Home insurance cover question(electrical fault)

Buzza

Hi all, i wonder if someone could help, I currently dont have power to the main ring in my house so none of the plugs work. A contributing factor may have been water dripping from a leaky tap onto a power point behind a unit in the kitchen(not sure yet) or it might be just old or shoddy wiring. The electrician is still investigating.

What would/would not be covered by home insurance?(Direct line). Im guessing worn out old wiring wouldnt be covered, but what if the water leak caused it?

thanks a lot.

Blibble

It would all come down to what you can substantiate. Can you prove the water was ingressing, and that this ingress caused the damage noted?

You'd need an independent report before proceeding to notify your insurer, as a declined claim may still impact your premiums.

tempus_fugit

I'm not an electrician but I wouldn't have thought one shorted out plug socket would cause complete failure of the main ring. Wouldn't it just trip the fuse for that circuit, and others would be working? The electrician should be able to get to the bottom of it, at which point you can work out if it is due to an insured risk or not.

Buzza

Probably right there tempus. It just might be down to old/dodgy wiring. Im hoping this is not going to require an expensive rewire job. Especially when we were due to sell the house in the next few months.

Thanks for the responses chaps

eddddy

Buzza wrote: »

A contributing factor may have been water dripping from a leaky tap onto a power point behind a unit in the kitchen(not sure yet) or it might be just old or shoddy wiring.

If water has got in the socket and caused a short circuit, the socket may just need drying out - or worst case, a new socket.

A new socket should take an electrician (or a competent DIYer) a few minutes to install.

It's probably not worth paying an insurance excess plus increased premiums for.

If the cause is old or shoddy wiring, replacing that wiring won't be covered by any home insurance policy.