Electrical fault and house Insurance

[mattyg]

Any Insurance Guru's around

Situation.

My Sister has just been on the phone she's been upstairs and when she came back down the ground floor was filled with white smoke and an acrid electrical smell. She's opened all the windows and the smoke has gone.

She did have the tumble drier on but I've been round and can't seem to locate the source.(tumble drier is running now to see if its that).

Question is, If she called her insurance company would they send someone to check the electrical system and if it was dangerous would they pay for a rewire. Or would they wait until the house burnt down (If its that serious)

 

[AtticusFinch]

Unlikely probably - typically insurance will cover the cost of damage caused by the faulty wiring, but not the cost of actually rewiring. She will need to read her Building Insurance policy to check what is and is not covered. Usually wear and tear itself is not covered. The more concerning thing is the fact that there might be a fault and she may want to get that checked by a professional to make sure things are safe (or not).

 

[HardwareGeek]

Tumble drier is known for melting the fluff and possibly starting a fire.

Afaik the electrical add-on of house insurance is for emergencies only not repair work, they will send someone out if the description is either no power or no light or potentially dangerous situation but they may just diagnose the issue and disconnect any faulty wiring and advise it needs to be repaired rather than pay for the repair themselves, so they just make you safe if its anymore than a simple repair, plus the limits for add-on elec to house insurance are pretty low and most likely wont cover much work anyway.

ps. Who is it axa/rias?

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Question is, If she called her insurance company would they send someone to check the electrical system and if it was dangerous would they pay for a rewire.

No

Or would they wait until the house burnt down (If its that serious)

If she knowingly ignored an electrical fault and didn't get it sorted, and they could prove it, they wouldn't pay out.

 

[Traffic_Warden]

What are the insurance company really going to do? Nothing.

Just take a look at the tumble dryer and smell inside it/around the back of it and see if you can smell anything like before when the downstairs was filled with smoke.

 

[mattyg]

Cheers folks.

I thought as much to be honest. I've been there all day and no re-occurrence. I have also booked a sparky to come and have a look.

Catch22. If she hadn't opened the windows to let the smoke out and turned the dryer off we may have been able to source the problem.
But if she left it she may have had to move in with me

I've also fixed her toilet and installed 2 interlinked smoke alarms.

 

[D.P.]

No



If she knowingly ignored an electrical fault and didn't get it sorted, and they could prove it, they wouldn't pay out.

This, if your sisters doesn't get this seen to and the house burns down then the insurers legally wont have to pay a penny.