[CarNerd]

Originally Posted by vigsom

About the heater
This is a 3 liter AO Smith water heater meant for supplying warm water in the kitchen, but we found this installed in the bathrooms when we moved into this apartment. The limitation with this heater is that unlike the "rectangular" instant water heaters meant for bathrooms, this would run out of steam (or rather heat) if the tap were to be turned on a little more than the capacity of the heater. Although there is a water softening unit in our apartment complex, this heater has seen the heating element replaced thrice - twice under warranty and one outside warranty (that I just did).

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys, what are the best & fast water heaters? I like my showers long (15 minutes, sometimes 20) & piping hot. Current geyser was bought decades back and takes 15 - 20 minutes to really boil things up.

Originally Posted by saket77

Regarding the best heaters in market, I would say Racold, AO Smith and Crompton are among the best.

You can read about how good AO Smith Geysers are here:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post5123862 (The Home Appliance thread)

It is recommended to buy vertical heaters if space is not an issue due to increased efficiency, cost and ease of installation. For fast heating, go with an instant water heater but keep in mind that it carries a higher risk of breakdown compared to storage water heater.

We have a Racold Pronto 6L instant geyser bought in 2014 which is quite good with no issues but sadly discontinued. Haier instant geysers are also good which we used recently:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post5132140 (The Home Appliance thread)

Link: https://www.haier.com/in/water-heate...st_20190530.19

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by Benoit

didn't want to risk playing with electric power. The result could be fatal if proper care is not taken. How much has the heating improved?

As long as the procedure followed is right, there is no risk. In this case, the heating is the best I've seen in from the time this heater came new in 2018.

Originally Posted by Miyata

What do you use for the inner tank cleaning? When buying the heating element, I've felt it might be good to take along the older heating element part to the store for good matching

I just scooped out the scale - no scaling on the tank wall (which I guess is because this tank is glass lined as claimed). The tank quality was really good. However, if you do see scaling stuck to the wall, I use Harpic or an equivalent toilet bowl cleaner - takes scale off quite well. Only care is one must use PVC gloves and some Scotchbrite while cleaning the tank internals using the toilet bowl cleaner.

Originally Posted by GTO

Perfect timing for this thread, thanks Vigsom!

Guys, what are the best & fast water heaters?

I am a fan of Racold, but not sure of the rest. My only recommendation is to go for one that has a larger capacity so that you can enjoy hot water for longer. Also, please ensure that the heater has a temperature control knob. I'd recommend setting that at no more than 50 degrees C.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by ravib

Hello GTO, i suggest you to go with AO Smith and found it to be very reliable, best and fast over years. Prior to that was using Venus which was great, but was more power consuming. With 5 star rated A0 Smith water heaters, it is super quick.

And like you, i do enjoy longer showers in hot water in Bangalore cold weather, so it works out well

-Ravi

We had a bad hard water problem and had the best of the best brands fail every 2 or 3 years.

Then shifted to AO smith, they're not the fastest, but have lasted a decade with no issues. Stand true to their tagline of " fit it and forget it"

And reasonably quick too. I think you get a customisable cover when you register for an extended warranty for free

[Gautham_v6]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys, what are the best & fast water heaters? I like my showers long (15 minutes, sometimes 20) & piping hot. Current geyser was bought decades back and takes 15 - 20 minutes to really boil things up.

The reliable ones would be from Crompton Greaves (CG) ,Racold and Venus. Venus and Crompton ones are definitely Value for Money. Racold is little on expensive side.

[Maverick Avi]

We live in Delhi where winters are extreme. With water being hard, almost all geysers bought need a heating coil replacement in 2.5 to 3 years. We were getting it done by technicians earlier but most of times the work done by them used to be shoddy with mess being made in bathroom and leaking geysers thereafter. So I decided to take matters in my hand and have been replacing the heating elements myself since last 7 years. It's a 1 hour job if you have the element handy. The only issue I occasionally face is getting out the rusted element from tank as it gets deformed and swollen due to scale deposits. Other than that the process is pretty straightforward and safe as explained by Vigsom. Much more complex DIYs have been done by fellow bhpians in this forum .

If you live in an area with hard water and your usage is high such as for areas in North India then I would not recommend spending extra on top of line geyser brands such as Racold, AO Smith etc as heating elements would still fail. Good old brands with decent aftersales should be good. Durability is not a priority for any brand these days, be it geysers or cars or any consumer durables.

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by GTO

Perfect timing for this thread, thanks Vigsom!

Guys, what are the best & fast water heaters? I like my showers long (15 minutes, sometimes 20) & piping hot. Current geyser was bought decades back and takes 15 - 20 minutes to really boil things up.

Please check out Instantaneous Water Heaters like Eltron Steibel

https://www.stiebel-eltron.in/en/pro...terheater.html

They give hot water instantaneously and at consistent temperatures. They operate only when there is water flow. You need higher capacity electric cables min 6 mm2 for these type of geysers. There are some good indian brands as well.

[rahulk2510]

Originally Posted by GTO

Perfect timing for this thread, thanks Vigsom!

Guys, what are the best & fast water heaters? I like my showers long (15 minutes, sometimes 20) & piping hot. Current geyser was bought decades back and takes 15 - 20 minutes to really boil things up.

I am using these which are extremely convenient, no need to turn off the switch if in case you want to stop water flow mid-way. Just one caveat you need a good water pressure for this product:

Racold Aures 5.5 Kw Horizontal Instantaneous Water Heater (Geyser), White https://amzn.eu/d/6K6Wopo

[ais]

I've had bad experiences with Cromptons.

My Havells Adonia 15L worked fine for 2 years. Then when I used it at full temperature one day, since then it has started whistling whenever any cold water tap in the flat is opened. It whistles otherwise too.

Here's a video. Sound is at the end of the video.

https://youtu.be/bRb1n6Tygcw

Havells technician is blaming it on the buildings water pressure.

Any idea what's going on and how to resolve?

[neeraj0272]

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

We live in Delhi where winters are extreme. With water being hard, almost all geysers bought need a heating coil replacement in 2.5 to 3 year.

If you live in an area with hard water and your usage is high such as for areas in North India then I would not recommend spending extra on top of line geyser brands such as Racold, AO Smith etc as heating elements would still fail.

I live in Delhi and we use geyser all year around.
I have used AO SMITH for 7 years. I never ever faced a single problem.
Then due to renovation I changed geysers and now I am using one 50L AO Smith and two 40L Jaquar geysers for last 5 years . Not a single problem.
Only thing is we use only DJB corporation water. And not borewell water.

[kvsneela]

We always had problems with geysers whereever we went all around India ( electric shock, heater failure etc ,). For sometime used immersion heater which only heats the top layers. But when we were in Bangalore , we needed hot water 365 days ( due to weather). So we found LPG water heater which produces instant hot water (water temperature can adjusted easily) very useful . One cylinder will be in kitchen and second one in bath room. When kitchen cylinder empties , shift bathroom one to kitchen ( bathroom cylinders can take months to empty as it takes only few minutes for a full bucket). Adjust for 2 days until the new cylinder is delivered which will directly go to bathroom. Since we are only 2 now , this system works well. LPG heater costs around 2000/- and lasts for 7/8 years (We are using 2nd one now). Requires one extra LPG regulator which can be purchsed.

[neeraj0272]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

Please check out Instantaneous Water Heaters like Eltron Steibel

https://www.stiebel-eltron.in/en/pro...terheater.html

They give hot water instantaneously and at consistent temperatures. They operate only when there is water flow. You need higher capacity electric cables min 6 mm2 for these type of geysers. There are some good indian brands as well.

Originally Posted by rahulk2510

Racold Aures 5.5 Kw Horizontal Instantaneous Water Heater (Geyser), White https://amzn.eu/d/6K6Wopo

A practical problem with these high electric load instant geysers would be that there will be a corresponding increase in minimum charges for increase in electric load and that will be payable every month whether we use that much electric load in the summer or not! In Delhi that is Rs 100 per KW plus taxes. So for 3 geysers with 5.5KW load that would be 16.5KW load compared to 3 x 2KW = 6KW load for storage geysers.

I think it would be better to use high capacity geysers and let them run 24 hours.

[rahulk2510]

Originally Posted by neeraj0272

A practical problem with these high electric load instant geysers would be that there will be a corresponding increase in minimum charges for increase in electric load and that will be payable every month whether we use that much electric load in the summer or not! In Delhi that is Rs 100 per KW plus taxes. So for 3 geysers with 5.5KW load that would be 16.5KW load compared to 3 x 2KW = 6KW load for storage geysers.

I think it would be better to use high capacity geysers and let them run 24 hours.

No idea about calculations but here in Mumbai I am having a single phase connection with 6.85 kw load and by using 2 of such geysers, sometimes both running together, I have noticed no significant increase in my electricity bills. For me the ease of use along with extremely small size (In Mumbai apartments this is extremely important) weighs anything else…

[bkc]

If you're not living in apartments, and ready to invest for continuous hot water, you can look at heat pump geysers, these work like AC.
These consume just one KW, for 100ltrs capacity.

As another bhpian already pointed, you can use a solar water heater and inlet it, to your geyser for fast, hot water consumption.

I'm using a solar water heater and put a heating element in that itself (geyser type solar), it caters for 4 bathrooms, with 200L capacity.

Set the element to lowest temperature, hence the power to heat 200L to boiling, is saved. The coil thermostat engages, only if the water falls below the set temperature, other times, it wouldn't consume power and work only on solar.

[Everlearner]

Originally Posted by kvsneela

We always had problems with geysers whereever we went all around India ( electric shock, heater failure etc ,). For sometime used immersion heater which only heats the top layers. But when we were in Bangalore , we needed hot water 365 days ( due to weather). So we found LPG water heater which produces instant hot water (water temperature can adjusted easily) very useful . One cylinder will be in kitchen and second one in bath room. When kitchen cylinder empties , shift bathroom one to kitchen ( bathroom cylinders can take months to empty as it takes only few minutes for a full bucket). Adjust for 2 days until the new cylinder is delivered which will directly go to bathroom. Since we are only 2 now , this system works well. LPG heater costs around 2000/- and lasts for 7/8 years (We are using 2nd one now). Requires one extra LPG regulator which can be purchsed.

LPG heaters are economical, but be extremely careful. USE GAS HEATERS ONLY IF YOU HAVE GOOD VENTILATION.They release carbon monoxide which is dangerous and unfortunately does not smell. The best solution is if you can fit the gas geyser outside your bathroom and route the water inside. Or atleast the gas geyser should be located near a window with good ventilation.

I don't want to discourage, but I personally know 2-3 cases of death due to carbon monoxide poisoning, one including a pet (he was giving a bath to his dog and both passed away).

The real danger is that carbon monoxide does not smell, hence you will not realise the increasing levels until you can't breathe.

[kvsneela]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

LPG heaters are economical, but be extremely careful. USE GAS HEATERS ONLY IF YOU HAVE GOOD VENTILATION.They release carbon monoxide which is dangerous and unfortunately does not smell. The best solution is if you can fit the gas geyser outside your bathroom and route the water inside. Or atleast the gas geyser should be located near a window with good ventilation.

I don't want to discourage, but I personally know 2-3 cases of death due to carbon monoxide poisoning, one including a pet (he was giving a bath to his dog and both passed away).

The real danger is that carbon monoxide does not smell, hence you will not realise the increasing levels until you can't breathe.

Thanks Everleaner for the warnings . LPG produces CO due to incomplete combustion which is applicable for LPG cooking stoves also ( Imagine many houses in India have kitchens smaller than bathrooms of many other houses that too without ventilations. I wonder if anybody explained this CO problem to any LPG cylinder users by anybody). Main problem of this CO poisoning occurs in community halls or homes where many people need to use the same bath rooms with the last person getting affected most.
As I mentioned in my post, it is suitable for our situation since we are only 2 people ( out of which I don't use hot water most of the year) and the heater is on only for 5 minutes daily. Heater is placed high and near the window in bathroom. We keep the door also open when water is being heated and since the heat in this system can keep its hotness for long time , not necessary to finish bathing immediately. We are using this for almost 14 years now without any problems. To switch off the system ,simply close the gas regulator..