12/10/2024
HomeOwners Insurance – Plumbing
We at Drain Rite Plumbing have recently noticed an increasing number of bizarre requests from homeowners asking us to make changes to their plumbing that make little or no sense. We believe that insurance companies in some cases are wanting out of California, so to save face they are making irrational requirements on homeowners to continue their coverage. These require inspections and repairs made to their homes that can be quite costly.
1) For instance, we had one customer that received a notice of non-renewal. The reason: mold and mildew on the roof as viewed from a blurry drone picture. They wanted the roof cleaned by a certified roof specialist and receipt of such submitted to them. The company was Safeco.
2) Another instance, Farmers Insurance was requiring a Moen Flo Smart Water Monitor and Automatic Shutoff Sensor if the copper pipe in the house was over 30 years old. He had the valve installed at the cost of about $900.
3) Another instance, a company was requiring all the exposed drains under the sink be changed from metal galvanized steel to plastic because the steel can rust, corrode and leak. However, removing this pipe means taking a sledgehammer to a pipe wrench in hopes of breaking it free. The pipe behind the wall is either galvanized steel pipe or cast iron and when exerting such pressure to remove the exposed pipe can possibly crack/break the pipe behind the wall resulting in thousands of dollars in repairs. This instance sounds like the insurance company hired a weekend warrior inspector who has no credentials in construction and advised them how to mitigate damage a home can have. This same company was requiring an electrician to come out and place a sticker on his electric panel.
What Can Be Done?
It’s obvious that many companies want to leave California because of the risk of liability. Not every company is demanding these expensive requirements. Shop around and don’t let them bully you with inflated rates and ridiculous inspections and repairs. Some of these upgrades might make sense. The Moen Flo Smart Water Monitor sounds like a good idea to keep your house from flooding and might work great for a few years. But, when lime buildup occurs on the valve parts, they don’t shut down all the way. Will this happen to the Moen device? We shall see.
We don’t know if these requirements are a company wide requirement or not.
Earthquake Shut-Off Devices
About 30 years ago, the insurance companies wanted to require Earthquake Shut-off devices installed right next to their gas meter and many people did so. The problems here were many. One, customers didn’t know how to reset this shut-off device and relight their pilots. One earthquake of substantial size would trigger thousands of homes and would take the Gas Company 3-4 months to service all those homes. Two, a large concrete truck come bouncing down the street would be enough to trigger the shut-off device and again, long waits for service from the Gas Company. In some instances, the device when triggered would allow enough gas to keep a pilot lit, but not enough to allow the water heater to fire up resulting in calls for Water Heater Service. As a result, we don’t see many Earthquake Shut-off devices.
Home Inspectors
California does not have a state certification for Home Inspectors. Many of these inspectors have taken an on-line course and suddenly become experts in their field and are telling contractors what is proper, when in fact they have no idea what they are talking about. They issue notices based on the code book without understanding the reasons why. Some inspectors are better than others. If they were involved in the building of homes while working under a general contractor they are going to be more knowledgeable.
