Evap Cooling Unit blows off roof, who pays?

Firthy_26 · Apr 03, 2008 5:19 pm

...Sorry _Al_ for taking part of your topic

We have now (since Friday last week) moved into our home... Woo Hoo

With all the storms & high winds here in Melbourne last night our Evap cooling unit on our roof has blown about 30 mtrs onto our driveway :shock:

. It had also taken out the the vent pipe for the heater unit as well.

No damage to anyone or anything, thank god.

I got up in the roof last night to assess the damage. There was some water getting into the the roof & onto the plaster. Not much so mopped it up & put in a couple of buckets. No apparent damage to the plaster from underneath.

Now to the question... Should this be covered by the builder or by home & contence insurance??

As I said we have had handover less that 7 days ago & I believe that the unit wasn't fitted correctly to the roof in the first place so I think the builder should have to come & fix it.

It gets really windy where we are & the unit has been on the roof for at least a couple of months before hand. This is the first time it has been this bad with the wind for a while.

I've spoken to our Site Supervisor & straight away he said "Nothing to do with us. You need to go through house insurance"

Has this happened to anyone else here.. if so, what was the outcome?
Also what is everyones thoughts on this question?

Cheers,
Mike.

Tony & Emma · Apr 04, 2008 7:39 am

I would have thought you'd need to claim on your house insurance, hten if htey decide to inspect and find it was ill fitted they would chase the builder.

To be honest though, you'd probably get it fixed quicker if you just go to your insurance anyway, especially if the builder has already said they won't do it.

Adrian B · Apr 04, 2008 9:01 am

Thsi is why you have insurance before you move in.

Firthy_26 · Apr 04, 2008 9:46 am

We've had 3 lots of tradies, telecom guy, SES etc through the house yesterday, not only with the cooling unit problem, but with other minor issues that need done & they've all said "It's a faulty Unit!".

The SES guys, who I'm guessing have seen a lot in their time, said that they've never seen a cooling unit come apart the way it did.

So I would now say that Dandy Air (ppl who installed the unit) would have to come back & put a new unit on the roof & claim it through the manufacturer under warranty.

I know I can go through Home & Cont insurance.... But with a $300 excess, I'm sure that money can be used elsewhere.

Thoughts??

Mike.

Cookiemonster · Apr 04, 2008 9:48 am

Firthy_26 · Apr 04, 2008 2:06 pm

Cookiemonster

If your insurance company can find another party responsible for the damage, then don't they waive the excess?

Just spoke with them again (another 40mins on the phone

)

If it is the fault of the unit itself (99% sure it is), they cancel the claim & refer us back to installer. If it is solely due to the storm, the claim goes through & the excess is paid.

Mike.

PhoenixStar · Apr 04, 2008 2:21 pm

Great!!!

Not exactly the way you want to move into your new house!!! :roll:

Mike, I hope your insurance company are right onto it for you.

Did you get much water coming in or damage to the plaster?

Eventually you might look back on this and laugh???
Well.....maybe??? :roll:

Firthy_26 · Apr 04, 2008 2:47 pm

No laughing yet....

No apparent damage to the plaster from what i could see up there Wednesday night. A little bit of water on the plaster that was soaked up quickly. One damaged tile that the SES replaced when they were there putting the tarp up.

My wife said "you should have seen their faces when I told them where the unit is on the roof" :shock:

... Took them a while to work out how to get up there... on the very high side of the house with strong winds still blowing. They made a nice mess for us inside to clean up after they were done. Payback I guess.

Mike.

Yak_Chat · Apr 04, 2008 3:33 pm

Quote:

Payback I guess.

Don't think so :shock:

- a bunch of enthusiastic SES people who enjoy the adventure of rescueing others in adverse weather conditions does not need to do a bit payback :shock:

Just be thankful they like doing that sort of stuff in their spare time - for free.
Steve

Firthy_26 · Apr 04, 2008 3:39 pm

Yak_Chat

Quote:

Payback I guess.

Don't think so :shock:

- a bunch of enthusiastic SES people who enjoy the adventure of rescueing others in adverse weather conditions does not need to do a bit payback :shock:

Just be thankful they like doing that sort of stuff in their spare time - for free.
Steve

...very thankful for what they did, & in such quick time

mike.

mattwalker · Apr 05, 2008 6:57 pm

Mike,

Mate that sux...

Did you have a independent inspection at handover with anyone?

I would be hammering Carlisle Homes to help with a result on this one. These things dont just blow off the roof...Have a look at your neighbours units? Did they lose theirs?

I have the appropriate emails if required

As a side note I was told off hand on Friday at my inspection that no "Storm Damage" is covered by Carlisle Homes and at the time I thought nothing of it....it makes sense now though

Good Luck Mate!

Matt

PhoenixStar · Apr 05, 2008 10:51 pm

Drove past today Mike....WOW!!!! :shock:

I see what you mean about the location...... They would have loved that side of the house!!!! :shock:

I hope your insurance company is onto it quickly... :twisted:

Ian wanted to know if it ripped the water pipe out when it came off the roof?? Did you get much water damage from that?

Hope to catch up soon...when everything clams down for you guys of course! :wink:

Firthy_26 · Apr 08, 2008 1:17 pm

mattwalker

I have the appropriate emails if required

Looks like I will require them... Thanks Matt

Had Dandy Air come out yesterday & they said the unit was fine & we should go through our insurance company :evil:

. Also that it needs the whole unit replaced & not just the upper cover. As previously stated, our SS has said the same thing & that it has nothing to do with them.

Not Happy Jan.

Mike

ahuang · Apr 09, 2008 10:48 pm

Can you kindly show us some photos??

PIP · Apr 10, 2008 4:03 pm

Mike,

I know your house as I live in the same estate & also built with Carlisle. I would point out to Dandy Air & Carlisle that it would appear that no-one else's evap cooling unit blew off, in fact it looks like not even anyone's antenna blew off! I too had problems with evap cooling unit from Dandy Air (among other things). We have a lot of strong winds around here, granted this was stronger than normal, but you would expect that your unit would stay put. I would be furious. Good luck with it all.

mattwalker · Apr 10, 2008 4:18 pm

Another vote for big issues with Dandy Air!

They forgot to see if the return air was working (it was sealed between floors by the builder) but they ok'd it anyway.

7 Visits to get both the heater and the aircon working correctly.

Scartches on the door to the roofcavity and to the cavity (manhole) cover.

I met the owner in the final occasion at my house and he worked with his guys to get it finished and working 100% which is a credit to him personally.

I would not be suprised if there was a mounting issue fault based on my own experience with teh mounting of my heater unit.

Firthy_26 · Apr 10, 2008 4:25 pm

Thanks PIP. You're not wrong about the strong winds in the estate :shock:

. Don't worry, this was definately mentioned to Carlisle & Dandy Air that we we're the "Lucky Ones!"

Claim has been lodged this morning with insurance company. Hopefully something should be done about it soon. I know what the answer is going to be.... "Faulty unit!" There is no way we are going to let up on the installers & they will definately be fitting a whole new unit in the end.

Mike.

PhoenixStar · Apr 10, 2008 4:59 pm

Mike, just a thought, have you contacted the manufacturer of the unit itself to see what they have to say about the situation?

Firthy_26 · May 13, 2008 10:29 am

Bit of an update on this issue....

We have lodged a claim with our H&C insurer & waiting for them to get back to us with a go-ahead.

In the meantime, Spoke to a plumber mate of mine about it. He said definatly a problem with the installer or the unit itself. He gave me a number for the Pluming Industries Commision... http://www.pic.vic.gov.au/www/html/209-when-things-go-wrong.asp ... & said to give them a call.

Has anyone gone down this path with similar plumbing issues or had any dealings with them??

I will keep you updated.

Cheers,
Mike.

PhoenixStar · May 13, 2008 11:09 am

Good Luck Mike!

Hope it's resolved soon.