist in Louisville, KY for $5,000 which was recently reduced to $4,000. A member from Indiana posted it. Hilarious! That thing is a work of art. We thought it was a typo with some extra zeros added but then it was confirmed that the stove was indeed at the $5,000 sticker price and reduced a couple of days later to $4 grand. What a bargain! You have to see this custom "home made" thing. It's worth the look and read. Trust me!

The other issue that insurers have is with meth head's Uncle Sammy Billy Bob running insurance scams burning down the over insured lean-to. LOL! I can say that because I live in KY. I wear shoes, have all of my teeth, and brush them twice a day. And no, my wife isn't my sister or third cousin. She's my 1st cuz............... Have a nice day! Or 2nd, but that's only a minor detail. No big deal, Right?

You might want to do a heating device up grade and buy the one for sale in Louisville. Better hurry though because there is a lot of interest in it. See what your agent thinks about that one. I'm sure you can burn garbage in it also so it would be eligible for the EPA's "go'in green" award. It is capable of reducing land fills and when the house on wheels burns down just bring a dozer and start a new land fill on site.