
What Equipment Breakdown Insurance Requirements Apply in Tennessee?
Tennessee's Boiler Unit oversees high-pressure, low-pressure, and unfired commercial vessels, including inspections by deputy or special inspectors. A special inspector is continuously employed by an insurer authorized to insure against explosion, or by an owner-user agency. If the insurer's inspector misses the required inspection within 90 days after the certificate expires, a deputy inspector may inspect and the insurance company is assessed a special inspection fee.
What Is Equipment Breakdown Insurance?
Equipment-breakdown coverage can help repair covered machinery or building equipment after a mechanical or electrical failure. It fits businesses that depend on equipment to operate; check whether lost income, spoilage and utility failures are included. Read the national Equipment breakdown guide.
Tennessee Equipment Breakdown Insurance Requirements
What to Watch for With Equipment Breakdown in Tennessee
An Owner-User Inspector Cannot Inspect Boilers
A special inspector employed by a company operating pressure vessels as an owner-user inspection agency is not authorized to inspect boilers. An insurance-company special inspector may inspect boilers and unfired pressure vessels the company insures. When those insured inspections are done, the owner does not pay the state the inspection fee in the cited statute. That fee waiver is not a requirement to buy coverage. 1
Thirty Days to Report, Ninety Days to Inspect
An insurance company must notify the chief inspector within 30 days of boilers or pressure vessels on which insurance is written, cancelled, not renewed, or suspended. If its special inspector does not perform the required inspection within 90 days after the certificate expires, or the required external inspection on a power boiler, a deputy inspector may inspect and the company is assessed a special inspection fee. 1
Class Intervals Sit in a Statute That Was Not Opened
The rules say certificate inspections follow Tennessee Code Annotated § 68-122-110. That section was not opened on a statute site, so this guide does not restate a yearly or multi-year cycle. Use the two-month window around the certificate you already hold, and ask the Boiler Unit which interval applies before you schedule an outage around a breakdown deductible. 1
New and Secondhand Objects Need an Installation Permit
The Boiler Unit uses a permit application for a new installation, a reinstallation, or a secondhand installation of a boiler or a lethal-service pressure vessel. A certificate of competency is the inspector's credential. Neither document is an equipment-breakdown policy. 2
Which Equipment Breakdown Providers Have Tennessee License Records?
No provider in our research has both a state license record and a listing for this coverage line. This does not establish that providers are unlicensed. Check the regulator’s license lookup and confirm availability with a provider when requesting a quote.
Who Regulates Insurance in Tennessee?

Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
TDCI regulates and licenses insurance companies, agents, brokers, surplus-lines agents, and public adjusters. Its complaint process accepts complaints about agents or companies when the policy was written in Tennessee, and its property/casualty unit reviews filed policy rates, rules, and forms. 4,5,6
Surplus-Lines Tax and Stamping Office in Tennessee
Reported tax rate. 5% of gross premium plus 0.175% SLAS transaction fee 7,8
For Tennessee-home-state surplus-lines policies, TDCI lists a 5% tax on gross premium and a 0.175% SLAS transaction fee on gross premium; the agent receives an invoice and pays both through SLIP. The sources reviewed do not establish that the fee is always separately charged to the policyholder or resolve guaranty-association treatment, so ask your broker to itemize charges and review the policy notice.
Questions to Ask Before You Buy Equipment Breakdown in Tennessee
- Is each object high pressure, low pressure, or unfired, and who is commissioned to inspect it?
- If an insurer's inspector is late, has the 90-day window after certificate expiration already run?
- Does a new, moved, or secondhand boiler need an installation permit before it is fired?
- What business-income waiting period applies during a certificate inspection outage?
Equipment Breakdown Insurance in Tennessee: Frequently Asked Questions
Can an owner-user inspector inspect my boiler in Tennessee?
No. A special inspector of a company operating unfired pressure vessels is not authorized to inspect boilers. Boiler inspections by a special inspector are for an inspector employed by an insurer authorized to insure against explosion. 1
What happens if the insurance inspector misses the certificate deadline?
If the special inspector does not inspect within 90 days after the certificate expires, or misses the required external inspection on a power boiler, a deputy inspector may inspect and the insurance company is assessed a special inspection fee. 1
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Other coverage in TennesseeEvery coverage guide for Tennessee, plus the regulator and surplus-lines details.


