Author Topic: Took my panels down tonight.  (Read 3083 times)

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dnix71

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Took my panels down tonight.
« on: November 18, 2015, 07:29:35 PM »
The landlord called and said the homeowners insurance company sent him a list of demands that included removing the panels I mounted on a utility trailer in the back yard. The landlord has had no objections and I suspect the insurance company doesn't really care. Among the other demands was to trim trees from touching the roof. None do. The person who filed the complaint took pictures from an angle to make it look as though branches were touching. I think the insurance company is trying to "lay paper" as an excuse to drop a bunch of policies. This happens periodically in Florida.

Hurricane season just ended without a storm, so the insurance companies are flush with cash and are looking to take the money and run.

My Engle fridge will run from 120v as well as 12v, so I will simply move it over to the grid. I have a 2 watt LED 120v light that will cover the room, so that will also change.

I have a niece who is engaged to a man who works as a butcher at Whole Foods north of Tampa. They are living in a relatives house with a large back yard. I may offer the entire solar panel/controller/battery setup to them as a wedding present if they are willing to build ground level mounts for the panels. Where they live there is no HOA or other impediment that I know of.

Bruce S

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Re: Took my panels down tonight.
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2015, 08:50:33 AM »
THAT sucks!
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Mary B

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Re: Took my panels down tonight.
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2015, 07:04:36 PM »
If they are on a movable trailer the insurance company has ZERO say in it! They are not part of the property!

thirteen

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Re: Took my panels down tonight.
« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2015, 08:25:42 PM »
MAYBE CONTACT THE INSURANCE CO. DIRECTLY OR THAT MAY CAUSE A PROBLEM.
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dnix71

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Re: Took my panels down tonight.
« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2015, 09:17:52 PM »
They used to discriminate against older housing, but Broward County is old enough now that isn't practical. I think someone saw the panels and wondered what would happen in a hurricane. If they were not taken inside before the storm, they would become missiles.

I watched a shed blow away in one storm. Whole neighborhoods disappeared in Miami during Andrew in 1992. Even panels properly anchored will likely come off with the roof in a cat4 or higher.

My landlord likes me because I always pay the rent on time, but he told me the insurance company directly threatened to cancel the policy if the panels were not removed. That would force him into the state's pool for the otherwise uninsurable (aka "Citizens")

Citizens is undercapitalized and would not be able to pay out fully if another Andrew or Wilma struck south Florida. That is why I have the trailer the panels were on. If a cat4 or cat5 comes this way, I will pile all my belongings on it and say goodbye. That's the reality of living here.

SparWeb

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Re: Took my panels down tonight.
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2015, 04:48:07 PM »
How does one distinguish between an airborne solar panel in a hurricane as a dangerous projectile, and an airborne utility trailer in a hurricane as somehow not dangerous?
Though I do sincerely hope you get enough warning for Plan A to work, as you say, and none of your stuff becomes airborne.
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dnix71

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Re: Took my panels down tonight.
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2015, 07:05:58 PM »
My panels were not anchored, they were propped up to face the south. I had this arrangement for years with no complaints from the city, landlord ot neighbors. I have had several people, including a city gas dept employee remark that they thought it was neat that I had set up panels like that.

Insurance is not a local product. You cannot buy or sell house here when there is a named storm in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico. No company will create the new policy under those conditions to allow the transfer of title. I know someone who got a policy from Lloyds of London because they had to sell and could not wait until the hurricane season was over.

Insurance is not comprehensive either. There are separate policies for wind, fire, liability and flood. If you live in a decent city, fire insurance is cheap and easy. Here in Sunrise a policy for a home in my neighborhood is about $250 a year. Flood insurance is not available unless the Federal government is willing to "reinsure" the insurers. If you live near the coast you better get a federal flood policy. Storm surge during a hurricane is not covered by the wind policy even though it was the wind that caused the storm surge.

The Army Corps of Engineers (the guys who designed and run the pumps that keep New Orleans dry) also have resposibility for flood control in south Florida. The middle of the state is a 750 sq mile shallow lake. In a hurricane you could be 15 miles inland and still get very wet. Hurricane Irene was only a weak cat 1, but it dumped more than 14 inches or rain over 3 days and there was simply no where to put it. The USACE could do nothing but watch. Lake Okeechobee has an earth and rock levee on the southern rim. It it being rebuilt as I type this. If that levee ever failed, people west of US 27 would drown in a wall of slow moving water that wouldn't be more than about 4 to 6 feet high. On the other hand, if the ACE doesn't keep the water high enough and it doesn't rain for a while, cities would have to shut down potable water wells. And if the Everglades goes dry it will burn and so will the underlying muck. That muck has high levels of arsenic.

Because the wind policy is separate from the rest and it is required for most homeowners (few people here own their homes outright) there is a state insurance pool of last resort for people who cannot get a wind policy from anywhere else. A policy in that pool may cost $4k a year. The state pool of last resort "Citizens Insurance" is not actually solvent. If Florida ever got wiped by a cat 5, there would not be enough money to rebuild.

I don't own the place I live and have very low rent and utilities. Water, sewer, garbage and gas are covered in my rent and my electric even without the panels will be less than $15 a month. I'm not happy about losing my panels, but it isn't something I'm prepared to go to war over. The company I work for just moved and split up. I had a 20 minute drive to work become an hour drive home each day.

We are in 2 buildings now and the closer one still takes twice the time to drive even though it the same distance as the original building. My van broke down just before the move and I was forced to scramble to find another ride. The replacement is a Corolla that gets double the mileage of the van, so my gas expenses dropped. I miss the van, though. I can't haul stuff in a Corolla.