Clark - I think you missed an essential point when it comes to whether or not someone should get water or sewer line insurance. In consideration of either, the age of the home should be noted. I say this for two reasons. First, older lines for either will eventually deteriorate and need replacing. It’s hard to predict when that will happen, but my guess is when they have reached about 30 plus years in age, insurance is a good idea. I began water line insurance when my line was approximately 40 years old. I did so after I noticed my neighbor had to have her line replaced. I only paid $4.99 / month for the insurance and was told a replacement cost if I would have had to pay for it was approximately $4,500. So even if I hadn’t had that insurance, it would have taken nearly 75 years to match that amount. I’d say getting the insurance was the right thing to do. Likewise, I have sewer line insurance, which is $11.99 per month. Although I haven’t had to replace my line, thank goodness, I have had to have a clog cleared at least twice in the last few years. If I’d had to pay for that out of pocket, it would have been approximately $375 each time. But if I ever need to have the line replaced,I’m guessing that’d cost in the neighborhood of $20,000.
Okay, just wanted to share my experience.
Regards,
Johnbuoy
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What kind of pipe do you have? I’m in a 1960’s home and haven’t had a problem and its going on strong. My sewer pipe is cast iron and terracotta. Which is the worst offenders, but even still they can last another 50 years if needed as long as there isn’t any breaks in it, along with proper sewer pipe etiquette. Just like how Clark despises 3rd party insurance, I’m sure he would with that sewer/water insurance as well. As a plumber, I wouldn’t ever go that route either. Do you think they really will fork out the 20k+? Did you read the fine print to verify it? As long as you are following proper waste pipe protocol then you should be good for the most part. So don’t ever pour any fat down the drain, or any food. Just pour your piss/turds and water.
First thing is to check with your regular home insurance to see if the coverage is already there. Second is to figure out the material of your water main and sewer pipes; some are more prone to failure than others.
just had mine done. i moved my washer/dryer combo to check my motor. found a large hole from my shower.had plumber come out to get estimate.also had him check sewer line to street. video showed massive leaks to my 50’s built home line. completed in 1 day,
Back in the 90’s I had an outside leak between the meter and the house. Ity turns out that I have ‘blue poly’ and Clack had been talking about that on the air. Unfortunately, when I tried to claim against the company, there was no more money left in the fund.
I called a plumber and he told me some expensive price to replace the line which was less than 100’ from street to house. It also went under the driveway for a short distance.
The plumber charged a couple hundred dollars to run a temporary line (turns out it was a scrap piece of blue poly) to bypass the underground piece. I had water back to the house but in hindsight I should have run a hose from my neighbors outside faucet to mine and just given him $50 to cover whatever water I used. I was just wanting water for washing hands and flushing the toilet.
A co-worker at the office suggested we rent a ditch witch (think chainsaw to dig a small thing deep trench and run a pipe ourselves. We did that at considerable savings of money. To get under the driveway, I placed a nozzle on the end of a sturdy pipe and used water pressure to make a tunnel for the new pipe under the driveway. In hindsight it probably should have been a bit deeper underground but it was in the South and not as critical as up North.
I used HDPE pipe so all it involved was running the pipe in the trench and putting an adapter on each end. Here in rural Hawaii most of us use that white PVC or HDPE and leave it above ground. That is not appropriate in most places but it can be that easy if allowed.
This is a rural road on the Big Island. Each large HDPE pipe feeds at least 1 house. It is very expensive to bury pipes here and unnecessary. A plus is the being black pipe in the sun, the water is not very cold at the house, thus saving the cost of heating it.
I realize that many people feel this is far above their capability but once you see what actually is involved, it is not a difficult as it may seem. Essentially putting a heavy duty hose under ground.
I would never get insurance for water pipes but sewage is a different matter. Yes, very old houses probably need some type of insurance for sewer lines. My family built a house in the late 1960’s with septic tanks and they are still fine 60+ years later. ‘Your mileage may differ’.
