Buyer Beware!

Currently, there a number of ads running on television pitching how some insurance policies can save consumers large amounts of money in appliance and automobile repair costs. These ads give consumers the impression that air conditioner, refrigerator, or dishwasher repairs can run into the thousands of dollars. Similarly, engine, transmission, or coolant leaks can also result in very costly repairs. If you are considering the purchase of one of these policies, please be aware that maintenance is a key requirement. Regardless of the type of policy, your claim will most likely be denied if you can’t prove that you maintained your appliances or vehicle on a regular basis. For appliances, this means that you must keep your appliance clean. Use a vacuum cleaner to keep dust and lint out of motors and coils. Replace hoses when their use appears questionable. Replace wiring or have an electrician do the work before the wiring becomes worn and brittle. Similarly, you must change the oil in your vehicle at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals. In addition, the transmission fluid and filter must be replaced, usually every 100,000 miles, depending on the manufacturer’s recommended interval. Coolant must also be replaced, here again, depending on the manufacturer’s recommendation. Don’t forget the oil, air and gasoline filters, they also must be replaced. Lastly, don’t forget to save the receipts regardless of whether you do the work yourself or have someone else do it for you. You must have some documentation to show that you made an honest effort to live up to the requirements of the policy. For those things where you won’t get a receipt, I would suggest keeping a chart of the activity – list the date, time, a description of the appliance or vehicle and what was done. Hopefully, your carrier will step up when you need them and the settlement of your claim will go smoothly.

Not the Way to Mount Running Boards to your Truck!

Running Boards are very popular and offer to convenient way to enter and leave a truck for those who have a hard time getting in and out.  Running boards come in various styles and are usually equipped with brackets that are intended to be bolted to the truck underbody.  However, when the underbody is corroded or the condition of the metal that will hold the running board is questionable, then caution should be exercised in deciding whether and how to mount the boards.  When bolts can’t be used, welding the bracket to the underbody can be an alternative.  In doing so, care must be taken not to set the vehicle on fire!  Carpeting is usually present at the edge of the floorboard adjacent to the doors.  When welding the brackets, the heat from the weld is conducted through the metal to the carpet (and wiring if present) creating a perfect condition for a vehicle fire.  The photographs shown below illustrate how a fire originated in a 1997 Ford F 250 when one of the passenger side running board brackets was welded to the underbody.  Precautions must be taken before welding to prevent damage to the vehicle.  If bolts cannot be used because of questionable metal strength, then welding is probably not a good idea either.    

Fire origin at floorboard and damage to passenger door

View of underbody beneath area of fire origin, note bracket weld location

What’s Going On?

Just completed an investigation into why the mast of a rock drilling machine came crashing down on the machine with no warning.  If you’ve ever seen a rock drilling machine, they are equipped with a mast that rests in a horizontal position and can be raised into a vertical position for drilling.  In this particular case, the mast was in the process of being lowered when four bolts failed at the pivot points where the mast rotates from the vertical to horizontal.  Looks like it was just one of those unfortunate things that happens.  Currently conducting an investigation into why the electrical system in a cement mixing truck appears to have short circuited and burned some of the wiring.

Buyer Beware!

Recently, we were called to investigate damage to a residential air conditioning unit. The allegation was that the unit was destroyed by fire.  Upon examining the unit, no evidence of fire was found.  That is, there was no evidence that any wiring or controls were burned and the compressor and condenser were both undamaged (as far as fire was concerned). However, during the examination of the unit, the compressor was found to have blown a terminal and caused its destruction. Most HVAC technicians will recognize this scenario. The possibility of lightning causing the damage was also explored and eliminated because there was no lightning in the area at the time of the compressor failure.  Instead of replacing the compressor, the homeowner had the entire unit replaced with a unit of greater capacity.  In doing so, the homeowner assumed that the insurance company would pay for the new installation which amounted to more than $8000.00.  Without a covered loss, the insurance company denied the homeowner’s claim leaving the homeowner to  absorb the entire cost of the new installation.   The lesson to be learned here is that you do not want to commit to a major purchase unless you can handle the expenditure if your insurer denies your claim. In this case, the cost to replace the compressor and recharge the unit would have been in the neighborhood of $1200.00 to $1500.00, which is significant lower than the new unit.