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?
I don't think American Family does.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?
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 safeCountry 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.
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.
11000? For what? A furnace and a small amount of duct work to connect it to your current ductwork?
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.
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.
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