American Water Homeowner Water Line Protection Program

dmloesch

May 16, 2024 at 10:08am

Recently received American Water mailing detailing homeowner option to purchase water line protection coverage for our South Orange property. Confirmed our homeowners policy does NOT cover water line leaks.

Looking for opinions/thoughts if purchasing water line protection insurance with American Water (quote: ~$50.00/annually) is a prudent purchase. I have not yet contacted SO Water Department to determine if the village township has an "official buy/decline recommendation"

Formerlyjerseyjack

May 16, 2024 at 11:49pm Edited

There are insurance companies that do offer the protection. It is less expensive than Amer Water and provides a dollar amount of insurance to repair the sewer line if if becomes damaged.

My experience with Amer Water protection was mediocre at best. It was with my mother's house which I was managing when she was in memory care.

Sewer starts backing up. So I call. They can't get anyone there for a day or so. As I recall (It was 8 or 9 years ago) they hired different plumbers who made three or four visits. After three visits, they called a plumber who had a scope to video the pipeline. He finds the sewer line is broken into two parts and one section dropped an inch or two lower than the other. This means that the wastewater is leaking into the ground and the water table.

The correct cure would be to dig up the road and replace pipe. They didn't want to pay for that. Somehow, they put a "patch" and the sewer line stopped backing up into the house.

For all I know, It may still be leaking into the water table.

--- Then I look at my cousin's experience last year. He had no insurance at all and ended up with a $14k bill.

My takeaway: Find and insurance company that offers this coverage. However, potential for this damage is rare so if you can "self-insure," that is an option.