Unoccupied Home (1 Viewer)

[Clickem]

What do you do if away from home for extended period in the winter?

I have spoken to the company I buy Building and Contents cover from and we are currently limited to 30 days continuously unoccupied. That can be increased to 90 days, but they put some requirements on, and the one that I have concerns about is:

They want the water turned off and the boiler drained down. I would prefer to turn the water off, but leave the condensing gas boiler and central heating on a low setting. I can do this but they then exclude claims for anything freezing or any escaping water damage

 

[Podney]

Is it me? They must be gormless. If you can’t leave the heating on a low setting,how can you stop the place freezing up,leading to a big flooding claim?
Suggest you ask the that question if you haven’t already. And I see you’re not exactly in the warmest part of the country.

 

[maxi77]

You need to shop around conditions vary a lot between companies. Our insurer only requires heating on and a regular visual check that no mail is visible. With the water of and heating on the chance of any water damage is minimal whether covered or not and would have satisfied my brother a kiss adjuster when he was working. In our last house that had a rather difficult to reach stopcock I fitted a rather clever remote control valve just above the stopcock. As well as remote control shut off it what after 24 hours of no water being used so covered forgetting to switch of, and when the temperature Tel! To zero or if water flowed above a certain prest rate for 15 minutes thus preventing most floor damage.

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[Puddleduck]

my brother a kiss adjuster when he was working.

I wonder how many applicants there were for his job after he left? Sorry rule one probably applies

 

[138go]

Standard policy .. They would need a few 100 pages to cover all eventualities so Water off is straight forward enough so no damage if you get a pipe burst. Heating off and drained. No chance of water escaping and no chance of it catching fire if you are not there. Relying on the heating to come and go off is just asking for trouble. You only have to have a thermostat fail and you could use a lot of gas and boil the system dry or it fails to come on and the lot freezes.

I left the outside tap on connected to the self watering system. We were away 4 weeks. When I came back the decking had a nice green patch where the water had been running none stop for three weeks. Next door neighbour said she heard running water when she was out in the garden and looked over the fence and she could see the hose had come off but didn't do anything about it

Water bill was just over £400 MORE than normal. Not covered by insurance as it was not a fixed installation. Did manage to get the water supplier to reduce it as water had gone on the garden and not down the drain so they didn't have to treat it as waste water.

 

[CWH]

Have you actually spoken to anybody - sometimes it makes a difference.
eg 1 - our policy said 30 days - we spoke to them, it was OK if somebody entered the house (with our permission!) and checked, the we were covered for as long as we liked - we did 4 months
eg 2 - our policy said turn off the electricity - we had solar panels, they needed the power switched on in order to generate income - we spoke to somebody, they said yes that's ok and quite common
And in neither case was there any additional premium.

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[Clickem]

Have you actually spoken to anybody - sometimes it makes a difference.

Yes, my comments are the answers that I got from the Insurance Company. I am tempted to try asking my son to sleep in the house for a night in the middle, and meet the requirements of the 30 day limit

To increase to 90 days they already wanted the house "inspected" every week and electricity turned off, so freezer to empty. I need to speak to them again after the weekend, no electric means no heating

 

[CWH]

Yes, my comments are the answers that I got from the Insurance Company. I am tempted to try asking my son to sleep in the house for a night in the middle, and meet the requirements of the 30 day limit

To increase to 90 days they already wanted the house "inspected" every week and electricity turned off, so freezer to empty. I need to speak to them again after the weekend, no electric means no heating

Oh ok, that's not very helpful of them then. Hope you get something sorted without too much grief.

 

[Puddleduck]

Yes, my comments are the answers that I got from the Insurance Company. I am tempted to try asking my son to sleep in the house for a night in the middle, and meet the requirements of the 30 day limit

To increase to 90 days they already wanted the house "inspected" every week and electricity turned off, so freezer to empty. I need to speak to them again after the weekend, no electric means no heating

We stayed a few weekends at my brother-in-laws house when he went to NZ and Australia for several months. The insurance co were happy with this and we kept evidence of when we were there and for how long. Insurance co wanted the house to be occupied from time to time. The house was checked inside and out on a daily basis by a trusted family member.

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[Lenny HB]

All the policys we have had and looked at over the last few year have always allowed 60 days which is enough for us. When I have enquired about longer vacancies the requirement has been to leave the heating on 24/7 with the thermostat set to either 10/12/15 deg depending on the company.

 

[MillieMoocher]

One of the problems is actually the condensing boiler.

A common problem in winter is that the small pipe which the condensed water comes out of (looks like a small overflow pipe and will probably be sticking out of the wall near the boiler) can get frozen up.

If this pipe freezes, or becomes bunged up by snow, the boiler will cut out and you have no heating. It’s a common call out for boiler engineers in the winter. Free up the pipe and the boiler will restart.

Insurance companies are very fearful of extentensive water damage claims, in fact when I was in the industry it was the biggest single source of loss in most years. Claims in excess of £50k were rountine and not the exception.

I suppose very tongue in cheek you could take the view that if you’re certain leaving the heating on and the water on etc etc won’t be a problem, take the risk on yourself. If you’re not happy to do so, why crib at the conditions the organisation who will have to write the cheque if it goes wrong imposes?

 

[bobandjanie]

When we had a house there we used the C&C Club 180 days we drained ours and turned everything Off, we left the boiler On low one year and someone stole our heating oil, I was also going to mention condenser boilers over flow pipe freezing.
Bob.

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[maxi77]

I wonder how many applicants there were for his job after he left? Sorry rule one probably applies

Bloody predictive text on pads

 

[maxi77]

When we had a house there we used the C&C Club 180 days we drained ours and turned everything Off, we left the boiler On low one year and someone stole our heating oil, I was also going to mention condenser boilers over flow pipe freezing.
Bob.

If your condensate drain is installed properly it will not freeze

 

[Poursay]

I can understand why insurance companies want the water turned off. One of our neighbours went off for 3 weeks over New Year, leaving the water and heating on. I had a key and went in more or less every other day to check for post etc. Went in 1 day to find water pouring through the dining room ceiling and the landing floor waterlogged. Managed to get the water turned off and a plumber in. The insurance company paid for the damage, new ceiling, decoration etc but would pay for the plumber I organised as not done through them!

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[tonyidle]

I wonder how many applicants there were for his job after he left? Sorry rule one probably applies

I have this picture in my head now that I can't shift. Of a shaped speculum used to re-form the gob opening.

 

[bobandjanie]

If your condensate drain is installed properly it will not freeze

It was a friends, must admit our daughter's has been OK, but then son in law's a plumber. The only boiler we have now is to heat the water and that's electric, it doesn't get that cold here in Spain. Bob.

 

[Silver-Fox]

If your condensate drain is installed properly it will not freeze

Beat me to it.
Installation instructions changed some years ago.
If you wanted to you could direct the condensed water into a bucket inside the house so it defiantly wouldn’t freeze up.

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[PeteH]

We used to do up to 6 months In the USA. The CCC insured the house, and when I queried it with them all they said was to take reasonable precaution and care basically. So we ensured the Boiler Header was full turned it down to 15C, and then reduced the stop valve to a dribble. Just enough to "make up" for evaporation, Electric was left on, to run Security system and camera`s. I can monitor most of the building remotely. The post was Removed by some friends who had a key and the Alarm system remote. And dumped in a Bin Liner pending our return. Worked OK for over 5 years.

Laugh was, late one night, actually early morning, pitched up on a site in California, I went online and checked the security camera`s. My mate was in for a look round. So I texted him and said "I`m watching you!". Got a 2 finger wave for my trouble!.

As for condensing boiler drains, mine was directed inside the house and connected to the Foul water drain via the u bend.

 

[Poursay]

Obviously in the penultimate line it should have read "would NOT pay"

 

[maxi77]

I can understand why insurance companies want the water turned off. One of our neighbours went off for 3 weeks over New Year, leaving the water and heating on. I had a key and went in more or less every other day to check for post etc. Went in 1 day to find water pouring through the dining room ceiling and the landing floor waterlogged. Managed to get the water turned off and a plumber in. The insurance company paid for the damage, new ceiling, decoration etc but would pay for the plumber I organised as not done through them!

They should pay as you took urgent action to mitigate their loss. Had this discussion with an insurance company many years ago.

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[Minxy]

@Clickem ... are you sure they're quoting for a holiday absence from the home and not a totally unoccupied one in the sense of an 'empty' property as some of the conditions sound like they apply more to that than you just being away from a 'furnished etc' home?

On our policy, which now gives us 60 days (enough for us but could be increased), we have the choice of water off or heating on a minimum level. We've with Axa who gave us a great price and covered our Bromptons when in use abroad.

 

[Clickem]

@Clickem ... are you sure they're quoting for a holiday absence from the home and not a totally unoccupied one in the sense of an 'empty' property as some of the conditions sound like they apply more to that than you just being away from a 'furnished etc' home?

On our policy, which now gives us 60 days (enough for us but could be increased), we have the choice of water off or heating on a minimum level. We've with Axa who gave us a great price and covered our Bromptons when in use abroad.

They don't seem to differentiate between a holiday or empty home, over 31 days it is classified as "unoccupied" and additional stipulations apply. I have spoken to them again and get a slightly different story, so they are posting me the detailed requirements.

It does now sound more like shut down, but only drain domestic water (not CH) and switch all utilities off, or leave heating on low, alarm set, freezer running etc. I will wait for something in writing before deciding. The weekly "inspection" seems to be the one definite additional requirement

Thanks for all the inputs

 

[Poursay]

Yes Max77, I agree but the neighbours decided not to push the insurance company as they had lumbered them with a big bill anyway. Had it been me I would have used your argument too.

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[Theonlysue]

My insurer said i could either leave heating on constant 15° or empty system. I left on constant.
Also had to have someone check the property weekly which i had a friend do.
He used to phone me from the home landline to my mobile so i had a record of his visit.