Home insurance.

I was a little leery about what my insurance company would say when I installed my wood stove. They told me as it was a secondary source of heat there was only an additonal 35 dollars a year, had it been my primary source of heat it would have been a 75% increase. Ouch!!

I have american family. According to them as long as you are not adding a chimney they are not concerned.

I have been talking with our local insurance broker. They are interested in supporting our Woodstove Exchange program. It would make their life better if everyone had a nice new WETT certified / EPA stove installed, right?
He told me that soon all policy holders will be required a WETT certified inspection.
Local bylaws are also headed that way. You can't pass a WETT inspection without an EPA approved appliance so that’s good for air quality too.
OK that’s simple enough, But even with a WETT -OK'd document, some insurance companies will still charge you an extra 15%.
Your broker should be able to find you a company that does not penalize you for burning with wood.
After all, it's not that much different than any other source of heat if installed and used properly.
I would be suspicious of a broker who shrugs off wood heat without a proper safety inspection. Are you accually covered?
And in regards to not reporting your wood heat system.
You should read the fine print and you may find that you are not even covered if your house burns down and you failed to inform them that you use wood heat.

log-on said:

I have been talking with our local insurance broker. They are interested in supporting our Woodstove Exchange program. It would make their life better if everyone had a nice new WETT certified / EPA stove installed, right?
He told me that soon all policy holders will be required a WETT certified inspection.
Local bylaws are also headed that way. You can't pass a WETT inspection without an EPA approved appliance so that’s good for air quality too.
OK that’s simple enough, But even with a WETT -OK'd document, some insurance companies will still charge you an extra 15%.
Your broker should be able to find you a company that does not penalize you for burning with wood.
After all, it's not that much different than any other source of heat if installed and used properly.
I would be suspicious of a broker who shrugs off wood heat without a proper safety inspection. Are you accually covered?
And in regards to not reporting your wood heat system.
You should read the fine print and you may find that you are not even covered if your house burns down and you failed to inform them that you use wood heat.

Click to expand...

Please define WETT..

Ray

I'm with State Farm. I called them and let them know. They emailed me a form to print, fill out and mail back.

My rates didn't change, and they never asked to see it.

It was permitted and inspected by the county, and I already had a fireplace in another room.

-SF

X2 with Burntime. USAA didn't care about the stove as long as their wasn't another masonry chimney added. Of course they are assuming it was installed according to the manufacturers specifications.........

raybonz said:

log-on said:

I have been talking with our local insurance broker. They are interested in supporting our Woodstove Exchange program. It would make their life better if everyone had a nice new WETT certified / EPA stove installed, right?
He told me that soon all policy holders will be required a WETT certified inspection.
Local bylaws are also headed that way. You can't pass a WETT inspection without an EPA approved appliance so that’s good for air quality too.
OK that’s simple enough, But even with a WETT -OK'd document, some insurance companies will still charge you an extra 15%.
Your broker should be able to find you a company that does not penalize you for burning with wood.
After all, it's not that much different than any other source of heat if installed and used properly.
I would be suspicious of a broker who shrugs off wood heat without a proper safety inspection. Are you accually covered?
And in regards to not reporting your wood heat system.
You should read the fine print and you may find that you are not even covered if your house burns down and you failed to inform them that you use wood heat.

Click to expand...

Please define WETT..

Ray

Click to expand...

Looking at wett it seems just like just another one of those "blessings" designed to lighten your pocket while lining someone elses.

BrotherBart said:

raybonz said:

Please define WETT..

Ray

Click to expand...

http://www.wettinc.ca/

Click to expand...

Thanx Bart guess I'm a little WETT behind the ears :bug: . Looked at the WETT website and to me it seems like overkill as the NFPA and UL rating already are in use... The canadiens already have the CSA standards so I don't know why we need yet another "authority" to dictate yet more rules on woodstoves..

Ray

I had used wood heat for years to heat a woodshop in my garage. Took it out several years ago for gas heat.

To my surprise a couple years ago I got a letter from my insurance company saying they had taken a picture of
my garage and since it had a wood chimney and presumed wood heat they would cancel my insurance unless I removed it.
I called to let them know I didn't heat it with wood anymore but didn't want to remove the chimney. This satisfyed them
and they didn't say any more. I have the chimney top stuffed with plastic to keep the critters from entering it and it is sparkling
clean so sure doesn't look used anymore.

The rising heat costs has prompted us to heat our house more with wood so I can afford to keep my workshop heated
with gas. I keep the garage heat at 45 degrees so it doesn't cost much at that temp.
They know we have wood heat in both our houses and charge a small surcharge for it. Not unrealistic since
wood heat does increase the chance of a house fire slightly.

Today we have many improvements in our wood heat systems so it shouldn't be much of a concern. When I was young (12 or so)
we had an old wood cook stove in our kitchen. I can remember many times watching the thinwall cheap pipe turn red and seeing it
creeping up the chimney as it burned the creosote. I often wondered if you touched it with the poker if you could have poked a hole
in it from being so hot and nearly melted. Life is a lot different today.

Our insurance guy came out and took pictures. About 4 years later they sent me a letter requesting a false wall with a 1" spacing behind. It just so happened that the insurance man came out while we were redoing the room and adding the false wall. No pictures. He was satisfied. There has never been an increase in our premium.

In BC ( Canada) All of our Chimney Sweeps, Stone Masons and installers are required to be WETT certified. It's a course you can take. Most people who heat with wood will voluntarily hire someone to come and do a WETT inspection of there home.
Sometimes it’s not voluntary, but was required to get your house insurance.
Soon a WETT certified system will be mandatory here in BC. It's considered a public health and safety issue.

Jeez, our auto owners wants 200 more a year for our wood furnace. consider you are getting off cheap!

Why?? You have a wood burner in your car?

Our insurance wants an extra $200 for the stove as well. We must be have a great economy in Michigan so we can afford it. Oh wait.

Glacialhills said:

Jeez, our auto owners wants 200 more a year for our wood furnace. consider you are getting off cheap!

Click to expand...

You need to look for new insurance.

I installed new block chimney and wood furnace in basement. State Farm came out inspected and took pics.....Raise my rate 17 bucks a year.

Oh yeah...I am in Michigan as well.

State Farm here as well. They just sent me a pamphlet and said to adhere to the clearances outlined my the manufacturor of the stove and the chimney and that was it. No increase in my policy at all.

Still need to have some pictures taken, but considering my agent is my sister-in-law.....I don't see any problems.

State Farm here as well. The guy came out, looked around, took some pics of the house and stove and didn't care about how much the stove is run and I have not heard from them since.

Wow, guess I need to check with state farm. I thought 200 extra a year was really high. I mean I could see 20 or 30 but 200? not like we want to build a bon fire pit in the living room.

I'm with a local company here in Northern NYS, and I was told by the agent this spring it was another $50 a year for a wood stove. Since mine isn't in yet I'll find out later on if they hold to it, but it seems likely.

Poult

I'm with American Family, they didn't seem to care I was having the Gas Stove torn out and adding a ZC fireplace. As long as my policy had a fireplace "of some sort to start with" they don't care if it is gas or wood fired.

State Farm's been great for me since 1987- until this year. Prior to this, I had one claim in 21 years. I had two claims last year - neither very big, and both no fault of my own. But apparently two claims in one year is a no-no. They raised my premiums 62%, saying I lost my "claim-free" discount and other things I didn't understand. I called and complained, they said nothing could be done about it. So I cancelled right then and there. What a slap in the face for a long-time customer.

My agent just wanted me to send proof of inspection, and they would note it on the policy. No increase in the rate. OK with me.
(Quincy mutual fire insc. co)