Additional insurance cover for wood burners - comments from HETAS

[BowlandStoves]

The subject of home insurance is one which is rarely mentioned by customers but it is worth having the conversation. Here is a comment from the HETAS wbesite:-

 

"If you’ve recently installed or are thinking of installing a wood or multi fuel burning appliance, you will need to check whether you have appropriate cover under your existing home insurance. This can be especially true if you have a home of non-standard construction, such as timber framed or thatched roof."

 

Has anyone looked into their own situation? If so what was the advice?

[aesmith]

No reference in our house insurance.  They didn't ask what sort of heating, nor do they appear to have any exclusion.  Sounds like typical scaremongering to me.  HETAS drumming up business for some form of certification scheme as a money spinner?

[Ratman]

The bloke who installed ours said that we should have it swept once a year by a hetas registered sweep which automatically covers you then on your home insurance. ?‍♂️
Still not had it swept yet tho [emoji39]

[Stubby]

Sweep mine every year my self . House was built with a fire place and chimney . It is what it is . The insurance company  have never asked one way or the other .

[Ratman]

Our house has always had a chimney too, only now it has a fancy stainless pipe stuck up it which surely makes it safer [emoji6]

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, Ratman said:

Our house has always had a chimney too, only now it has a fancy stainless pipe stuck up it which surely makes it safer

Yep . A liner is good .

[sandspider]

Think I read somewhere that you need a certificate from a legitimate sweep to validate insurance cover. (You can sweep it yourself on top of this, of course). For the £50 odd cost for two chimneys, I get a professional to sweep them once a year and get lovely certificates.

[aesmith]

1 hour ago, sandspider said:

Think I read somewhere that you need a certificate from a legitimate sweep to validate insurance cover. (You can sweep it yourself on top of this, of course). For the £50 odd cost for two chimneys, I get a professional to sweep them once a year and get lovely certificates.

I don't believe that for one second, unless you read it in your own insurance agreement, in which case a change of insurers would deal with the matter.  Unless spelled out in the actual policy, the only possible impact would be if they could prove to a legal standard that you were negligent and that this negligence directly caused or failed to prevent a claim.

 

By the way, regarding sweeping I find I get almost nothing from our chimney with the metal liner.  It hadn't been swept for four years before I first swept it, and even that all that came out was around a teacup full of grey ash.   Same with any subsequent sweeping.  I get a bit more out of the other chimney which has a larger cement liner, but I'm convinced that both would be perfectly fine even if not swept for several years.

[aesmith]

I was off the mark with my first comment, it's not a scare story to promote some new certification scheme.  It's a scare story to promote their own insurance.  The actual page goes on .. " Fortunately, HETAS has a long standing relationship with Jelf, a leading UK insurance broker, ..".  

[sandspider]

Fair enough, don't think my current insurers specifically mentioned it. I'll continue to get a professional in, just in case! Generally get a couple of litres of ash out of the main chimney, which we work hard for ~6 months a year.

 

I imagine insurers would use any excuse to wiggle out of a claim, so it's peace of mind. Our sweep is also a lot cleaner than I would be.