Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves

   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #1  

goodoleboy

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Still looking since thats half the fun!
Kinda intersting and I thought i would share this with you.

I spoke with an agent today about homeowners coverage and He asked if I had a woodstove or fireplace. I told no but i am thinking about getting a wood stove installed.
He told me about 45% of all house fires are started from woodstoves (pellet and such) and fireplace inserts becuase they create so much heat that the mortar & bricks on the chimneys start to detoriate. He said with stoves stuff around it cathces fire and that regular fireplaces are fine (which i found strange)
He said they dont im write new policies with the items stated. I have family who have put in inserts and are happy with them, but ot sure if they know the insurance implications involved.I doubt they know or told their agent?

I dont think ill get the woodstove of my dreams though /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif .. we were looking foward to the idea of a stove but if i cant get insured or have to pay a higher premium ill do without for now.
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #2  
Gosh - up here its the open fireplaces that are hard to insure. The airtight stoves and inserts all have stainless steel chimney liners in a diameter required for the stove. The companies differentiate between casual use and main heat supply usually based on the number of cords of wood burned.

Egon
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #3  
I would talk to someone higher up atyour insurance company. I doubt that they wouldn't cover a qualified stove installed properly
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #4  
I'm insured with Farm Bureau and a wood stove rider on the house insurance policy is $50 a year. Compared to the price of fuel oil right now ($1.79/gallon last week) the extra $50 is a bargain.
I'm thinking that the 45% number is due to lack of maintainance of the wood burning system. Properly installed and maintained a wood stove is as safe as anything else.
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #5  
I have been heating the house with wood for 20 years and no problem with USAA. Not even an extra rider. Of course, since the Hayman (Colorado) fire 2 years ago, I am lucky to have any green trees around the place, so I guess compared to the whole forest burning, the wood stove/fireplace risk is really small.

I did switch from an old Schrader stove to a Lopi. The Lopi is smaller than the Schrader, but it certainly puts out more heat, burns much less wood, and is much more controllable. I have been more than happy with the new stove. It has more than paid for itself in about 3 years by just burning less wood. I am glad that I didn't decide to heat with Propane!!!
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #6  
I am with State Farm. The only hassle they gave me was to come in and inspect the installation. No additional charges.
Of course that was over 20 years ago and they may have forgotten about the stove by now.

Harry K
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #7  
Sort of hard to get State farm to Insure a home now-a-days unless you are next to a fire station. Well not quite, but I had been a customer of theirs for about 30 yrs, in 3 different homes with no claims. Bought my uncles farm and they would not write a policy said it was too far out. 12 miles from town. Went with Farm Bureau and got a better deal too. Had a woodstove insert in the fireplace too.

Ben
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #8  
We are with State Farm and have no problems with having a wood burning stove. I did, however, hear that they are no longer insuring homes in CA.

Mark
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #9  
I have 3 fireplaces in my home, I'm currently insured by State Farm, there are no riders on my policy to cover the fireplaces. I previously used Farmers Insurance, again there were no riders with them.
 
   / Spoke to Insurance agent about fireplaces & stoves #10  
We had insurance from USAA but once we moved to a very rural area we found Farm Bureau had much better rates.

The house originally had a wood (log) burning insert and Farm Bureau made us have an additional rider to the insurance polidy. Last year I switched it for a pellet insert and Farm Bureau then dropped the rider.
 
 
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