thatch insurance with wood burner

[shobo]

Hi

I am soon to start removing a nasty brick fireplace in order to reveal and renovate the inglenook behind, and also raise the chimney height.
Thatch insurance seems to vary hugely, but based on several quotes the previous year, I had been expecting that use of a woodburner would around double my insurance premium (from approx. 500 to 1000), or at least raise it by around 50%, or possibly in the extreme not get permission at all for a wood burner.
However, my current insurer - as well as being the lowest price by a good margin, say that it would increase my premium by just £25, and that if I had informed them before quote that I had a woodburner, it may have made no difference at all to the quote.

Anyone with experience of thatch / woodburner quotes ? Perhaps my current underwriter is uniquely tolerant of woodburners.

btw apparently at one time, spark arrestors were advised, now they are discouraged.

 

[88v8]

Is this the Unicorn Insurance Company?
Would love to know who they are.

Ivor

 

[Flyfisher]

Perhaps there's a smallprint clause that excludes any damage caused by burning thatch?
You know, like those insurance companies that will offer insurance to householders in flood-risk areas but exclude any flood-related damage. :lol:

 

[shobo]

Its genuine, no conditions except for the usual chimney height, etc common to all policies

 

[88v8]

Our broker through whom we have insured since we moved here in 2012, has said that in their experience, 90% of total loss claims are caused by wood burners.

Since 2012, I noticed that they have several times had to change insurers. The problem is that thatch is a niche market and the portfolio is inherently unbalanced so that one major loss can wipe out the total premium. Eventually the insurer gives up on thatch, and a new one has to be found.
Consequently, our broker and no doubt their insurers have become ever more agitated about wood burners. The problem is the high temperature they reach, especially with coal, as compared to an open fire. This gives rise not only to a spark risk - mainly when lighting up and especially if too much paper is used - but also the greater risk of setting light to the thatch from inside due to excessive temperature in the flue.

Add to that the fact that most people do not know how to operate stoves safely. Owners leave them unattended, burn any crappy old wood, overheat them, burn coal in a flue that's only good for wood, on and on.

Our scheme is subject to chimney height - although we do not meet the ideal 6ft requirement - and they also sent some people with a camera to survey the flues. There is an extinguisher requirement, smoke detectors, and we are supposed to sweep twice a year.

Missing from these requirements, and in my opinion one of the most important, is a thermometer on the stove pipe so one can see how hot it's running. It is not possible to judge the temperature of a stove by looking at the fire.

So if your insurer is untroubled by woodburners, they must have been lucky. So far.

Our renewal last year was £1,600 which was a 30% increase on the previous year.
This year, our broker has illustrated the difference in cost as follows:
£2,000 woodburner**
£1,250 open fire
£900 oil, gas, electric

**This year's renewal will not in fact happen, as they are no longer able to cover woodburners, so as of today we have no insurance. Given the price increases in recent years, I had contemplated not bothering, now that decision has been taken.
Oh well, we've been 45 years without one single House or Contents claim, better ensure we maintain our unblemished record.

Ivor

PS would still be interested to know who this Unicorn is that insures you.

 

[tobydog]

We've been with NFU since 2009. There was a wood burner when we moved in and the premium was around £380. We still have a wood burner (which we hardly even use) and the premium is now £1250 :roll: It was around the time that NFU starting paying the price for writing too much cheap thatch insurance as wood burners became all the rage.

NFU carried out a free safety survey last year but refused to increase the rebuild cost until I had a professional surveyor calculate a current cost. This was done and put the premium up another £150. At least I can now sleep easy on cover, if not premium cost. To be fair, whilst NFU were the most expensive, it wasn't by much.

I tried moving insurer in March but it was too much hassle, for too little gain, to meet their onerous requirements. We had only just had the electrical survey carried out so we're good for 10 years but there was no way I could get other requirements met in time. They wanted a full thatch survey but, even though we have just been re-ridged, we didn't have a condition report with it because it was all verbal.

Anyway, I too would like to know who this mythical thatch insurer is and what their policy small print says.

 

[mims&pip]

I've not been around for an age, being rather too caught up in restoration work and other creative stuff, but I too would like to know who this mystery thatch insurer is!

We sold our thatched house in 2014 and back then we were insured by Playle Russell/Thatchline, who we found to be neither ridiculously expensive nor too onerous in their conditions.

The previous owners of that property had been with NFU, but when we approached them they refused to insure the house :shock:

Mims x

 

[Bogart]

I think you have to tout around for a good price but as others have mentioned is not straightforward due to some stipulations. For example sweeping twice a year, heat alarms etc etc Our insurer does seem one of the more sensible ones, especially as the renewal quote I received a few days ago has the premum increased by 4%, could be a lot worse. NFU are going to price themselves out of this market, intentionally or not by quoting me double what I currently pay. My insurers got an inspector around with his camera and all chimneys, stainless steel insulated flues, proved to be in good condition. What nobody seems to query is the words "log burner" as lots are in fact multi fuel stoves. I have flue thermometers and in certain circumstances one can get a reading that is verging on maximum allowable temperature burning logs. Now my stoves are multi fuel so heaven knows what temperatures I could achieve if I decided to burn some anthracite!

 

[88v8]

. I have flue thermometers and in certain circumstances one can get a reading that is verging on maximum allowable temperature burning logs. Now my stoves are multi fuel so heaven knows what temperatures I could achieve if I decided to burn some anthracite!

Which I'm sure is what some people do. Usually with no thermometer. Our stoves will easily go over-temperature with logs.
Add to that, as I've mentioned, people burning smokeless fuel in a liner that's only good for wood.
It's not really surprising that insurers are running away from woodburners+thatch.

Another cause of flue liner damage is sweeps with rotary power sweepers, which can be pretty hard on an unsupported liner.
https://www.chimneyservice.co.uk/to-power-sweep-or-not-to-power-sweep-that-is-the-question/
Our sweep used one last year, but said this year that he'd give it a miss.

Ivor

 

[Bogart]

Mine chimney sweep is of the Dick Van Dyke ilk.