Damage caused by wiring and electrical currents is normally covered under fusion coverage, also known as motor burnout coverage. This often relates to burnt-out electric motors in appliances in a home insurance policy. For example, if a lightning storm causes a power surge that kills your refrigerator’s motor, you’d be covered.
What is fusion on an insurance policy?
You might come across a reference of ‘fusion’ cover in your landlord insurance policy. This has less to do with lab coat-wearing scientists making things go boom and more to do with what happens when a car hits it!
When insurers talk about fusion, they’re talking to motor damage, specifically motor damage caused by electrical currents or wiring in appliance motors. They aren’t talking about appliances wearing out or breaking down (none of these things are covered by insurance), but rather damage to the motor caused by an electrical failure that led the motor to “ignite” (think wiring melted together due to overheating, causing a short).
- a power surge (sudden surges in electricity caused by overloaded circuits and faulty wiring, for example) or
- an abnormally high electrical current (for example, fluctuations in electricity supply such as brownouts and voltage sags or dips, or lightning strikes).
When a motor fuses tripped the RCD (safety switch) or circuit breaker, it often makes a snap, crackle, or pop sound (fuse). There could be a melted plastic or burnt odor. Neither of these things are desirable, and they usually indicate that the appliance’s engine has failed.
What is fusion damage?
When the motor in a significant domestic equipment, such as a refrigerator or washing machine, burns out, it is also known as electric motor burnout or fusion damage. An electric motor is used in these gadgets to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. A power spike or high current (such as from a lightning strike) can, on the other hand, cause the motor to ‘burn out’ and stop working. Motor burnout can be extremely inconvenient and wasteful if your refrigerator or freezer breaks down, or if your front-loading washing machine stops in the middle of a cycle. As a result, many people contemplate acquiring insurance policies that cover this type of occurrence.
What does motor fusion mean?
The terms ‘fusion’ and ‘electrical motor burnout’ refer to the electric current in an electric motor or its wiring causing it to burn out.
Ducted air conditioners, pool pumps, and freezers are examples of equipment that use electric motors.
For property insured in NSW, QLD, ACT and TAS
You can choose to include coverage for the burnout of up to 15-year-old electric motors (as part of your Buildings and/or Contents).
Fusion cover is automatically included with Home Plus Insurance, as long as they are not used in your business or protected by a warranty. We also don’t pay the expense of removing or reinstalling submerged or buried motors if you don’t keep them in your home or at your job site.
For property insured in SA, WA and the NT
You can choose to cover the burnout of electric motors that are up to 15 years old (as part of your Buildings and/or Contents), as long as they are not employed in your business or covered by a warranty.
Electrical motor burnout is automatically covered if you have Home Buildings Plus, Home Contents Plus, or Home Buildings and Contents Plus insurance.
What are the six categories typically covered by homeowners insurance?
A homeowners insurance policy typically has at least six separate coverage sections. The coverages are commonly referred to as Dwelling, Other Structures, Personal Property, Loss of Use, Personal Liability, and Medical Payments coverages, though the names vary by insurance carrier. They are frequently called Coverages A through F and are presented as policy sections.
Coverage A, Dwelling
The first coverage component of a homeowner’s policy protects your home and any related structures, such as garages, decks, or fences. A typical insurance will protect your home from a variety of risks (also known as causes of loss), such as fires or storms. However, the following types of losses are typically not covered by a homeowner’s policy:
Coverage B, Other Structures
Structures that are not attached to the house, such as a detached (separate) garage, storage or utility shed, playground equipment, and swimming pools, are covered under this clause.
Coverage C, Personal Property
This covers your belongings, whether they are at home or on vacation with you. Personal property is frequently insured against certain perils. This means that only the losses stated in the policy section will be covered. There are additional restrictions and exclusions to the coverage. Jewelry, fine arts, collectibles, and other valuable items may require particular security. Consult your agent about adding coverage to a floater, which broadens and extends coverage for high-valued items.
Actual Cash Value vs. Replacement Cost
Protection under sections A and B is typically granted on an actual cash value or replacement cost basis. Replacement cost minus depreciation is the definition of actual cash value. The cost of replacing a structure, net of depreciation, is known as replacement cost. To find out what kind of coverage you have, look over your insurance. Section C coverage is typically offered on an actual cash basis. Your agent, however, may be able to add replacement cost to your belongings, similar to Coverage A.
Coverage D, Loss of Use
While your home is being restored, this coverage covers the cost of additional living expenditures. The policy also covers you if your house is uninhabitable. The loss or loss of access, on the other hand, must be the outcome of an incident covered by the policy. Coverage D would not be available if your home was damaged during a conflict and you had to abandon it because war is excluded. Food, housing, and transportation are all common extra costs. However, the costs must be greater than what your family regularly spends.
Can I claim my air conditioner on my insurance?
Because a functioning HVAC system is critical to comfort and quality of life, it’s necessary to budget for maintenance and even the replacement of an aging unit. While a house warranty may cover the repair or replacement of your air conditioner due to normal wear and tear, homeowners insurance usually does not. You won’t be able to receive reimbursement from your insurance carrier unless your air conditioner was destroyed by a covered risk in your policy.
You can either save a cash emergency reserve for home repairs or buy a house warranty to cover maintenance and repairs. Damage or destruction could be covered by your homeowners insurance in some cases.
Does insurance cover broken washing machine?
Yes, if you are a homeowner. Damage to the machine is covered by contents insurance, but you’ll also be insured for some sorts of damage caused by the machine if you have home insurance.
That is, if a malfunction in your washing machine causes floods or a fire, contents insurance may cover the machine against damage or loss, but not any other damage it causes.
What does accidental damage cover?
Standard contents insurance usually covers your belongings in the event that they are stolen, or if they are damaged or destroyed by a fire or flood. In most cases, a normal policy will not protect you if your items are damaged as a result of an accident.
If you add accidental damage to your policy, you may be covered for repairs or replacements if an item is damaged or destroyed in your home as a result of an accident. For example, if your kid draws with a pen on the sofa or your wall-mounted TV slips off its bracket and breaks, you may be entitled to compensation.
Is a broken oven covered by insurance?
Until our washing machine leaks or our freezer thaws the ice cream, we typically take our equipment for granted. We can’t get our white goods repaired quickly enough once we’ve been thrown back into the nineteenth century, forced to wash clothes by hand or make do without refrigerated food.
Your appliances will be covered under a typical home contents insurance policy if they are damaged or destroyed in a fire, storm, flood, or other natural catastrophe, or if they are stolen. It will not, however, cover these culinary staples if they break down due to age, wear and strain, or if they are destroyed accidently.
Appliance insurance policies can compensate you for the repair or replacement of appliances such as ovens, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, washers, and dryers, among other things.
Can you claim broken fridge on insurance?
Your homeowners insurance coverage protects a substantial portion of your personal property, including large appliances, against risks such as theft, fire, and storm damage. This usually includes coverage for your refrigerator, which may be a costly item to replace or repair if it breaks down.
Your homeowners insurance policy may not cover all types of refrigerator damage. That’s why it’s critical to understand the details of your policy’s insurance coverage for refrigerator damage and any food loss caused by a power outage. You might also want to look into equipment breakdown coverage, which protects a wide range of household appliances and equipment from mechanical and electrical breakdown. Inquire with your Travelers representative about this one-of-a-kind coverage.
Does Homeowners Insurance Cover a Damaged Refrigerator?
Your homeowners insurance may or may not cover a refrigerator that has been damaged. If the damage is caused by a sudden covered event such as a broken pipe, fire, or lightning, your homes policy will most likely cover the costs of repairing or replacing your refrigerator.
A homeowners insurance policy, on the other hand, is unlikely to cover damage to a refrigerator caused by normal wear and tear or a lack of maintenance.
Coverage for Refrigerator Leaks
Many refrigerators contain built-in ice makers and cold water dispensers. These conveniences can lead to water leaks, which can cause harm to other appliances and the environment. Damage caused by a refrigerator leak may be covered by your homeowners insurance, depending on your deductible and policy limits. Any repair or replacement of the refrigerator, on the other hand, is usually not covered.
Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Food Spoilage Caused by a Power Outage?
A conventional homeowners policy provides very little coverage for food spoiling caused by a power loss. If your refrigerator was directly damaged by a lightning strike or a power surge, your homes insurance may be able to cover spoiled food as a result of a power outage. If you want to file a claim for ruined food, it’s a good idea to take pictures of the contents of the refrigerator before throwing them away.
If you believe you would benefit from additional coverage against food spoilage or power outages, speak with your Travelers representative to discuss your choices.
Prepare for the Unexpected
Preventing a lightning storm or other power surge from damaging your refrigerator and other important equipment is simple:
- Add surge protection devices (SPDs) and outlets at the point of use. Make sure you’re using the right SPD for your refrigerator and washer.
- Unplug any unused appliances (excluding your refrigerator) during a storm, especially sensitive devices like computers.
- To help keep food cold in the event of a power loss, freeze water and gel packs and transfer them to your refrigerator.
To check for spoilage, never taste the food. If you’re unsure, toss it out. More information about food safety during a power outage can be found here:
Are you looking for more ways to keep your family safe? To get a homeowners insurance quote that protects your appliances, find a Travelers salesperson near you. Travelers’ home insurance will keep you safe.
What is flat Fusion?
The brain receives a more or less full vision of what is in front of it from each of our eyes. In humans, the two eyes are linked in such a way that they form a single image from two “images,” one on the right and one on the left. A complicated neuronal organization is used to bring these images together. Singular vision is achieved through two distinct processes that occur in a sequential order.
Six pairs of extraocular muscles work in a yoked manner to control the movement of our two eyes. The extraocular muscles’ primary function is to bring the eyes together toward an item and then sustain fixation on it. The occipital cortex in the brain is where these two functional units, right eye + extraocular muscles and left eye plus extraocular muscles, first meet. Binocular vision is completed in the brainstem and then expressed through the cranial nerves that supply the extraocular muscles. The goal of this visual motor feedback system is to keep the visual axes of an item aligned when the person observing it and/or the object are either moving or staying still. Fixation is maintained through a sequence of paired eye movements in which the eyes move in different directions togetherright, left, up, and down, or a mixture of these movements. Versions are binocular yoked eye motions.
Our brain can comprehend the two inputs of visual information and integrate them to generate one cortical image when our eyes work together to locate an item. Signals received from corresponding sites on each retina start this process. The two foveas are the most prominent of the matching retinal sites. The fovea is the part of the retina that has the best visual acuity. Away from the fovea, the two retinas are linked in such a way that each location in the right retina corresponds to a position in the left. The right nasal retina has spots that correspond to their left temporal retina counterparts, and vice versa. The two eyes combine to form a single cyclopean eye in this style. Normal retinal correspondence is present when activation of corresponding retinal spots or areas results in single vision.
The Levels of Sensory Fusion
Simultaneous Perception is the ability to observe two different items at once.
This does not mean that the objects are overlaid or that both eyes view the same object. The right eye sees a drawing of a house while the left eye sees a drawing of a dog in a controlled activity. The dog may be seen inside the house with both eyes.
Flat Fusion is the ability of the eyes to create a composite image from two identical images that are each missing a minor feature.
Each image has some outlines that are the same. For instance, the right eye might see a clown holding a flower in his left hand, while the left eye sees the same clown holding a ball in his right hand. When both eyes are open, the clowns they see merge into one clown holding the goods in its hands.
Stereopsis is the ability to turn two comparable things into a three-dimensional or floating image.
The comparable pictures seen by each eye have a tiny offset to them, so they are not truly overlaid but rather laterally displaced relative to one other. The brain converts lateral displacement (disparity) into depth (stereopsis).
Stereopsis may not be visible if the two eyes have trouble aligning or delivering visual signals to the brain for whatever reason. With an uneven visual system, reduced degrees of simultaneous perception and even flat fusion are feasible. Only individuals with reliable and efficient motor and sensory visual systems can see strong stereopsis.
“Clinical Strabismus Management: Principles and Surgical Techniques,” by A. Rosenbaum. Hunter, David, 1999.