Wood Boiler - Insurance Issues

[MarkM99]

Really for me what I want is as we work on our 50 year old house (with 2x4) walls that we improve the insulation and make it a more comfortable space in our winters. As I type this from my computer area, my feet and legs are cold. I loved the idea of in our addition adding in the in floor heat to the new addition, retrofitting in two other bedrooms (that are also cold in my opinion).

My oil tank will soon be (in theory) out of it's service life on my garage, and it's 3 - 4k for a fiberglass replacement. I have a tractor, palletize and store all my wood to dry, and I already process wood, the wood boiler I thought was a great fit for a comfortable heat source, relatively cheap to run (other then time), and would allow me to also keep heat in my garage (with existing in floor heat currently).

The separate building that is a distance away from our house, and would be cold, potential walk through snow, etc much tougher sell to the family. I would be doing most of it, but it's nice to have options (and 3 kids who eventually could assist as well). I thought wife pulling home from work into the garage, easy to say, on your way in load up the boiler, which I then am checking before bed as well, etc. etc.

I guess I got sold on a concept before I did the hard research into what would be insurable.

 

[salecker]

Not a terrible idea to have a dedicated boiler shed. Even stick it in an enclosed trailer. Your shop and house will be warm with reduced risk of fire, less mess, and less insurance problems.

A dinky shed or trailer can be a couple thousand bucks. This boiler project could hit 20k really easy.

20ft sea can...
Thats probably what i am going to use when i build my next shop complex.
Not sure if i am going to go with a boiler system or a hot air system.

 

[salecker]

Really for me what I want is as we work on our 50 year old house (with 2x4) walls that we improve the insulation and make it a more comfortable space in our winters. As I type this from my computer area, my feet and legs are cold. I loved the idea of in our addition adding in the in floor heat to the new addition, retrofitting in two other bedrooms (that are also cold in my opinion).

My oil tank will soon be (in theory) out of it's service life on my garage, and it's 3 - 4k for a fiberglass replacement. I have a tractor, palletize and store all my wood to dry, and I already process wood, the wood boiler I thought was a great fit for a comfortable heat source, relatively cheap to run (other then time), and would allow me to also keep heat in my garage (with existing in floor heat currently).

The separate building that is a distance away from our house, and would be cold, potential walk through snow, etc much tougher sell to the family. I would be doing most of it, but it's nice to have options (and 3 kids who eventually could assist as well). I thought wife pulling home from work into the garage, easy to say, on your way in load up the boiler, which I then am checking before bed as well, etc. etc.

I guess I got sold on a concept before I did the hard research into what would be insurable.

My walk is 125 ft to my boiler building. The X used to have zero issues dealing with the boiler so long as i hauled the wood inside,the X was a slight gal and didn't like the wood cart.

 

[Tonty]

My setup- a Switzer wood boiler in a lean-to attached to an attached garage. My house has a gambrel style barn roof, so that worked and looks fine. The boiler room has its own outside garage door, with a walk door installed between the garage and boiler room. I didn’t do it because of insurance (no problem with mine), but just to have it in a separate space. Exterior door between garage and boiler room. No need to step outside to load boiler. It works well for me. I have radiant floor heat on the main floor and wonder how I got along without it before. 😁
Also, like some have mentioned, unless you are gone for over 12-24 hours, your wife may not need to feed the boiler anyway.

 

[maple1]

My setup- a Switzer wood boiler in a lean-to attached to an attached garage. My house has a gambrel style barn roof, so that worked and looks fine. The boiler room has its own outside garage door, with a walk door installed between the garage and boiler room. I didn’t do it because of insurance (no problem with mine), but just to have it in a separate space. Exterior door between garage and boiler room. No need to step outside to load boiler. It works well for me. I have radiant floor heat on the main floor and wonder how I got along without it before. 😁
Also, like some have mentioned, unless you are gone for over 12-24 hours, your wife may not need to feed the boiler anyway.

This. You should only have to load the boiler 2x a day. She shouldn't even have to touch it, unless you are away for long periods. You don't want to keep feeding a boiler wood before it truly needs it.

My setup is different (boiler + storage), but I only have a fire actually burning 6 hours a day.

The issue insurance companies have with wood fires in garages is that they are in the same room as gasoline. From reading others experiences, some are OK if you can raise it up high enough off the ground. Or building a room for it. I would check with all other insurance providers you can find to check with before investing in anything. Then again, one could always change their mind later and say no after they first said yes.

 

[Highbeam]

Then again, one could always change their mind later and say no after they first said yes.

Honestly, I'm afraid of this sometimes. I don't want to get a permit to upgrade stoves in my shop for fear that the next inspector will fail it. As far as insurance, I keep paying and not making claims and they don't bother me.

 

[maple1]

Honestly, I'm afraid of this sometimes. I don't want to get a permit to upgrade stoves in my shop for fear that the next inspector will fail it. As far as insurance, I keep paying and not making claims and they don't bother me.

Same here.

If one could get an insurance company to say yes, you should try to get that in writing somehow. Even via email. It wouldn't likely be absolute protection but should be way better than verbal over the phone. Getting someone to put something in writing should at least make them think twice and look closer before they do. Phone verbals can be pretty quick and off the cuff.

 

[sloeffle]

Well that's disappointing. If that credit really got up to 50% I was going to start looking into it pretty hard. It would definitely help on my tax liability. As far as price, a friend was just quoted 30k for a 4 ton system but that included 10k for all new ductwork. My biggest concern is how it feels coming out of the ductwork. In my opinion there is nothing worse than Luke warm air blowing around the house.

You’ll be disappointed in a heat pump then. The air is warm, not hot like LP or NG. You can’t beat the geo AC though.

I’d be interested to see the specifics. My guess is, it’s an old school single speed compressor and single speed fan type unit. I think my unit alone was 9 or 10k, let alone the piping, pumps etc. I’d also be interested to know how many feet of pipe they are going to put in the ground. A lot of companies scrimp on pipe. Mine is a 4 ton unit and I have 2400 ft of pipe in the ground. 😁

 

[Woodman1]

You’ll be disappointed in a heat pump then. The air is warm, not hot like LP or NG. You can’t beat the geo AC though.

I’d be interested to see the specifics. My guess is, it’s an old school single speed compressor and single speed fan type unit. I think my unit alone was 9 or 10k, let alone the piping, pumps etc. I’d also be interested to know how many feet of pipe they are going to put in the ground. A lot of companies scrimp on pipe. Mine is a 4 ton unit and I have 2400 ft of pipe in the ground. 😁

I guess I will just probably be burning wood the rest of my life. Oh well lol!!

 

[gfirkus]

Same here.

If one could get an insurance company to say yes, you should try to get that in writing somehow. Even via email. It wouldn't likely be absolute protection but should be way better than verbal over the phone. Getting someone to put something in writing should at least make them think twice and look closer before they do. Phone verbals can be pretty quick and off the cuff.

I had drawn a sketch of my house with attached 2 car garage and attached wood heater room on garage. Access from garage is man door (fire rated ) with 5/8” fire code drywall on wood heater side. My insurance agent called the regional manager to verify coverage. My drawing is on file along with phone conversion to regional manager. Make sure you “wording” of items is appropriate. If you think there may be issues then it probably shouldn’t be done

 

[CSchumacher]

That is kinda also what is bugging me - all the people that have wood burning appliances in their homes, their garages/shops, etc. Hell I have a pacific energy wood insert in our house.

I have a call in with another insurance company, but possibly another building is the only answer, by that time though, it's hard to justify on the savings side of things.

Hi!
Our existing outdoor wood furnance was purchased in 2017 – we upgraded to a more efficient model from a Wood Doctor purchased in 1998. It is located on a concrete pad 22’ 8” from our home.

We now have a G200 HeatMaster which is rated for a combustible clearance of 6” from back & sides and 24” from front opening
We want to enclose this in a ‘furnance shed’ which it is rated for but have not started this project yet because our insurance broker is saying that the furnance needs to be 50' from any combustible ie. home and can not be enclosed in a shed!
We are located in NS and I am trying to figure out how to find a provider who will insure us....even if we move the boiler 50' we would still want it enclosed.....how did your situation resolve itself?
Thanks!!

 

[MarkM99]

Hi!
Our existing outdoor wood furnance was purchased in 2017 – we upgraded to a more efficient model from a Wood Doctor purchased in 1998. It is located on a concrete pad 22’ 8” from our home.

We now have a G200 HeatMaster which is rated for a combustible clearance of 6” from back & sides and 24” from front opening
We want to enclose this in a ‘furnance shed’ which it is rated for but have not started this project yet because our insurance broker is saying that the furnance needs to be 50' from any combustible ie. home and can not be enclosed in a shed!
We are located in NS and I am trying to figure out how to find a provider who will insure us....even if we move the boiler 50' we would still want it enclosed.....how did your situation resolve itself?
Thanks!!

I basically gave up for now. I had a second insurance company come in and basically wouldn't even quote me (unrelated to the wood boiler - we store RV's/Cars in a barn), so I let it drop. Part of me still wants to move forward but it's going to be a bit till we renovate the house, but ideally I would love in floor heat for that renovation & addition. Then I would tie into my existing garage with in floor heat. Ideally I would be able to add heat to a new greenhouse as well.

I'm thinking that the external structure is the only way to go now (sadly), and starting to even wonder about a more automated chip burner or something like that with the possible demands I might have. IDK, I need to win the lottery to pay for all my ambitions.