Are electrical goods covered by house insurance if there was a power surge

toe_knee

Hi,

Quick question. I was at home the other day and the power went n the house for a second. The trip switch in the sitting room switched off so I went out to the fuse board and turned it back on. All seemed OK but the TV wouldn't work:mad:confused:.
Just wondering if this would be covered on my house insurance. Never made a claim before so haven't a clue.

Thanks in advance

axer

toe_knee wrote: »

Hi,

Quick question. I was at home the other day and the power went n the house for a second. The trip switch in the sitting room switched off so I went out to the fuse board and turned it back on. All seemed OK but the TV wouldn't work:mad:confused:.
Just wondering if this would be covered on my house insurance. Never made a claim before so haven't a clue.

Thanks in advance

Did you try reading the terms of your insurance?

seagull

Ask the neighbours if they had a similar problem with the power. If it was a genuine power surge and there are a number of people with damaged products as a result, you might have a claim against your electricity provider.

ttm

toe_knee wrote: »

All seemed OK but the TV wouldn't work:mad:confused:.

I'd check by reading the manual that came with the TV and do the std troubleshooting stuff like checking the fuse in the plug and checking that the socket was still working OK.

toe_knee

Checked out the electrical side if it and have that ruled out already. Rang the shop where I bought it and it is out of warranty but they did give me a copy if the receipt.
The neighbours had the same power cut but none of there electrical equipment are damaged

As for the helpful advise about reading my policy. If I could find it I would have. Just asking in general would electrical equipment be covered by such thing as a power surge

ttm

toe_knee wrote: »

Checked out the electrical side if it and have that ruled out already. Rang the shop where I bought it and it is out of warranty but they did give me a copy if the receipt.
The neighbours had the same power cut but none of there electrical equipment are damaged

As for the helpful advise about reading my policy. If I could find it I would have. Just asking in general would electrical equipment be covered by such thing as a power surge

You are normally covered for lightening damage, so might be OK on this claim as whats the differnce between a power surge thats ESB's fault and a power surge due to a lightening strike?

toe_knee

Thanks, I will give the insurance company a shout and see what they say. Just wanted to make sure that I have some info to fight back with just in case

the_syco

ttm wrote: »

You are normally covered for lightening damage, so might be OK on this claim as whats the differnce between a power surge thats ESB's fault and a power surge due to a lightening strike?

You sure about the "lightening damage"? Usually lightening is seen as an "act of god", and not covered.

ttm

the_syco wrote: »

You sure about the "lightening damage"? Usually lightening is seen as an "act of god", and not covered.

Sure am, when I lived in Wexford there was a big strike that took out a load of computers locally and those that I didn't get repaired by Mr Dells boys (what can your man in Mumbai say if you say nothing and follow his instructions and the machine still won't power on?) were replaced on the home insurance policies. One guy had the same thing happen a year later , lighting striking twice and all that but real enough, and got a second payout for a new computer. I was running my own IT business at the time and supplied a few letters to the effect that I had examined the computers and that to the best of my knowledge they had been damaged by lightening and would cost more to repair than to replace. Some you wouldn't know had any damage except hardly a component would still work others were blown apart with burn marks all over the place.

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

the_syco

ttm wrote: »

I was running my own IT business at the time

Aye. Supported random PC manufacture in the past, who I know didn't support "acts of god", as it's not something that went wrong with the computer. Modems were usually the entry point.

The reason I wanted to know, was because I have relatives in "high risk of lightening" areas down the country, and would like to know the specifics, so the relatives could claim the cost of a new computer off the insurance company.

oldyouth

You can insure against what are known as Acts of God. Examples would be Lightning, Storm and Flood. What you cannot do is try to find a 3rd party liable for these instances.

To answer the OPs question, if the damage is caused by a power surge, then a full accidental damage house policy will cover the loss. If the damage is down to mechanical or electrical derrangement, it is deemed to be maintenance and not covered. Get a TV shop to examine it and report back