Hacker News Reader

Comment by Fwirt | Hacker News Reader

Also it sounds like he ran both the low voltage network cable and the high voltage line-level power wiring inside of the same conduit which is a big no-no for various code and safety related reasons. From what I understand messing with electric code violations is not a good idea, if your homeowners insurance finds out you put in some janky stuff like that and your house burns down, they might invalidate your policy because it was your fault.

View on HN

Home insurance covers stupidity as well as acts of god, in most cases They might send an inspector and then refuse to insure, but if you are paying the premium and make an out of code change that causes a claim, they are going to have to pay out for the most part unless your out of code changes are super negligent. Using screws instead of nails would definitely not be considered super negligent. Nor would anything ever be inspected close enough to notice that. Running electrical through the wrong type of PVC is also not likely to be considered negligent enough to deny a claim. Of course, doing everything right the first time is the better way to go anyway as you never know when an insurance may become super petty and try to deny a claim for whatever reason they can find.

The home insurance people will absolutely nail him on this. They'll eventually send someone out to inspect the property on a policy renewal. They'll refuse to renew the policy until the code violations are corrected. And they'll definitely notice and have questions about the odd 'shed' that looks new and very out of place.

If he has really wired it as it seems, if anything consequential (unrelated) happens to the property in the meantime they'll use that against him when they inspect post event. They'll try to claim he breached the policy prior to the event.

Where do you live that insurance companies send inspectors ‘round? I’ve owned 2 houses for a total of over 25 years and never had an insurance inspector visit nor heard of them visiting anyone else for a renewal.

Is this common elsewhere in the world?

I have rental properties and it happens about every other year before a renewal. They definitely find things that need fixing. That being said, I've never had it happen on my primary residence (20+ years).

Been a homeowner for 10+ years and it never happened to me either. I only see insurance people when I have a claim to evaluate the cost.

That has not been my experience as a homeowner in CA for the past 5 years. I think the insurance company sent someone out once when we first bought the house? I vaguely recall they looked at the breaker box to write down the main breaker rating, and that's about it.

A plastic conduit, ffs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com