boiler insurance???

Timco

Customer said today she pays $1,000 per month for boiler insurance and it only covers the boiler, not parts associated with the boiler, and covers "accidents". She is supposed to get back to me with the definition of accidents and the exclusions, but asked if it was worth it. 2 WM 800K HW boilers, and one 400K WM steamer. 8 floor condo high rise. anyone heard of this? Worth it?

Tim

nicholas bonham-carter

boiler insurance

when we put in our american standard steam boiler in 1972, we took out insurance with the HARTFORD INSURANCE CO. [they invented the famous loop].
the premiums were pretty reasonable for the 1st.couple of years, but rapidly began to rise in the 4th year, so we dropped it.
sounds like in this case it is 2% of replacement cost per month.better to put that money into the bank as a reserve against future repairs[and a good maintainance program].
there are often exclusions only found out when the boiler is dead,such as improper piping leading to early failure.

part of a good maintainance program could be looking inside the boilers with a camera/viewer like the "see snake". maybe graphitic corrosion could be detected early that way.
i notice 2 x 800 hot water and 1 x 400 steam--which does the heating,and are they staged? maybe redundant?--nbc

Timco

The two 800K HW WM boilers are the heat, and the 400K OVERSIZED steamer is the DHW. It used to run 2 indirects, now just one. The WMs are just 4 years old, the steamer is about 30 yrs old. The WMs are staged with a Carrier 3V control. Never programmed or used this control before, and have some questions about it...HW boilers have front & rear inspection windows and are very clean inside. She asked what it would cost to replace one or a section of one, but I need a quote Monday.

Tim

Rich Kontny_3

Poor Design

And trial and error were a big factor in boiler design. Look up steam locomotives and their checkered past. Today's codes and rules are a direct result of the follies of some of our dead men.

The $1,000.00/month seems a little high and out dated and probaly not necessary as a norm anymore. We have come a long way with boiler designs and installs. I would suggest that this customer do some comparison shopping!

tim smith

re boiler insurance on those boilers, I would say no it is not

a viable expense on those size of boilers unless the assoc. homeowners policy will not cover damage caused by a boiler incident. Those boilers can be replaced relatively inexpensively so it does not make sense. On some of our old single boiler building w/ appx 1.2 to 1.5 mil btu firetube boilers, it has been good that a lot of the building have had insurance as they do cover a failed boiler, and a singe larger firetube is not cheap to replace compared to what you have. Good luck, Tim