My neighbour's sprinkler system was turned on when went to work, house flooded
 

My neighbour's sprinkler system was turned on when went to work, house
flooded, all inside things watery, insurance says it is sprinkler
system fault, they won't pay, it is one year 2 months old, brand new
home, what to do?. His inside things TV, bed, sofa full wet, carpet is
wet, basement 3 foot water, now they are staying in hotel. Need some
suggestions. This is in NJ. Township official says they inspected in
the beginning when it is brand new. Now we were worrying what will
happen if it triggers middle of the night, what to do?.

wrote in message
oups.com...
My neighbour's sprinkler system was turned on when went to work, house
flooded, all inside things watery, insurance says it is sprinkler
system fault, they won't pay, it is one year 2 months old, brand new
home, what to do?. His inside things TV, bed, sofa full wet, carpet is
wet, basement 3 foot water, now they are staying in hotel. Need some
suggestions. This is in NJ. Township official says they inspected in
the beginning when it is brand new. Now we were worrying what will
happen if it triggers middle of the night, what to do?.


turn it off.
fix the timer

wrote in message
oups.com...
My neighbour's sprinkler system was turned on when went to work, house
flooded, all inside things watery, insurance says it is sprinkler
system fault, they won't pay, it is one year 2 months old, brand new
home, what to do?. His inside things TV, bed, sofa full wet, carpet is
wet, basement 3 foot water, now they are staying in hotel. Need some
suggestions. This is in NJ. Township official says they inspected in
the beginning when it is brand new. Now we were worrying what will
happen if it triggers middle of the night, what to do?.


Was there a fire or an extreme rise in temperature in a room ? Did only one
sprinkler head activate ? Isn't the fire sprinkler system designed to also
trigger a fire alarm if water flow is activated ? It is a very poorly
designed system if no alarm is generated when water flow activates.

According to this FEMA site http://www.usfa.fema.gov/safety/sprinklers/
such things don't happen .

"A sprinkler could accidentally go off, causing severe water damage to a
home.
False! Records, which have been compiled for well over 50 years, prove the
likelihood of this occurring is very remote. Furthermore, home sprinklers
will be specifically designed and will be rigorously tested to minimize such
accidents."

I'd turn the system off. Your neighbor needs a good investigator to
reconstruct events and a good lawyer.

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 23:32:50 -0500, someone wrote:

According to this FEMA site http://www.usfa.fema.gov/safety/sprinklers/
such things don't happen .

"A sprinkler could accidentally go off, causing severe water damage to a
home.
False! Records, which have been compiled for well over 50 years, prove the
likelihood of this occurring is very remote.....

Uhhh - very remote likelihood is NOT the same as CAN'T happen. Looks
like the neighbor is the remote one!


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

wrote in message
oups.com...
My neighbour's sprinkler system was turned on when went to work, house
flooded, all inside things watery, insurance says it is sprinkler
system fault, they won't pay, it is one year 2 months old, brand new
home, what to do?. His inside things TV, bed, sofa full wet, carpet is
wet, basement 3 foot water, now they are staying in hotel. Need some
suggestions. This is in NJ. Township official says they inspected in
the beginning when it is brand new. Now we were worrying what will
happen if it triggers middle of the night, what to do?.


The insurance company may still be liable to pay. For example, most policies
pay damage caused by things such as broken pipes so long as the owner was
maintaing the property properly. I would contact a Public Adjuster before
contacting a lawyer (if your state allows them). They usually work on
percentage, but they can tell you if your policy covers this type of
problem. Also, they can usually get more for you than you could on your own-
generally more than enough to cover their fee.