Water Line Replacement Insurance

For years, I have been recommending the insurance offered by Dominion Power to clients.  Dominion Power offers water line replacement, resulting landscaping costs, and sewer line replacement  insurance to customers for a low monthly fee.

This past week I found out first hand how the reimbursement program works when I discovered a water leak in my front yard.  The first step was to call the Fairfax County Water Authority and have them confirm that a water leak existed.  If the leak is a slow leak then the water to the house can be left on without interrupting water service to the resident. Luckily, my leak was a slow leak and my water supply could be left on.

  Once the leak is confirmed by the Fairfax County Water Authority, the next step is to notify Dominion Power.  Dominion Power then sends out their contractor (American Plumbing) to survery the situation and decide what needs to be done and when a contractor will be sent out to do the work.

I waited over a week for the contractor to have a crew in place to repair the leak.  I was told that the customers with no water service would be taken care of first.  This made sense, yet did not make the wait period any easier.   I watched water build up in my front yard for over a week and felt concerned that somehow all this water might possibly damage my lawn.

Anyway, the repair date arrived and all went smoothly.  The repair can be done without digging up the whole yard since the new line (copper 7/8 inch) can be placed inside the old line (plastic 1 inch) and connected to the  house lines. 

After the installation, the Fairfax County Inspectors have to come out to approve the installation.  No one notified me that the inspectors would be out the next morning so the final inspection failed. The next morning an inspector showed up from the county.  I was surprised to see the inspector since again no one called to schedule an appointment.  The inspector told me that the county had so many water lines to inspect that they did not have time to call.  Ok....

Anyway, the work passed inspection and the copper line will be guaranteed for 10 years.  The catch?  There's always a catch, right?  Since the ruptured line was plastic the insurance covers only a like-kind line replacement.  The insured party has to pay for the upgrade to a copper line.  How much did the upgrade cost?  $610 !!!

So there you have the drill.  The insurance is well worth the monthly fee since a line replacement could run thousands of dollars. 

If you'd like to buy or sell a home, call me today.  I will treat your transaction as if it were my own. 

                                                           Carla Brooks
                                                         703-577-4960
                                                      brkslong@aol.com