Insurance company

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wally1234

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Hearth Supporter
Sep 5, 2010
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After you bought your pellet stove/insert did you inform your insurance company?

I have a oil furnance (which does not heat the house, let's not get into detail about this :-))

I have electric base board which is only for emergency.

I heard if your primary heat source is pellet then you may not get insured/they will drop you. How was everyone's experience with that?
 
May insurance sends out an update request every couple years. I marked that I have pellet stoves. Hasn't been any issues.
If you don't mention it to them and you have a problem, they may not cover you.
 
I have electric baseboards which are my primary heat for the house. They are turned fairly low and only come on if I don't feel like feeding the stove. The important part for the insurance company is that you have multiple heat sources in the event of a problem. Always tell your insurance that either oil or electric is your primary heat source and that your stove is secondary. I got into an issue when the insurance asked how many cords of wood I burn and the agent thought I was using too much but the company approved it without a problem.
 
I have a free standing wood stove that I installed 4 years ago. I called my insurance company and informed them, (homesite in NJ) they were cool with it, nothing changed. I updated my policy (same company) 2 years ago, but rather call homesite, I went through a local homesite / prudential broker who claimed that he could save me more $$, well I filled out some paper work and there broker sent one of the reps to my house to look at the property. I have not changed a single thing from the original policy except adding a wood stove, if anything I reduced risks by installing a new roof, removing two tree's close to the house and fixing all the loose railings on the porch. This local broker had my rates raising, when I asked why; he said I had tons of firewood on the property and that was hazardous. I was pissed, I told the broker that the reason for all the wood (12-14 cords, neatly stacked) was I that I want to burn dry wood for better safety and that I'm a few years ahead, it didn't matter to him.
I ended up cancelling the policy through him. But this is were it gets whacky, I never cancelled my original policy, so I keep paying it, (same price from when I bought my house, same coverage) go figure.
 
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I called before buying my Haman, all Liberty Mutual asked was to make sure aheath pad was installed under it. Never affected my rate once purchased.
 
Eeps24

I get my Chimney cleaned once a year by a reputable liscensed company (Pellet Insert) and then I send a copy to my insurance co. Along with the work done is usually the statement; "Stove appears to be clean and well maintained"
It can't hurt...
Bill
 
Tonyray said:
Notified my Insurance company [Eire] the day it was installed..
no problem/no rate Increase..==c
Click to expand...

Same here. We use Liberty Mutual.
 
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I never notified my insurance company, since I bought my house with an existing open hearth (natural wood) fireplace, my thinking was that by installing a pellet stove insert, it only made my place safer. But you do raise a good point - I guess I'll give them a call on Monday.
 
RKBAGUY said:
I never notified my insurance company, since I bought my house with an existing open hearth (natural wood) fireplace, my thinking was that by installing a pellet stove insert, it only made my place safer. But you do raise a good point - I guess I'll give them a call on Monday.
Click to expand...


I bet tons of ppl over looked this. Cover your self.
 
I informed my insurance company when each of my 2 stoves was installed, and they wanted to know if they were installed by someone who was WETT certified. They also wanted an estimate of how many bags I burned each year. They told me that if I burned more than 80 bags/season they wouldn't insure me.
 
Tim_M said:
I informed my insurance company when each of my 2 stoves was installed, and they wanted to know if they were installed by someone who was WETT certified. They also wanted an estimate of how many bags I burned each year. They told me that if I burned more than 80 bags/season they wouldn't insure me.
Click to expand...

That would not work for me since I burn about 2 1/2 times that amount.
 
Tim_M said:
was WETT certified. ...... They told me that if I burned more than 80 bags/season they wouldn't insure me.
Click to expand...

That's in Canada. But how are they going to know that you exceeded 80 bags? Ans: they can't unless you tell them. I got a similar answer when I told them I burned 2 to 3 cords but they didn't give me a max., just do not exceed it.
 
It really varies. Mine only cared that my primary was oil, electric, or propane.
 
All my insurance co.(travelers )asked is if it was installed as per manufactures specs. It is considered supplemental heat source though.
 
Eeps24 said:
After you bought your pellet stove/insert did you inform your insurance company?

I have a oil furnance (which does not heat the house, let's not get into detail about this :))

I have electric base board which is only for emergency.

I heard if your primary heat source is pellet then you may not get insured/they will drop you. How was everyone's experience with that?
Click to expand...
I have called my insurance just after installing my new P962 from Piazzetta 5 years ago, they had to call me back saying; No problem with the stove, they consider that the stove has so many safeties feature the only condition was that my electric base board would remain at a minimum and not to stack more than a pallet inside the house the cost going from electricity to pellet 10$ more per year big deal considering what I save with my Piazzetta.
 
I belong to a Co-op insurance company. In this area a lot of people burn primarily wood, pellets and some coal.
I asked my insurance company before installation of my insert and they did not blink an eye, they said ok.
When policy was up for renewal last year, the wood pellet box was already checked off for primary heat source.
 
Informed them that we took out the woodburner and in stalled a pellet , The rates went down , for us ,Not by much but still down from what it was ...
 
Harman insert, insurance Co just needed a picture of installed stove and outside of chimney. There was no type of stove installed previously. Result was no change in premium.
 
My insurance company sends a update form every few years, I haven't received one since I installed my pellet stove.

My rates went down a little when I checked that I had a ductless heat pump instead of baseboard heat, in a rental I own.
 
I would make sure that you have the proper inspections from the town with the stove. This way you can say things are done properly and that can't be used against you in a claim. My insurance company didn't care since I already had a fireplace and just put in an insert. My rates stayed the same.
 
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