Alaska Channing iii and insurance

I live in Wayne County in Pa and after I received my homeowners insurance premium notice with a 31% increase I called my insurance company to ask about the increase. While going over my policy the agent had listed that I had a free standing wood stove in the house. I explained to the woman that it was not a wood stove but a coal burning stoker stove which was professionally installed and they are very common in NEPA as a heating supplement. She seemed like she really had no idea what I was talking about and said she would have to speak to my agent about it and someone would get back to me the next day. I spoke to her on Monday morning and have still not heard from anyone. I was wondering if anyone has had a problem insuring their home because of having a stoker, I don't see why this would be a problem because of all the coal stoves and boilers installed in the country but you never know with insurance companies.

You should have absolutely no problem adjusting your bill when the communication between your Agent and your Insurance company gets settled.
It is merely getting the Ins. folks to understand what equipment you have, and its safety reputation. This is a reality check for anyone who does something different from the 'Mainstream Sheep'.

Propane is way more scarey to me than coal. CO2 is a deadly thing to have lurking around your home. ......Heavier than air, settles to the low point ..... and then the fuel itself.....any leak, any spark,
and that is all that will be written on your obit.
Wood burning....and how many old homes were destroyed years ago before adequate fire protection became available(now they save the fireplace and the partial shell) .... Even pellet stoves will plug up without a 'cleaning schedule'.

Our local chimney sweep has been keeping very good records for over 8 years on pellet stoves and now says it is a very good idea to clean the stack twice each season.
I have been with him to see the build-up in the exhaust piping a dozen times, and the type of pellets or the stove does not seem to be the issue.
He is amazed to see nothing but fly ash in a coal heated home, and is pushing folks to consider coal as an alternative to wood or wood pellets.
He advises to burn a partial loading of coal in wood stoves to clean a particularly nasty buildup in a wood stove or wood boiler. Most manufacturers recommend that also.

Back to the question you asked: Help educate the Insurance company yourself, since it appears they are not familiar with coal as a home heating fuel.
By the way, Dartmouth College and several other colleges received a $300,000 grant today from the Feds to research Clean Coal Technologies.
Good news for anyone who burns coal, because now more information on Coal will be discussed all around the country.

Here's a thought: Have the Insurance folks spend a quiet winter with Bob up in FT Kent, Maine and I'll bet there will be no more questions about alternative fuels, their economy and safety!

A stove whether wood or coal is considered a supplemental heating device, like a kerosene heater or portable electric heater and is how a lot of people burn their houses down. If you had a coal/wood boiler, that would be considered a conventional device and would not be subject to the surcharge.

I was talking to my stove dealer a while back about this and he said that sometimes the insurance rates will go up when switching from a gas system due to ins. companies fear of the house freezing up (water pipes) if the owner goes away and lets his coal stove run out of coal. With propane or natural gas, the gas is always there (as long as your tank is not empty on propane).

Last winter when I started heating with coal, my agent (state farm) came over, took some pictures of my set up and I showed him the koker manual to explain it was installed with more then the recommended clearances (he didn't seem to pay much attention to that aspect). Since then my home owner premium has gone down a little, but probably due to market fluctuations, not my coal stove.