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Recently, due to a hardware defect our dishwasher decided to break and leak on the bottom, causing water to run down underneath our cabinets, causing the bottom to get wet.
However, we didn't know it was the dishwasher at first. We had a plumber come over to take a look. We thought it was the pipes (Well I did and so did my father), but my mother insisted it must be the dishwasher, so he turned it on rinse only to see. It was bone dry at first, so he had to tear out a small section of wall to get to the pipes. Bone dry.
It was only after the seventh rinse only cycle that the dishwasher started to leak and show that it was indeed the issue. Our plumber called in a restoration crew to dry out the cabinets and start a claim with our insurance company.
Now before I go any further, here is a backstory. When we bought our house in 2009 (It was built in 1971), it didn't have a dishwasher. A year later we had the cabinet section cut away and had the dishwasher installed. The installer tapped into the hot water line used by the sink to feed it (Which after doing research is perfectly safe to do). It worked fine until this happened.
Well, enter the insurance company (Not naming names). First off the adjuster acted like we insulted them by going with a 3rd party plumber/restorer instead of calling them first.
It wasn't easy to get them to pay, but they finally did. What gets me is that thanks to what the adjuster said, my mother is now scared to install another dishwasher. He told her, "What happened here is that you took an older house with older plumbing and tried to ‘modernize it’ with modern conveniences. If you install another dishwasher and it happens again, we reserve the right to deny any more claims.”
I call BS. I told this to a friend of mine whose wife sells homeowner’s insurance, and he said that what most likely happened is that the adjuster is trying to sell her a line of BS for some reason, most likely to discourage her from replacing it and thus returning the home to its previous state when it didn’t have a dishwasher (Because that is when we first took out the insurance). He advised me to look for another insurance company.
I’m curious to read any opinions on this. I have searched high and low for anything to back up what this adjuster said and so far I have come up empty. Maybe anyone reading this can chime in?
Um, rephrase that to they Can leak and I'll agree. No one I've known over my lifetime has ever admitted to having a water leak that wasn't from freezing pipes. I've certainly never had a water leak from any appliance beyond the initial installation when things may not be fitted correctly.
OP, as for the insurance adjuster, it's just a line of BS. *ALL* insurance companies can find a reason to deny a claim if they're so inclined, so the line given is true of every last one of them. Nature of the beast and I wouldn't worry about it unnecessarily. Modernizing houses is not illegal, forbidden by insurance terms, or in Any other way "bad" (well, the aesthetics and workmanship can be bad). If you mom is worried about it, tell her to find another insurance company, then when she calls in to cancel let them know in no uncertain terms that her canceling is due to the adjuster. It's 10x harder for a business to gain a New customer than to retain and existing one, they tend to correct issues like staff who run off customers.
But in the end, a dishwasher can leak. Just put a dishwasher leak pan under the replacement (plastic floor with 3 walls, all the water runs out the front so it's very obvious that there IS a leak and where it's coming from), it'll save you/her future worry of dealing with insurance over a normal maintenance issue.
It wasn't easy to get them to pay, but they finally did. What gets me is that thanks to what the adjuster said, my mother is now scared to install another dishwasher. He told her, "What happened here is that you took an older house with older plumbing and tried to ‘modernize it’ with modern conveniences. If you install another dishwasher and it happens again, we reserve the right to deny any more claims.â€
I call BS. I told this to a friend of mine whose wife sells homeowner’s insurance, and he said that what most likely happened is that the adjuster is trying to sell her a line of BS for some reason, most likely to discourage her from replacing it and thus returning the home to its previous state when it didn’t have a dishwasher (Because that is when we first took out the insurance). He advised me to look for another insurance company.
I’m curious to read any opinions on this. I have searched high and low for anything to back up what this adjuster said and so far I have come up empty. Maybe anyone reading this can chime in?
Insurance company lawyers mean things, adjusters say things, people hear things, they aren't always the same things.
A couple of things about insurance companies though:
1. They are not public services, they are in business to make a profit.
2. The purpose of insurance is to cover catastrophes. Catastrophes are economic extinction events, and those are statistically exceedingly rare. All of their underwriting is based on claims being exceedingly rare for any given customer.
3. The insurance industry maintains an industry database of loss events called CLUE--and your house is now in CLUE.
Every insurance company can access that database for you or a subsequent owner of that house, and they will consider that when underwriting insurance for it. Theoretically, information is stored in the CLUE for only seven years, but I've seen older water damage reports reflected in it if they were significant. So it may or may not pay you to go to another insurance company, if they have a similar policy about multiple claims for a given event.
If there is any way you can cover a loss yourself, it is always in your best interest to cover it out of your pocket and leave insurance for economic extinction events. You don't even want to tell your agent you suffered water damage, if you can help it because even a report of water damage goes into the database even if they don't pay the claim.
What gets me is that thanks to what the adjuster said, my mother is now scared to install another dishwasher. He told her, "What happened here is that you took an older house with older plumbing and tried to ‘modernize it’ with modern conveniences. If you install another dishwasher and it happens again, we reserve the right to deny any more claims.”
Does that idiot know there were dishwashers in the 1970's? My house was built in 1973 and came with one when it was new.
Um, rephrase that to they Can leak and I'll agree. No one I've known over my lifetime has ever admitted to having a water leak that wasn't from freezing pipes. I've certainly never had a water leak from any appliance beyond the initial installation when things may not be fitted correctly.
OP, as for the insurance adjuster, it's just a line of BS. *ALL* insurance companies can find a reason to deny a claim if they're so inclined, so the line given is true of every last one of them. Nature of the beast and I wouldn't worry about it unnecessarily. Modernizing houses is not illegal, forbidden by insurance terms, or in Any other way "bad" (well, the aesthetics and workmanship can be bad). If you mom is worried about it, tell her to find another insurance company, then when she calls in to cancel let them know in no uncertain terms that her canceling is due to the adjuster. It's 10x harder for a business to gain a New customer than to retain and existing one, they tend to correct issues like staff who run off customers.
But in the end, a dishwasher can leak. Just put a dishwasher leak pan under the replacement (plastic floor with 3 walls, all the water runs out the front so it's very obvious that there IS a leak and where it's coming from), it'll save you/her future worry of dealing with insurance over a normal maintenance issue.
I made my own pan out of sheet vinyl. IMO, dishwasher manufacturers should be required to include one as part of the appliance package. Leaks are not a rare occurrence and because of the location the damage is often far worse than that from a leaking water heater stuck in a concrete cellar or garage.
I made my own pan out of sheet vinyl. IMO, dishwasher manufacturers should be required to include one as part of the appliance package. Leaks are not a rare occurrence and because of the location the damage is often far worse than that from a leaking water heater stuck in a concrete cellar or garage.
As for the adjuster- yeah, I would report him.
That's a great idea and something I plan to do when I replace my dishwasher that has a slow leak. For now I'm using a shallow boot tray. A well constructed pan will funnel water forward if it overflows the lip so water runs into the kitchen and away from the cabinets. It won't stop all damage but you'll avoid a situation where a slow leak causes hidden damage to floors and walls under and behind cabinets over time. This is what happened to me and we now have some mold to deal with. Just be sure that the catch pan is not so deep that it can submerge live electrical wires on the bottom of the dishwasher.
Houses in the 70's did have dishwashers.
The adjuster is full of BS.
My dishwasher also leaked, but didn't notice it for a while because it flowed thru the floor into the basement (work shop).
Other appliances/fixture that will commonly leak are ice make lines, washing machines, and toilets. Water pressure that is too high can cause leaks.
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