Our engineers are experts in the electrical and mechanical engineering fields. Amset is able to sort through the complexities of a technical loss and explain them clearly, which enables insurance professionals to make coverage decisions, arrive at settlement amounts, or pursue subrogation.

Open Neutral Event
This is a view of a home surge suppressor strip which has melted due to an open neutral event. When the neutral line to a home is disconnected while the power remains on, voltages can fluctuate much higher or lower than the nominal 120 volts. A typical home surge suppressor strip uses Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs) to shunt excess voltage and current to the neutral or ground conductors. Most short duration power spikes can easily be handled by the MOVs without significant overheating. However, if excess voltage is applied for a longer duration, such as with an open neutral event, the MOVs can overheat as seen in this photo. Subrogation potential may exist regarding who was responsible for the open neutral.

Water Loss or Poor Maintenance?
The air handler shown in this photo was being claimed as part of a water loss due to a broken water pipe. Upon inspection, this unit was found to have a clogged condensate drain as evidenced by standing water up to the top of the condensate pan. The corrosion seen here was primarily caused by age and condensate leaking from the pan, not from the broken pipe.

Upgrade Coverage
A large hospital sustained major damages to their IT infrastructure as a result of a water pipe break in the ceiling above one of the server racks. During our investigation, it was discovered that the insured had upgraded the replacement servers, adding virtualization capabilities and a SAN hard drive array. Through research, we were able to determine that more than $160,000 worth of upgrades had been completed which were not covered by the insurance policy. Amset’s research included obtaining specifications for every damaged item in order to obtain accurate replacement values.

This photo shows the server rack which sustained water damages.

This photo shows stacks of the damaged servers.

Repair or Replace
An insured was claiming electrical surge damage to an industrial punch machine caused by a failed utility transformer. The insured replaced the machine at a cost of over $50,000.  After obtaining the drawings and schematics of the machine’s electronics, Amset determined that the machine only needed a new motor controller at a cost of $750.