insrance giving me $%^& over clearances help!!!!

As you have no doubt seen by the posts there are many insurance companies and many agents . . . and some are very tough, some are very relaxed and some have no clue as to what they are doing. My own advice . . . it may not be a bad time to shop around and see who is out there and what their rates are . . . and ask about a woodstove install . . . what is required and perhaps even more importantly if the rates will go up or not and if so, by how much.

Personally, I would not really care to stick with an insurance company if the rates were to go up . . . but I would most definitely not want to stick with a company if they were not willing to allow an install that follows the manufacturer's install directions and clearances and were instead relying on a "one size fits all" old-line of thinking. Now if the company wanted a sign-off from the fire inspector or an agent of their own . . . OK . . . I could live with this.

a few years ago insurance regs changed here in CA, i did hundreds of inspections for AAA, state farm and others.

they wanted us to certify they were "installed to local and national code, as applicable"

about 50% of the installs i looked at didn't meet nfpa211, or the stoves install specs as outlined by the stove or pipe maker
about 1/2 of those folks paid us to remove their stove, and send report to the insurance company that the stove was removed from the home, and the chimney blocked off
(i bet most of them moved the stove back inside as soon as we left...)

We have State Farm and didn't have a problem. The stove just had to be UL listed and installed to manufacturer specs. I did have to have it inspected which consisted of the contractor coming in, looking at the hearth, wall protector, stove pipe, etc. A tape measure was never taken out and he didn't even look at the chimney. There is a charge of $40/year if you have a wood stove.

That's great news.. But my ex insurance agent is looking over my shoulder and says to shop your coverage anyways.

CJW88 said:

We have State Farm and didn't have a problem. The stove just had to be UL listed and installed to manufacturer specs. I did have to have it inspected which consisted of the contractor coming in, looking at the hearth, wall protector, stove pipe, etc. A tape measure was never taken out and he didn't even look at the chimney. There is a charge of $40/year if you have a wood stove.

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I would consider having someone who knows what they are doing inspecting your stove. The tape measure is the second tool I use when doing an inspection. Second, only to the flashlight. I put tape measures on almost everything I look at. Even if I know I installed, in the odd chance a customer has moved it. If you are going to pay someone to do something I would want that job done right!

speace1025 said:

Thank you for all your input. I just got a call this evening from my agent. She said that she sent all the info on my stove and pipe to the underwriter and that they would cover me as long as I install it to manufacturers specs. So now I have it in the house and am ready to start the journey upward with pipe. Again I can't thank you enough. Looks like a little info goes a long way.

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Where in our great state are you? ky. is generally quite lax about regs of almost any kind. When I installed my stoves I gave the Ins. Co. a call and the response was since you already have solid fuel burning appliances we don't need anything even though the second stove was installed through a zc fireplace.
Joe

Be cautious about too cavalier an attitude such as "there are other co's and let your current one drop you." Around here, there are very few co's that will cover as we live in the mountains, trees all around and it is rare to find a fire hydrant and the fire dept's are all volunteer. IF you can get coverage, it is almost always sky high. I shopped around a couple yr. back, and the broker I was working with eventually called and said, "Uh, well, I really tried, but my advice to you is to make CERTAIN you are NEVER later with your renewal payment, I cannot find anything other than what you have now...."

It was pretty bad then, and after a couple of big fires the past few yr., fires that took out a bunch of homes, there are even fewer options.

We have Farm Family. I called them after the install to make sure they were aware we have a wood stove and see if they needed anything. The agent asked if it was a free standing stove and said no problem he would amend the policy and there would be no price increase. I thought that was too easy so I called back a week later just to double check and the agent sent me a copy of the amended policy that listed a free standing stove. There have been less expensive companies out there but we were always happy with Farm Family service.

I would consider having someone who knows what they are doing inspecting your stove. The tape measure is the second tool I use when doing an inspection. Second, only to the flashlight. I put tape measures on almost everything I look at. Even if I know I installed, in the odd chance a customer has moved it. If you are going to pay someone to do something I would want that job done right![/quote]



The guy didn't even charge me to come look at it. Turns out he lives just a few miles from me and is out of work for the winter so he just ran over and took a look. And I know that it's installed correctly because I'm the one who installed it. Worked out great!

I have had the same experience with state farm as some of the other posters in this thread. I asked about the stove. Agent said just make sure it's installed per the company's manual and insuring it wasn't a problem. End of story.

I've kinda avoided the topic with my agent over the years. He knows I have a stove and where it is located. Only thing that came up once that got me a little uncomfortable was when he said "you don't heat all the time with it right". I danced around that one. So I take it that if a wood stove is your only source of heat and that implies its on when your not a home, many more agents might have issues with them. Most people that have foreplaces or stove are recreational burners. Its the .1% like us in the world that heat full time that might change how they look at things.

wkpoor said:

I've kinda avoided the topic with my agent over the years. He knows I have a stove and where it is located. Only thing that came up once that got me a little uncomfortable was when he said "you don't heat all the time with it right". I danced around that one. So I take it that if a wood stove is your only source of heat and that implies its on when your not a home, many more agents might have issues with them. Most people that have foreplaces or stove are recreational burners. Its the .1% like us in the world that heat full time that might change how they look at things.

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yeah, it's not that you can't use it 100% of the time as your source of heat, but that it can't be the only AVAILABLE source of heat. I guess they figure that if you go away on a vacation or something that your pipes don't freeze and they end up paying out on a flooded basement.