Intotheether
ArboristSite Operative
It's probably been asked before, but are there any insurance companies out there that don't slap you with a $300+ increased premium when you tell them you heat with wood?
fireplaces/wood burners and insurance (USA)
- Thread starter Intotheether
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Erik B
ArboristSite Guru
I don't think American Family does.
Cincinnati doesn't charge us extra
D
Deleted member 117362
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My owb had to be UL listed and inspected for insurance company to approve it. Had to remove my shop woodstove or they would cancel coverage.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Country Fiancial had no issue with my Blaze King. The adjuster/rep (whatever they are called) did have to put it as secondary heat though, because it gets screwy with it as primary with frozen pipes, etc. I have a natural gas boiler as well.
Intotheether
ArboristSite Operative
Appreciate the replies, I will have to do some shopping around.
Flint Mitch
ArboristSite Guru
Ours is listed as secondary as well and doesn't cost us any extra. We did pull a permit, and have the new install inspected just to be safe
NSMaple1
Addicted to ArboristSite
Things can get really dicey if wood is your only source of heat.
And almost as dicey even if you have another heat source but tell them wood is your primary source.
Wood should always be the secondary heat source. That is usually fairly easy to accomplish even if you don't have another source, by adding in some electric baseboards & calling them your primary heat. Even if you rarely use them.
And almost as dicey even if you have another heat source but tell them wood is your primary source.
Wood should always be the secondary heat source. That is usually fairly easy to accomplish even if you don't have another source, by adding in some electric baseboards & calling them your primary heat. Even if you rarely use them.
Around here it is getting harder to get insurance for a house with a wood stove. My insurance company didn't even like my Garn that is my pole shed. Once they saw it was UL listed it was alright then. I put a furnace in last year for a customer that had to take out a wood stove that didn't have a tag on it. He said it lower there insurance bill a lot by not having a wood stove.
Multifaceted
Firewood Hoarder, Axe Enthusiast
Ours being auxiliary heat source, we had to still provide the UL listing for the stove and chimney, which was a pain because we bought the house with them installed and had no info. There was no additional charge that I'm aware of, Liberty Mutual.
Jules083
ArboristSite Operative
My last wood stove was an Energy King, basically a Hotblast but slightly better made. It had ‘solid fuel furnace’ written on the serial number tag so that’s what we put on the insurance. Never had an issue with it. It’s my only heat source.
Had a HVAC guy over about a year ago that was giving me an estimate on putting a propane furnace in for a backup. He saw my wood furnace and told me I might as well take it out now, because once the insurance company sees it they’ll drop me. I’m not sure if he was trying to convince me to buy the propane or he legitimately thought that. Either way his estimate was insane ($11,000) so I never went with him.
Had a HVAC guy over about a year ago that was giving me an estimate on putting a propane furnace in for a backup. He saw my wood furnace and told me I might as well take it out now, because once the insurance company sees it they’ll drop me. I’m not sure if he was trying to convince me to buy the propane or he legitimately thought that. Either way his estimate was insane ($11,000) so I never went with him.
11000? For what? A furnace and a small amount of duct work to connect it to your current ductwork?
Jules083
ArboristSite Operative
He said my ductwork was too small to move enough air to heat my house. He also said that since I don’t have cold air returns the furnace wouldn’t work, because apparently using my open staircase as a cold air return wasn’t good enough and would ‘starve the furnace for air’. Funny, because it’s been working great as is for the last 5 years.
So $11k to run ductwork in an open basement and single story, plus the furnace, plus he was going to put in a 2 ton AC unit. I still thought that was about double what it should have cost.
O that's a little more work. Probably a 3 day job with 2 guys and 3500$ish in material. It might be a little expensive but not double. A good price would be 8000$. Have someone do it on the side for cash and it would probably take 2 long days and maybe cost 6500. Just my estimate based on doing it here in western NY on a house as described.
Jules083
ArboristSite Operative
I could see that. My biggest thing was he was saying I needed a bunch more work done than what I wanted. All I wanted was a small furnace tied in to my ductwork. When he was talking about all the extra work that turned into the deal breaker.
One day soon I still plan on going with that. The propane furnace I need is only $1000, then I’ll just install it myself.
I cool my whole house with an 18k BTU window air conditioner, so any need for central air conditioning is gone now.
Yea I get it but when you work for or own a heating company you try to do the most trouble free correct way of doing a job.
Theres no way our company would hook a furnace into your ductwork with out a return of some sort and the ductwork would have to be big enough that the furnace didn't overheat because your first call when you have a problem will be to the heating contractor. That being said if I were doing it on the side I'd slap a furnace in there wherever you wanted it and dont call me if you have problems it's what you wanted lol.
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