Don't wait for a leak to learn how to shut off your home's water supply! This guide will familiarize you with your home’s plumbing system and help you locate all necessary valves.
What To Do In The Event Of A Plumbing Leak: A Step-by-Step Guide
Imagine coming home after a long day, only to find a pool of water on your kitchen floor. A pipe under the sink has sprung a leak and the situation seems to be escalating by the second. The immediate reaction might be panic, but knowing exactly what steps to take in such a situation can help prevent further damage and ensure your safety.
The Most Common Landlord Insurance Claims
A good landlord insurance policy is essential to the smooth running of a rental property. Although property owners tend to view the premiums as a necessary evil, it makes good business sense to have adequate landlord insurance.
It can save landlords from paying the penalties for many damaging events that can occur in a rental. However, when buying insurance, landlords should also endeavor to get the most coverage at the lowest premium.
They can do this by finding out what insurance claims property owners are most likely to make. And having known what these claims are, they should strive to avoid the risk of making similar claims.
What are the most common insurance claims that landlords make?
1. Loss of rental income
As with every business, owning rental property comes with a measure of risk. One of those risks is that tenants in a property may stop paying rents. This can happen if some adverse event makes the home uninhabitable and the tenants move out, as a result, or simply refuse to pay the rent. Examples of events that can create such a situation include storm, flood, fire or smoke. When a property becomes uninhabitable, the landlord's rental income stops, but their bills do not. This is why loss of rental income is the number one insurance claim that property owners make.
How to avoid it:
Most loss of rent claims come from events beyond a landlord's control. Property owners cannot do anything to prevent rainstorms or floods. What they can do, however, is limit the risk of man-made events which also lead to loss of rent, such as fire or smoke damage.
2. Water Damage
This results from damage due to the unintentional discharge of water. The common cause of the problem is faulty plumbing, poor plumbing maintenance, and tenants' negligent behavior. This problem is fairly common and very costly to fix. Water damage, if left undetected, can result in massive damage to a property.
How to avoid it:
The best way to solve water issues is to prevent them. The landlord should implement a regular schedule for thorough inspection of the home's plumbing. Tenants should be properly oriented on how to manage the plumbing. And the lease agreement should include clauses on the consequences of tenant-originated water damage.
3. Accidental damage
This claim results when items in the home, or some parts of the structure, are unintentionally damaged by occupants. This could be a case of damage to wooden floors, torn furniture, ripped-up carpets, or a broken television set. Accidental damage poses a risk to a rental property because it makes it less attractive to potential tenants and reduces the home's resale value.
How to avoid it:
Landlords cannot completely eliminate the chance of this happening but they can reduce it significantly. One way they can do this is by using décor that is durable and less likely to get damaged.
When installing fittings and fixtures, owners should prioritize hardiness over other qualities. A thorough vetting of tenants will also help to eliminate renters who are prone to engage in activities that increase the chance of accidental damage, such as parties.
4. Malicious damage
This is damage that is intentional. It includes things like large holes in the walls, kicked-in doors, cigarette holes in furniture or some other form of blatant acts. Most of the time, malicious damage is done by outsiders, such as, visitors to a tenant's apartment. It could also result from vandalism or burglary.
How to avoid it:
The best protection against malicious damage from criminal activity is to implement appropriate security measures. Installing window grills, burglar alarms, motion detectors, and bright lights around the perimeter can deter criminals.
Having sturdy locks on gates, doors and windows, as well as CCTV cameras on the premises will reduce incidences of malicious damage. And landlords should make it the tenant's responsibility to pay for damage caused by their visitors.
5. Weather damage
Storms and floods happen all the time. When they do, they often leave their mark on a property in the form of damage. In some areas, winter storms are the major problem, in others areas, the damage is caused by strong winds.
Floods can also be the cause of damage to a property. There is not much a property owner can do about these acts of nature, except to prepare for them and possibly reduce their negative impact on the property.
How to avoid it:
The part of a building most commonly damaged by storm is the roof. To protect against the probability of roof damage, gutters and downspouts should be maintained properly. Loose and missing shingles amplify the power of wind and water to damage a roof.
They should be repaired or replaced promptly. Raising air bricks around the property and keeping electrical sockets ground will help reduce flood damage. And when there is news of an impending storm, homeowners should take extra steps to protect the home.
Back up, overflow, leak, or flood: What's the difference?
If you've had damage in your home caused by water, it literally pays to know the difference in the words you use.
Many homeowners have found themselves in the unfortunate position of discovering water in their home causing damage. A homeowner with this type of damage may have said "my home is flooded!" or "I had a back up," or "there's sewage everywhere!"
These words have different meanings to different people and unfortunately, using them in the wrong way can mean the difference in whether or not coverage is afforded for your claim.
It's best to let an experienced public adjuster like the ones at VIP Adjusting guide you through this potential minefield, but here are the basics of what you might need to know if you've found yourself with water damage.
What types of damage does the typical insurance policy cover?
The two most common types of insurance policies for homeowners in Florida are HO-3 and DP-3 policies, known as "all risk" insurance policies. These types of insurance policies usually cover all sudden and accidental damage, and then reduce that coverage through various exclusions. All-risk insurance policies normally cover water damage caused by plumbing leaks, and access to repair the damaged plumbing.
Some HO-3 and DP-3 policies and some insurance companies have exclusions for all types of water damage, including plumbing leaks, or may have a cap on plumbing leaks with a special limit of liability, usually $5,000 or $10,000. For the purposes of this article, we are assuming these caps or exclusions are not in place.
A less common insurance policy in Florida, even though it's often not much cheaper, is an HO-8 policy, which works in the opposite way of an all-risk policy. An HO-8 policy is often referred to as a "named perils" policy. Instead of starting with all sudden and accidental, or "fortuitous" losses, an HO-8 policy starts with no coverage and adds in only certain named perils, usually wind and hail, civil commotion and riot, smoke, aircraft, vehicles, volcano, explosion, vandalism and theft. Those losses are then even further excluded. This type of policy also does not cover plumbing leaks, at all.
So where does that leave us with our water damage? What's a back up? What's an overflow? What's a leak? What's a flood? Which of them do my insurance policy cover if I have water damage?
Water damage caused by "back ups"
My toilet backed up and disgusting water is everywhere causing damage. Surely that's a "back up," right? Nope! A leak from your toilet is actually covered under an all-risk policy, whether there was a plumbing break or failure, or even if you just had a clog.
The language that excludes a "back up" in an insurance policy often reads "We [the insurance company] do not cover water damage caused by water which backs up through sewers or drains..."
Well, what about if water backs up from the drain in my sink or tub? Surely THAT is a "back up" then? Nope, wrong again.
Florida's courts, in analyzing the language of insurance policy have held that back ups of sewers or drains are damages caused by water that has backed up from a leak originating off the property. The sewer is the ultimate destination of water that leaves your property, so a failure of plumbing off the property, or water coming from the actual sewer is a "back up" that wouldn't be covered under the insurance policy. The same goes for drains. A storm drain in the street would be a "drain" under your insurance policy, or perhaps, a drainage ditch would be a drain that would be excluded.
Otherwise, your insurance policy is meant to cover losses caused by water accidentally escaping from plumbing systems and appliances in your home, without distinguishing whether that water is coming or going.
Water damage caused by an "overflow"
Along the same lines of water damage caused by a back up is water damage caused by an overflow. Overflows are often referenced in an insurance policy as water which overflows from a sump pump. If you have a pump meant to keep water out of your home and it is overpowered or overwhelmed, then water will have been deemed to "overflow." The same would hold true for exterior drains. If they've overflowed and result in water that ends up in your house, that would normally be excluded under your insurance policy.
An overflow is not, however, when water escapes from your toilet, your sink, or your tub. These are plumbing leaks and would be covered under a standard all-risk policy.
Water damage caused by a "leak"
Plumbing leaks are a bit of a catch-all coverage under your all-risk insurance policy, because they are sudden and accidental leaks. Air conditioner and HVAC leaks are covered like this, as well. Depending on the insurance company, some all-risk policies in Florida still cover roof leaks as well.
The provisions in the insurance policy often exclude repair to the system or appliance the water escaped from, meaning the repair to the plumbing, HVAC or roof is usually not covered, unless it was also damaged by a covered loss. If it failed because of old age, the system isn't covered, but if the roof was damaged by a hurricane, it is covered. The water, then, is what's often referred to as an "ensuing loss."
The all-risk policies that don't cover roof leaks have language that says something like it excludes damage caused by rain "unless the exterior of the building" is first damaged by either a "covered peril," or sometimes more narrowly and specifically by wind or hail.
Water damage caused by a "flood"
This is the term that trips up most homeowners. "My house was flooded." "I came home to a flood." Flood is not covered by standard homeowners insurance policies because "flood" is a very specific term for water, outside the home, on the ground covering more than a certain area of land. A rising river is a flood. Storm surge is a flood. Abnormally high tide is a flood. Rain water in a low lying area is a flood. The rain storm that carried Noah's ark was a flood.
An air conditioner leak is not a flood. A plumbing leak is not a flood. A roof leak is not a flood.
Because of this difference, and some further limiting language in insurance policies, pretty much any water on the ground outside the home is not covered. An abnormally wet ground from heavy rains that exerts pressure on a foundation, or poor drainage are not covered.
Flood insurance is usually a separate policy under the National Flood Insurance Program, administered by FEMA and the Federal Government.
If you've found yourself with water causing damage to your home in Tequesta, Jupiter, Hobe Sound, or anywhere else in Florida's Treasure Coast or Space Coast, it's best to consult with an experienced public adjuster like VIP Adjusting before your insurance company tries to trip you up in a recorded statement. Call today or contact us for a free claim evaluation.
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Plumbing Leak Insurance Claims: Save the damaged part!
If you have damage from a plumbing leak, keep the failed plumbing part from the repair
Plumbing leaks happen, and they cause damage. If you find yourself in that situation, your first instinct is never your impending insurance claim, it’s that there’s water everywhere, causing damage and you need it to stop.
Your insurance policy is a contract; a legal document. It requires you to perform certain actions, and when there’s a plumbing leak and water damage, it may seem like those actions are at odds with one another. You have to protect the property from further damage, mitigate the existing damages, preserve the evidence for the insurance company to inspect, and make sure not to prejudice the insurance company’s investigation.
Here’s how to balance all of those duties under your insurance policy:
Protect the property from further damage
If you’ve found water on your floor, you have to quickly diagnose the problem. There may be massive amounts of clean water coming from a supply line or a pressurized plumbing line causing damage. If that’s the case, turn off the main shutoff valve, typically found outside your home. Once the water supply is shut off, the ongoing damage will have stopped and you have time to call a plumber.
If you don’t know where the main water shutoff is, you might have no choice but to call a plumber while the water continues to leak and cause damage. Your insurance company may try to use this against you, depending on how extensive the water damages are. A diligent homeowner should find out where their water shut off is in advance of a problem like this.
If the water damage isn’t being caused by a supply line or other pressurized plumbing, it’s either being caused by a broken cast iron drain line, or other waste/sanitary plumbing, or an appliance, like a washing machine or dishwasher.
If the water on the floor causing damage is dirty or smells badly, it is likely coming from a broken cast iron drain line or appliance that carries dirty water. In that case, stop all appliances using water and refrain from using your showers and toilets until a handyman or plumber has been able to figure out what the problem is.
Once you’ve stopped the flow of water, take pictures. Take lots of pictures and document the conditions before any repair or other effort has started. Your insurance company requires that you document damages and now might be the best opportunity to preserve the conditions as they exist at the time of the leak.
Mitigate the existing damages
You’ve successfully stopped the supply of water that’s causing damage in your home, and at this point you may be waiting for a plumber, but you still have water that is soaking into the porous building materials in your home. Water is being absorbed by drywall, particle board, plywood, cabinets, vanities, laminate flooring or wood flooring, or even being absorbed into grout and mortar beneath your tile flooring. It could be clean water that causes staining and other damages, or it could be dirty water or sewage that requires special types of repair due to health and safety issues.
There is already some damage, but you can prevent it from getting worse. You can start yourself by using towels to soak up the water, and a shop vac if you have one, or a mop and bucket. Work on getting as much of the standing water up as possible. If you have more than one pair of hands, have someone take pictures of this process as well. If your towels are damaged cleaning up dirty water, you can claim these as part of your insurance claim.
Once you have a good handle on cleaning up the standing water, point some fans towards wet areas if you have them to help dry the damaged materials.
The reason you want to clean up water as best you can is because in as little as 48 hours, under the right conditions, mold can begin to form and spread, posing a health risk to you and your family. Most insurance policies also cap mold damages at a relatively low amount, and preventing the spread and growth of mold can save you potentially huge out of pocket expenses.
Water mitigation contractors
Depending on how much damage has been caused by the plumbing leak, and the type of water, you may also want to get in a special type of contractor that specializes in water mitigation.
This water mitigation contractor will have been trained in water clean up, both clean water and dirty water. We caution you again to take pictures before they start because this is when things can start to move quickly and get you in trouble with your insurance company.
Water mitigation contractors may cut holes in building materials like cabinets and drywall to assist fans in drying areas of damage, or have larger machines that extract water from inside wall cavities or other areas. These contractors may also remove significant areas of drywall, remove damaged cabinets, or other damaged materials. If at all possible, take photographs and ask that these materials not be discarded.
Your insurance policy requires that you show damaged items to the insurance company, and if, in their haste, a water mitigation contractor throws all this stuff away and there are no photographs, the insurance company may never know what was damaged, giving them grounds to deny your claim.
If you have a garage, keep the damaged materials there. If not, a storage shed, or outside protected from the elements as best as you can.
Preserve the evidence for the insurance company to inspect
In addition to requesting the water mitigation contractor to keep the damaged building materials (drywall, cabinets, etc.), the most important thing you can do is to save the failed plumbing part. As much as it is possible, save the damaged plumbing part.
If a supply line burst, get the broken copper pipe, or other plumbing material and keep it somewhere safe. The insurance company will want to verify what happened, and how. They may analyze it later in more detail or have an engineer verify that it is consistent with an accident and wasn’t purposely cut, or that there wasn’t some other type of insurance fraud.
If an appliance fails, keep the appliance somewhere it can be accessed. VIP Adjusting’s founder had an insurance claim related to a broken valve on a dishwasher. Six months later, the insurance company came and took the entire dishwasher to be kept as evidence while they pursued what’s called “subrogation” for indemnification against the dishwasher’s manufacturer.
The hardest failed plumbing part to save is a broken cast iron drain line. When cast iron plumbing fails, it becomes very brittle, and in order to get to it, you often have to dig a trench in the slab that can damage the cast iron line even further.
In this situation of damage caused by a cast iron drain line, it’s best to leave the line in place and let the insurance company do as much investigation as they want before you undertake any repair, as the alternative is very risky.
If you must proceed in addressing a cast iron drain line, first have a licensed plumber with a camera run it through the line and document by video all breaks in the line and mark them in the house with tape. Make sure you have a copy of this video before you do anything else.
In proceeding from there, when the floor is trenched, take photo or video of the area to prove it is the same area as the break from your video and get as much documentation of the broken cast iron plumbing as possible. If the cast iron line can be removed in a large piece, save it!
Don’t prejudice the insurance company’s investigation
This post is a very methodical description of what is an otherwise chaotic situation. You’ve had water damage your home. Your life has been turned upside down. You’ve spent money on plumbers and other contractors. You may have been unable to use some or all of your home’s plumbing system in the meantime. You might have had to move out of the home because the plumbing will be unusable for an extended period, or because the damage is too great. The last thing on your mind is your insurance claim, but it’s our first concern.
If you have done anything that allows the insurance company to question whether the loss happened exactly as you say, the insurance company can deny your claim outright, and they may be justified in doing so.
If you had water damage from a burst copper pipe and the plumber cut a hole in the wall, cut out a section of pipe that’s damaged and installs a new piece, but the broken pipe is discarded, how can the insurance company be sure someone didn’t spray the walls with a hose to try to get some money? This is why you need to preserve your evidence by saving the damaged plumbing parts.
Maybe you had a water mitigation contractor come in to perform drying services, and they did such a good job removing wet materials, there’s no evidence of damage remaining. How will the insurance company know there was any damage at all and a shady contractor didn’t just come in and cut out drywall to fake an insurance claim?
The scariest scenario is that you’ve had a failed cast iron drain line and can no longer prove it. Often times, between the trenching, flooring repairs, and significant areas of renovation required, these repairs of failed cast iron drain lines can exceed six-figures. If you can’t prove what happened in great detail, the insurance company may try to claim that even though you may have needed to replace this line, there is no coverage because there was no leak! We’ve seen it happen, and instead of getting fairly paid for your claim, a homeowner like this would be facing an uphill battle right from the start at a risk of not receiving a fair reimbursement for their claim.
A cautionary tale of a plumbing leak
One of the most absurd claims we’ve ever handled was for a homeowner that was very handy. In fact, the homeowner was an air conditioning repair man. He had owned a home for barely two weeks and upon arriving home from work discovered water pouring out of a light fixture in his kitchen, with the water originating from the second floor of his home.
Being as handy as he was, the homeowner turned off the water and waited for help from a friend while he cleaned up some of the water on his own. The water was clean, so he knew it was a broken supply line somewhere in his home.
Once he had his friend to help him, the friend turned on the water supply and the homeowner quickly realized the water was coming from a broken plastic tube from the wall to a toilet. He turned off the water to that toilet and localized the problem.
Now, here’s where our homeowner got himself into trouble. These plastic lines are brittle and break all the time, so he didn’t think it was a big deal. He went to a big-box hardware store, bought a nicer braided metal replacement in cash for about $5, replaced it, and threw the broken plastic one away.
The insurance company came to the home, couldn’t inspect the broken plastic plumbing to the toilet and sent an engineer to the property to assist them in denying the claim. The engineer, a paid shill from the insurance company said that even though the homeowner had owned the home less than a month, the big stain on the ceiling of his kitchen and damage to his kitchen cabinets was the result of years of water from people getting in and out of the shower in that upstairs bathroom, and dripping on the floor!
Because our client thought nothing of his insurance claim when he fixed the problem, he ended up having to proceed with several years worth of litigation in order to get paid for his claim.
VIP Adjusting’s public adjusters have seen all kinds of plumbing leak damage over the years and make sure to approach the situation from the perspective of your insurance claim, your potential recovery, and preservation in the event of litigation. If you’ve had water damage as a result of a plumbing leak, contact VIP Adjusting today so they can guide you through the claims process and assist you in documenting your damages and the conditions at your home.
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Plumbing Leaks: What’s covered by your insurance policy?
What does your homeowners insurance cover if you have a plumbing leak?
There are several different types of insurance policies for homeowners (both residential and rental properties) as well as for commercial properties. Today we’re going to discuss what is typically covered by the most common homeowners insurance policy in Florida, an HO-3 policy, also referred to as an “all risk” policy.
What is an HO-3 or “All Risk” Policy?
An HO-3 policy is often referred to as an “all risk” policy because it starts describing the coverage as all damage, either “direct physical loss to property,” or “sudden and accidental loss” and then works backwards from there to limit that coverage with exclusions. As always, you should review the terms of your insurance policy with a public adjuster at VIP Adjusting if you’re making a claim in Fort Pierce, or anywhere throughout the Treasure Coast.
Some homeowners insurance policies only cover a small list of “named perils” and have limited coverage while some HO-3 homeowners policies don’t cover plumbing leaks at all. With aging homes throughout Florida including aging plumbing, and shoddy materials and workmanship becoming the norm for new construction and renovation, hopefully you’ve checked with your insurance agent before the time comes to make a claim.
Ensuing Loss and Water Damage are Covered
There are two types of plumbing systems in most Florida homes. Supply plumbing includes pressurized pipes that carry water into your home and to your fixtures and appliances. Sanitary plumbing, or “waste lines” carry used water from your toilets, showers, bath tubs, sinks, washing machines and dishwashers to your septic tank or to the sewer.
If water accidentally escapes from either of these plumbing systems, either because the pipes burst, or a cast iron drain pipe has rusted, all damage that’s caused by the water is covered (unless your policy has a water damage exclusion, but I’ll continue to operate on the assumption that we’re discussing a standard HO-3 policy from here forward).
There must be water damage in order for the loss to be covered. If you have clean water spill onto a tile floor from a broken sink faucet and it causes no damage, there is likely no coverage and no viable insurance claim.
If the water has caused damage, however, your claim is viable. Water leaks may very easily damage laminate floors or lower quality cabinets and vanities. More substantial supply line leaks can cause tiles to de-bond or crack after swelling and contracting the mortar underneath. Water can also easily damage drywall and baseboards.
If your leak is from a broken waste line or collapsed cast iron drain, the damage is even more serious. Water in sanitary pipes often contains contaminants from your sink or dishwasher (usually referred to as Category 2 water or “grey water”) or actual sewage from toilets (usually referred to as Category 3 water). If these types of water come in contact with any porous building material, it requires special types of repairs, most of which are outlined in publications produced by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, or IICRC, which is the industry standard.
Leak detection
If you’ve discovered water on the floor in your home and it’s causing damage, the investigation to determine the source of the water is often covered. Homeowners insurance policies require you to protect the property from further damage and this activity may be one of the most important undertakings in stemming the losses inside your home. It also requires that you document damages. A leak detection satisfies your requirements and post-loss obligations under your insurance policy.
Sometimes this is a simple undertaking, while other times it’s a more significant investigation. VIP Adjusting can assist you with this portion of your claim and make sure all steps are documented to show your insurance company when the time comes.
Access to Repair the Plumbing is Covered
In addition to the water damage coverage trigger, your homeowners insurance policy typically covers access to the broken plumbing to allow for repair. Plumbing access isn’t often the first thought of a homeowner, but it can easily be the most expensive portion of a claim.
If a supply pipe bursts inside the wall of your bathroom, the water cleanup and repair of water damage may be minimal, but in order to get to the leaking pipe to repair it, you may have to demolish an expensive shower, including removing and likely damaging the tile.
If a supply pipe is leaking inside the slab of a home carrying water to the kitchen, you may have to remove tile or wood flooring to dig through the slab. This is not always the case, though.
If a cast iron waste line has collapsed inside the slab, there is definitely access required through the floor and the slab. A significant trench may need to be dug throughout the home to lay a significant portion of new pipe, because waste lines often rely on gravity to carry dirty water out of your home. These repairs can run across multiple rooms and may require significant repairs and renovation.
You also may have continuous flooring running throughout your whole home, or significant portions of it. These are important factors that need to be taken into consideration as part of your claim, and why it’s best to rely on your public adjuster, instead of the insurance company’s adjuster.
Broken Pipes are Usually Not Covered, but might be in some cases
Your insurance policy does not typically cover “loss to the system or appliance” that is the origin of the water leak and damage. That means if your pipes burst, the insurance covers the water damage and the access, but you pay to replace the pipe. Alternatively, if a valve on your dishwasher or washing breaks and leaks, the water damage is covered, but you have to fix or replace the dishwasher or washing machine that is leaking. This is the most common situation, but it is not always the case.
If you had a supply line inside the slab that is leaking, instead of making a costly repair damaging the flooring and slab, you may be able to make a type of temporary repair known as a re-route. This type of repair has new supply lines run to the location through walls and ceilings (access through drywall and paint is often significantly less expensive than flooring and slab work).
A plumbing re-route is often determined to be temporary because it doesn’t make you whole and return your property to pre-loss condition. It may or may not be a permanent solution. Sometimes, a re-route reduces your cold water supply by exposing it to heat in exterior walls or attic spaces. Other times, it’s just not feasible, like if the supply line runs to a kitchen island.
There are a lot of different scenarios that come in to play when evaluating damage as a result of a pluming leak. These scenarios have large implications when it comes to the amount of money you’ll ultimately receive to repair your home. It’s important to get in touch with a public adjuster as early on in the process as possible so that you’re protected.
If you’ve had a plumbing leak in your home, contact VIP Adjusting today for a free claim evaluation.
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What you can do if your AC is leaking water
If your AC is leaking, it might be causing serious damage
You hear a noise from the closet that sounds like running water. It’s definitely water. That’s where your air conditioner’s main unit is located.
Your homeowners insurance policy requires you to protect the property from further damage, so if you can do anything to prevent more water from leaking, that would be great. If you can catch the problem before there’s any damage, even better!
What you can do if your AC is leaking
There are a couple of reasons your air conditioner might be leaking. Some you can resolve yourself and some you can’t. Hopefully we can point you in the right direction to prevent headaches with your AC and with your insurance company.
Maybe you’re a DIYer, or just a little bit handy. Maybe you’re not handy at all. Either way, you can do something.
1) Turn the AC off at the thermostat, or if you have a Nest or other smart thermostat, you can do it right from your phone. Be ready. All of these steps are probably going to be happening as your home gets increasingly hotter, and it’s going to be inconvenient.
2) Grab a bucket and some towels. If you open the closet door and the water is still pouring, you want to be ready to catch it the best you can.
**Some people might not feel comfortable going beyond this step, and if you’re uncomfortable, feel free to call us and we can recommend a good local HVAC company. **
3) Get access to the AC unit and remove the filter. Once you can see into the unit, you’ll be able to figure out a little bit better what’s going on.
Do you see ice inside the air handler?
If you see ice, this is a cause for concern and you’ll want to get in touch with an HVAC contractor right away.
If the AC filter is really dirty and you don’t regularly change it, there might be a lot of dust in the unit, causing the coils to freeze up. This would be a good scenario because you might just need to have the inside cleaned, and this will be your cheapest fix. If this has been happening a long time, your compressor could be damaged. You might also have cracked coils or a refrigerant leak.
If there’s no ice inside, you might be in luck!
4) If there’s no ice inside the unit, you may just have a clogged drain pipe. Over time, without any attention algae forms inside the air conditioner’s drain pipe, and once there’s enough of a build up, water can’t pass as fast as the HVAC unit removes humidity from the inside of your home. In that situation, it backs up and comes out of the drain pan.
If you think this might be the case, you can take a shop vac to the exterior of the air conditioner’s drain pipe, and form a seal around it with tape, or even your hands, and suck out the pipe. At some point, when the pressure is high enough the algae will come out in a big clump, and you should be ready to turn your AC back on, and monitor for any future leaks. If there are no more leaks, congratulations! You’ve resolved the problem and saved some money on having to call out a contractor. You can prevent this from happening again by putting some bleach in the pipe once a month or so when you change the filter.
Once you’ve stopped the leak, you have to evaluate your damages.
If this did resolve the problem, you should contact an insurance professional like VIP Adjusting and their team of public adjusters to evaluate your damages. We use the latest technologies to evaluate damage in your home and will use infrared cameras to determine what areas are wet, if there isn’t already visible damage. We may also refer an environmentalist or hygienist to test for mold because of algae and other stuff that was in the water that leaked.
This water may have damaged laminate flooring or wood flooring in the area of the air handler. It’s less common, but it also may have damaged tile flooring. Depending on how much water leaked, you can easily have damage to the adjacent drywall, the most likely result.
If the last step did not solve the problem, you may need to have an HVAC contractor, or even possibly a plumber, perform more diagnostics on the situation. Your leak might be the result of a rusted drain pan that has holes or cracks in it if your HVAC unit is older, or you may have a break somewhere in the drain line between the air handler and the exterior drain.
Regardless of which problem has caused your AC to leak and cause damage to your home, you’re going to need to document the source of the leak for your insurance company, and if you were lucky enough to be able to resolve the problem yourself, even though you’ve saved money, you may be behind the 8-ball when it comes to dealing with your insurance company.
If you’ve found yourself in this situation with a leak from your air conditioner and damage to your home, contact VIP Adjusting today for a free evaluation.
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Information about damage caused by plumbing leaks
Do you make a claim to your homeowner's insurance or flood insurance if your home has been "flooded"
If you have mold damage, you might need to make a claim for Additional Living Expenses