Saturday, May 14, 2011

Insurance companies nonsense when it comes to dealing with hazards

Oh My God you have
Aluminum Romex or Round screw in Fuse's or Knob & Tube wiring or Asbestos or Lead paint you must tear it out or we will not write you a home owners insurance policy.

Yes insurance company's have definite concerns when it comes to these items but they are risks which can and should be safely managed instead of wholesale tear out out or up grade it because they can actually cause problems in doing so.

Take Aluminum Romex in 60's-70's when there was a copper shortage homes where wired with Alcoa and Kaiser Romex which is sized 1/3rd bigger than copper to handle the wiring load. when properly installed there is no hazard to it. But that is where the problems begin many electricians failed to properly install the wiring and there has been a rash of fires with this romex and CPSC says it should all be ripped out and replaced at thousands of dollars per home Nonsense.
Yes this wiring has caused many fires and fire deaths but in each cases it was where the wiring was improperly installed there are many homes and apartment buildings with this type romex in it and have no problems because it was properly installed to the manufacturers instructions
How ever if you start to tamper with this wiring taking copper extensions etc off of it with out using proper copper/aluminum wire and devices problems will occur.
So insurance industry risk analysts instead of looking at individual installations to see if there a risk or not want apartment owners to spend thousands of dollars to put in proper pig tailed outlets and switches which in it self can cause problems by disturbing the wiring.
This is a case of leave sleeping lions sleep.
This same thing goes with fuses and knob and tube wiring which is actually safer than modern wiring system because the wires are separated and in free air. but same problem if you do not maintain it properly you will have problems just like normal romex wiring and breakers
but again insurance company's lump all systems into one category there dangerous and must be removed.
One of the most dangerous practices of the green weenies and insurance company's is asbestos removal in many cases you can cause more danger in its removal by causing all kins of dust if not properly done and then filling land fills with this deadly waste. again encapsulate it and leave it alone it will be just fine.
But no we have to remove it causing bigger problems.
So once again we have created our own monsters by imagining problems than in many cases do not exists if managed properly.

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