Mercury Spill • Hacker News Board

Re: Mercury Spill

#81

Post by avn2109 » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:33 AM UTC

deciplex wrote: post #68

nostromo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insurance is such a scam. A friend of mine made two claims within about five years: once for water damage and once for a burglary. The insurance company agreed that she was covered. So they paid her and then dropped her. No big deal, right? Wrong. Once you've made a claim or two against your insurance, it can be very hard to get any new insurance company to cover you. She finally did find a new insurer, but the price…

Insurance has got to be the best business to be in. In what other industry is the business model "take people's money and don't do shit"? Plus, in a lot of domains people are required , by law, to get insurance. It's great.

>> "Plus, in a lot of domains people are required, by law, to get insurance."

It's almost like the insurance industry is large, wealthy, and politically well-connected enough to capture regulatory bodies in order to insure the existence of markets for its produc... wait a second...

Re: Mercury Spill

#82

Post by Spooky23 » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:35 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #41

ccvannorman wrote: post #14

It may have cost you $50,000 but you now have +50 karma on HN and rising. Some would say a bargain! ;-] In all seriousness, cool story, glad you're okay, and this makes me think "insurance" as a business needs to be re-thought entirely. How many times has it happened that insurance companies weasel out of paying? Objectively you might think THAT was their primary job.

Insurance is such a scam. A friend of mine made two claims within about five years: once for water damage and once for a burglary. The insurance company agreed that she was covered. So they paid her and then dropped her. No big deal, right? Wrong. Once you've made a claim or two against your insurance, it can be very hard to get any new insurance company to cover you. She finally did find a new insurer, but the price…

The bigger scam is that getting the insurance claim denied will probably still either raise his rates or drop him altogether.

This is a pretty extreme case of a household hazmat issue. 99/100 times, the pragmatic answer is to maintain deniability, make it as safe as possible and get out if necessary.

Re: Mercury Spill

#83

Post by joshrotenberg » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:36 AM UTC

nrjames wrote: post #49

This sounds so familiar... Here's a story about my 1961 house that is built on concrete slabs. About 18 months ago, we noticed a bit of the hardwood floor was bubbling up. We ignored it. About 6 months ago, our water pressure started to drop and then disappeared altogether. The plumber came and told us that our well pump (which was relatively new) wasn't working. They pulled the pump and the PVC bushing around it was…

Wow, that all really, really sucks. Hope it's all fixed soon.

Re: Mercury Spill

#84

Post by Spooky23 » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:37 AM UTC

nathanb wrote: post #25

ccvannorman wrote: post #14

It may have cost you $50,000 but you now have +50 karma on HN and rising. Some would say a bargain! ;-] In all seriousness, cool story, glad you're okay, and this makes me think "insurance" as a business needs to be re-thought entirely. How many times has it happened that insurance companies weasel out of paying? Objectively you might think THAT was their primary job.

When one of my upstairs toilets started leaking in my house in the US, it finally got so bad that I noticed a stain on the garage ceiling. The insurance inspector said that insurance would not cover a "slow leak". I was very nice and polite and pointed out how soaked the subfloor was and that there was no way to know when the leak started (which was true). She wrote her recommendation that it be covered, which the co…

For serious claims, it's better to hire a public adjuster.

Re: Mercury Spill

#85

Post by cbr » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:40 AM UTC

ccvannorman wrote: post #14

It may have cost you $50,000 but you now have +50 karma on HN and rising. Some would say a bargain! ;-] In all seriousness, cool story, glad you're okay, and this makes me think "insurance" as a business needs to be re-thought entirely. How many times has it happened that insurance companies weasel out of paying? Objectively you might think THAT was their primary job.

I do understand why insurance companies don't want to pay for things that happened before the policy took effect. Otherwise people could do harmful things, take out a policy, and then file a claim. All sorts of bad incentives.

On the other hand, it's pretty frustrating in our case!

Re: Mercury Spill

#86

Post by deciplex » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:42 AM UTC

chimeracoder wrote: post #75

deciplex wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if they're adjusting premiums such that they're net positive on every single account, does that mean they'll refund your money if you end the contract without ever having made a claim?

> So if they're adjusting premiums such that they're net positive on every single account, does that mean they'll refund your money if you end the contract without ever having made a claim? No, because you're paying for the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your worst-case scenario has been mitigated, on the off-chance it happens . Even if there is no disaster, you still benefited from not having to worry ab…

I understand how insurance works, but you haven't really addressed what I'm talking about, which is that insurance companies often don't seem to understand how insurance works. You can't expect to make a profit off of every account - it defeats the purpose of an insurance scheme altogether. If an insurance company raises the premiums on a person after they make a claim, or drops them from coverage, even when the nature of that claim does not raise their risk profile, then they're doing it wrong.

Re: Mercury Spill

#87

Post by Gibbon1 » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:42 AM UTC

chimeracoder wrote: post #59

existencebox wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll throw my hat in the ring. Recently had a car totaled when getting it shipped cross country. Apparently because it was an "Act of god" (a hailstorm, with what looks like fist-sized-rock-hail in that every piece of glass and most trim on the car had holes in it, although I'd argue the insurance was for the idiot driver who didn't pull over or cover his load.) the insurance company refused to do squat. The car was…

> It really feels like less insurance and more government mandated protection money; Car insurance is different from other forms of insurance. The reason car insurance is mandatory is because otherwise, if you hit someone or damage their property with your car and they successfully sue you, they could very well end up with nothing (if you're broke). With insurance, that person is guaranteed to get a payout, because t…

Basically Car Insurance isn't to protect you. It's to protect other people from you. Which is why someone can get in an accident while driving drunk and their insurance company has to pay.

Re: Mercury Spill

#88

Post by cbr » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

fsavard2 wrote: post #70

jpatokal wrote: post #47

So people would use a mercury seal to put pressure on the water, allowing the system to run hotter without boiling. I didn't quite follow this part. Where in the system does the mercury go, how does it add pressure, and does it have anything to do with Wikipedia's description of using mercury in glass-to-metal seals? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-to-metal_seal#Mercury_se...

This page describes that system, I think: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/gravity-hot-water-h... (the "Honeywell Heat Generator")

I've now linked that from the article; thanks!

(I read that page when I was first reading about this the night of the spill, but had forgotten about it. Holohan is amazingly knowledgeable about old heating systems.)

Re: Mercury Spill

#89

Post by jamesrom » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

DanBlake wrote: post #22

wow. I remember as a kid ~20 years ago playing with mercury (my grandfather was a dentist and had a 1lb bottle of the stuff for some reason) I think if I found mercury in my house I would literally just scoop it up and bring it to the fire department without thinking about any health hazards of it. Is mercury truely that bad that short exposure is that dangerous? I mean, I wouldnt eat the stuff (or breath it in for e…

Chem suit and breathing gear $100-$200.

Mercury vac: $1500-$2500

Take your time with the work, and definitely have your home inspected after. But if you don't have $50,000 for this kind of clean up, you can definitely do it yourself.

Re: Mercury Spill

#90

Post by cbr » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 1:47 AM UTC

FrankenPC wrote: post #69

cbr wrote: post #58

Author here: happy to answer questions.

How long have you owned the house? Toxic waste like that are grounds to sue the previous owner if not disclosed during the purchase...at least in California.

We bought the house in February. We might try to sue people, but it's pretty clear the previous owners don't have much money. (The house was mortgaged to within a few-k of the selling price, and they had stopped paying their monthly payments. Which made it pretty hard to actually buy the house! http://www.jefftk.com/p/house-buying-timeline)