I received a call this morning from my Managing Partner. we were on a conference call with citizen’s insurance.
They noted stranded aluminum wiring used on the main service disconnect.
Home is arguably new construction, CO’ed in 2002. According to the lady on the phone, Citizen’s is no longer insuring any property with Aluminum wiring, Stranded or solid core. EDIT: Corrected the year, 2002
I responded with, even if it complies with the 2022 NEC? because 90% of all buildings have stranded AL in them for high current or main lines. even new construction.
so they are dropping a home because it has stranded AL noted. Is there a way to educate insurers? or how do I/we solve this issue?
My guess is that the person from Citizens misinterpreted something he/ she read somewhere. I find it extremely hard to believe they would prohibit coverage on homes with stranded.
I wont believe it until they release a memo or update their 4 point form to include reporting of stranded aluminum. Until that happens it’ll be business as usual.
I add the following information item in my reports to help head off those types of concerns. However, the insurance companies seem to be on full-tilt these days. The only remedy may be for the homeowner to switch insurance companies.
Stranded Aluminum Branch Conductors Observed
The fire hazards with aluminum wiring originating in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s were exclusively with solid (single strand) aluminum branchconductors . There has never been any issues with stranded aluminum conductors typically used as utility power lines, service-entrance conductors, and for higher-amperage (240V) branch conductors, such as going to a stove, oven, or HVAC.
Man I’m glad I’m not in Florida, the home owners insurance stuff you guys see is kinda nuts. In Northern Virginia I’ve only recently heard of insurance asking for a home inspection report, though not denying coverage. It has actually created some post closing inspection business for us.
They may be trying to quietly nudge policies out to the private market to get on a more solid financial footing. Picking on an obscure an easily misinterpreted thing like Al wire could be an easy way to do that without going on the record.
How did they know about the stranded aluminum? The Four Point report does not ask about service entrance conductors. It only asks about branch circuit wiring. If an inspector mentions aluminum service conductors, he is muddying the waters by including extraneous information. The people who review the reports are not necessarily knowledgeable about the information in the report. They only know that certain boxes should be checked or not checked.
The answer to your question is follow the Four Point report and don’t add extraneous information.
I would imagine they saw the wiring in the photos of the panel. I’ve had hard time on a few inspections where the underwriter saw a “double tap” in my pictures that wasn’t noted in the report. It wasn’t noted because it was a GFCI breaker not a double tap. It took a lot of back and forth and sending product documents to them to convince them.
