Home Does home insurance cover underground central heating leak?

fme

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Hi,
Since several days ago, our central heating is failing to heat almost all radiators in the house (bungalow). It is a sealed system but you cannot top it up fast enough to get more than 1/2 bar pressure when cold and as soon as you stop topping up the pressure drops to zero within a minute.
There are 2 or 3 radiators that you cannot bleed enough and are holding no water.
There is no visible sign of water anywhere but we had plumber in who advised that most likely there is a leak somewhere underground near the empty rads.
So the most likely course of action I believe is to get someone in to trace where the leak is, then dig up (wooden floors on concrete) flooring, repair pipe, fill in floor and repair/replace flooring.
I contacted house insurance company and it seems that unless there is currently physical evidence of water 'damage' I am not covered for any 'Trace & Access' or 'Leaking water' to fix the pipe and will likely have to pay for all.
Has anyone any experience of this?
Thanks.
 
Standard household insurance policies have a trace and access clause which covers the location and accessing of leaks. It is generally limited to a figure of 650 euro - 750 but check your policy. The thing to note is this figures includes the costs of damage done by you to locate and access a leak (and the cost of repairing the same damage). Therefore in alot of cases it will be only a fraction of the cost as if you have to retile floors as you cant find a matching tile, or relay timber floors because you have damaged them taking them up, the max payable by the insurance company will be the €650 euro (or different as per your policy).

If the water from the leak has caused damage to any item, this is covered in addition to the trace and access but generally in underground locatiosn, trace and access will be the max you will get.
 
I contacted house insurance company and it seems that unless there is currently physical evidence of water 'damage' I am not covered for any 'Trace & Access' or 'Leaking water' to fix the pipe and will likely have to pay for all.
Has anyone any experience of this?
Had exactly the same problem and got exactly the same response from our insurers.

We used a leak detection company who use infra-red cameras to find the leak - cost was around €100 as he found the leak quite quickly.

It wasn't possible to claim any of the costs from the insurance as there wasn't any 'water damage' as such just the detection and replacement of tiles and a pipe.
 
I contacted house insurance company and it seems that unless there is currently physical evidence of water 'damage' I am not covered for any 'Trace & Access' or 'Leaking water' to fix the pipe and will likely have to pay for all.
Has anyone any experience of this?
Thanks.

Once you find the leak you can get a plumbers report confirming the cause of the damage and take photos of the damaged pipework before carrying out the repair. Submit this to your insurance company and they will have to cover you for trace and access at a minimum (plus any damage done by the water)
 
Thanks for quick response guys.
In my case my Trace and Access cover is up to €1000 with excess of €275.
Of course if I claim I lose 40% no claim discount too.

kkelliher:
The impression I got from them was that only (water) damage caused by the leak is covered, which in my case is minimal, but the damage deliberately caused by me in order to dig up and fix the leak is my main concern. Do you think that replacement of flooring may be covered under 'Trace and Access'?

delgirl:
If pinpointing the leak costs only €100 I'd be happy with that and knowing only one floor is to come up. Considering it must be a big leak it is presumably easier to find.
 
kkelliher:
The impression I got from them was that only (water) damage caused by the leak is covered, which in my case is minimal, but the damage deliberately caused by me in order to dig up and fix the leak is my main concern. Do you think that replacement of flooring may be covered under 'Trace and Access'?

they are correct. basically if you damage it, its covered under trace and access, if its damaged by the water it is covered by the polcy directly.
 
Very interested in this thread (although it has been dormant for a year) as am facing similar situation. My wooden floor is warping, and while I had hoped it was just a case of the boards not acclimatising properly to my house, I suspect I have a leak.

I am hoping (reading the prior post from @kkelliher) that the insurer might bear any significant repair cost, as the damage is already physically evident in the flooring.

@delgirl, I'd appreciate any info on who did the infra-red search for you, if you would recommend them.

(I've a related question re: the fact that I just changed insurer - and that this problem was pre-exising - I will look for a more relevant thread to ask that. I was only apprised of the likelihood of a leak today...)
 
If you have a leak from a pipe you can confirm it by the following:

(1) check the water tank in the attic. If its refilling with no usage you have a leak
(2) check the pressure on your heating system and if it is very low and needs to be topped up you have a leak in the heating pipes
(3) if you have a meter installed and its running, you have a leak

The infra red option will cost you money to do, the above are free methods.
 
The advantage of the infra red option is it is less intrusive.
I know one very good company who do this and can recommend if needed
 
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