Relay and Contactor based GENSET BACKFEED PREVENTER?

Incorrect. If the loss was due to the non-compliant device, then you may have a problem collecting. If the loss was due to something else, the insurance company must cough up.

Steve Spence Dir., Green Trust,

Eric R Snow wrote: ...

So far, so good...

How could they possibly enforce that?

Beats me. When I wired my shop I learned all sorts of regulations. But hardly any reasons. In WA the inspection is done by Labor & Industries. They come out when they come out. And do hold up projects. My father-in-law is a licensed electrician. I flew him up to WA to help with the wiring to make sure it all done to code. He told me that in Santa Clara county in CA the inspectors have 24 hours to show up and do the inspection. If they don't then the wiring can be covered and is considered to be up to code. BTW, just because a house is wired by a "professional" and has passed inspection it doesn't mean that the wiring will be done correctly. My last house had all the wiring in the garage and laundry room backwards. So all the white wires were hot and the black wires neutral. The problem was in a junction box where someone had connected the wires in reverse. This box had undisturbed mud and paint on it from the original drywall. So the wiring had not been changed by any previous owners. ERS

Local electric utility linemen do some pretty screwed up stuff as well. The house I'm in now had a utility lineman as an owner previously and I'm still correcting his mess.

Little things like 240v feeds to the shop wirenutted and left exposed at ground level, as in individual THHN comes out through hole in brick, wirenut to more THHN and then disappear underground. The same 240v feed to the shop is fed from separate 20a and 30a single pole breakers in the damn panel.

All of the mess to the shop and indeed the crappy stab-lock main panel are on the agenda to be replaced with a good 200a QO panel for the house, a 100a QO for the shop, all new wire to the shop in some proper sch 40 PVC underground to the shop, etc. I figure it's a good weekend project, not counting pre-trenching in the conduit.

There are plenty of other less significant things that I've been fixing along the way as well. I do however like the four steel light poles he used to support the carport roof along side the shop and the two others with HID lights (mismatched of course) that light the yard.

Pete C.

Well, insurance companies are getting EXTREMELY adverse to risk. Many will not insure a building with aluminum wiring unless it has ALL DEVICES either replaced with COALR devices or every connection pigtailed to copper with a certified device - and an inspection to prove it. Any Knob and tube left in the house and they won't touch it. A wood stove that is not certified? No insurance. Not installed to code? No insurance. Many other conditions as well. I'm not an insurance agent, nor do I play one on TV, but I AM the IT guy for a pretty big brokerage.

Coverage HAS been denied. One of the stickiest players in Canada is ING - and they own half the business.

Any Knob and tube left in the house and they won't touch it.

Then it must depend on the area. I had a family member insure a home with knob & tube just last week. From a fire standpoint, knob & tube is perfectly safe. The main problem with K&T is lack of a ground conductor, and lots of homes still have that problem.

My question was about claim denial, not coverage, but thanks for the info.

Vaughn