So a tree branch came down and hit the line leading to the house and sent a surge through the house and fried the oil burner in addition to burning up a few surge protectors in the house. Of course burning wood I didn't notice the furnace was toast until 2 months after it happened when I actually went to use the furnace. The repairman came out today and switched out the circuit board which wasnt registering the right voltage to the burner. That didnt fix it so now they're thinking something in the unit might of been fried. So it went from several hundred for the new board to $3500 for a whole new unit! OH FUUUUUDDDGGGGEEE! Not sure what I'm doing. He's going to get me prices on a new burner on Monday. The house is on the market so I could always give the future buyer a credit towards a new unit come closing time instead of paying out of pocket for it now. IDK how I'd be able to prove it was an electric surge to the insurance company. I tossed the burned up surge protectors.
That happened to me when I first bought my house. There were some large spruce trees growing around the aerial drop from the utility pole to my electrical entrance. The trees rubbed on the wires and caused some surge or what not that fried the furnace and fridge. That was all that was in the house except for my air compressor, which survived. Lucky for me I was remodeling the house and not living there yet. The furnace was going to be replaced anyway and the fridge barely kept beer cold, so it wasn't a huge deal. Turns out when I had the electrical service panel that there wasn't any electrical ground connected. Those trees came down quick after that.
Went through an intermittent grounding/voltage fluctuation problem back in the early 90's. Was having a devil of a time with equipment/ appliances and such. Checked every circuit multiple times for ground faults ect. Of course when contacting the power company they said not on there end- wrong- lines coming to house from pole worn about 15 ft out from pole, when it would get damp enough or rain they would start to , for lack of a better word, Bleed (Note before ground fault units were common) Lines were not strung individually, neutral and hot were looped on a support cable ( which was earth). 40 years of swinging in the wind a bit- hence the difficulty. Very difficult to get power co. off it's posterior to get repair done. Wasn't obvious. Their dime not mine.
Homeowners won't replace the furnace at the repairman's recommendation. The repairman replaced the circuit board but the unit still wouldnt fire up. They said it could be wire issues somewhere in the unit or something but they couldnt figure out what the problem is. The said they could replace a few things but couldnt guarantee it would fix anything so they recommended just replacing it. The insurance company said they'd pay for the repairs that may or may not work but not for a new unit. WTF.
I think you have an arguement with the insurance co, I'd fight it. All insurance co's will look for the lowest form of payout on any claim This could haunt you in years to come. I guess you are thankful the main Furnace is the backup to the stove. I would call them and make a case, definitely Where electronics are involved.
A microwave, alarm clock and a couple of surge protectors were fried. We replaced those without contacting the ins. company. It was only recently did I realize the heater was fried (I only turn it on when its too warm for a fire to take the chill off).
220 or 110 input voltage? One flaky GFI device anywhere in the house will cause weird problems. With a surge like that coming through I wouldn't doubt that might be part of it. I've had breakers fried in the on position by visual inspection cause problems and a bad neutral line cause 220 v problems on an intermittent basis. Also have had wire broken inside insulation jacket ( not visible) slightest vibration would cause a hiccup in the power supply interrupting the start sequence . An arc hole in the insulation jacket of a 22 gauge wire to earth ground looked like aged dirt- these last 2 were real buggers. I have some customers where the anything can be repaired- cost no object- even if it exceeds replacement cost- penny wise -dollar foolish. Get an estimate on rebuilding the current furnace( all the electrical components) vs cost of replacement- submit that to ins co maybe they will change there tune. Labor alone would likely exceed the cost of replacement. Sometimes ya got to play the game by strange rules. I would also guess that the ins co biggest problem is the delay factor vs the claims for other items. Might have to see if you can get past the first tier of insurance people as well - in other words try to get your claim kicked upstairs a couple levels. A non operating conventional heating system could nix the sale due to loan underwriters. They may or may not go along with your idea of kick back at sale for replacement unit.
Got whole house surge protectors to protect oil furnace in breaker box. Also got current meters to monitor the draw. Power in watts = I (current) x V (volts) Since we only have the TV and a Ceiling Fan and 1 desktop and 3 lap top computers on this morning: Current draw this morning is 2.7 + 0.6 = 3.1 amps P = 3.1 x 117 = 352.7 watts Since the units used per month are based on time on the electric bill 1 unit is 1 Kilowatt Hour (KWH). Example: A 100 watt light bulb left on for 10 hours is 1,000 WH or 1 KWH = 1 unit on the electric bill Our Electric Rate is 0.15487 dollars per KWH. Divide by 100 to get approx 15 cents per Kilowatt Hour! So if we only used 352.7 watts all day for 12 hours 352.7 x 12 = 4,232.4 watt hours or 4.2324 KWH That would cost 4.2324 x 0.15487 = 0.65547 dollars or multiply 100 to get 65 cents! This does not count all the other charges and surcharges though! See 2nd pic
