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Better than a cold shower
I received my tankless water heater this morning. It was well-packed and the instructions are pretty good. I appreciated the "extras" that are usually "optional at additional cost," like the shower head, mounting hardware, and propane tank hookup.
But (there's always a "but!"), unless you have plumbing fittings handy, plan on a trip to the hardware store. The threads you must connect to are rough and not cut especially well, something that seems common on items from China, so you definitely need to have teflon tape or plumber's putty handy. On my unit, the hose connections to the shower head leak badly at both ends. Not that big a deal since it's intended as a shower, just an annoyance. And, the shower head male threads are a bit short, so one end of the hose would screw on far enough to not leak too badly, but the other end would spray water all over the place until I reversed the hose. Then it just leaked at the water output of the heater. The hose connection (another nice included item) didn't have a rubber gasket.
As far as heating water, it works pretty well. My input water is at about 50 degrees, and with the water flow turned all the way down and the gas flow all the way up, it got hot enough to be uncomfortable.
Until a slight wind blew out the flame. Be sure to plan to use this unit someplace very well protected from the wind. Even a slight breeze, about 10 MPH (guesstimate), will blow out the flame, give you a slug of cold water, and require you to turn the switch off and back on to relight the flame.
I haven't played with it enough to be sure, but my impression is that the unit won't hold a constant temperature of water output. I mention this because it may require you to use the unit in a place where you can actually reach the controls during use to adjust the temperature of your shower.
Even with the shortcomings, I recommend the unit as a camping or backup water heater. For the price, you can't go too far wrong. Just keep it within reach and out of the wind.
[Tuesday, May 27, 2008]
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i love it
works better than i hoped. works better tham coleman tankless water heater, wich i have also, and cost way less. you could mount this in your home, but i have it mounted on my boat. set it and turn it on [once].When the flow of water stops it shuts off and when the flow start again it fires back up, you dont have to reset it again and again like the coleman. runs off of 2 D batteries this is what i have been looking for. makes my boat hot water system, just like home. plan on getting a nother for my 38 ft. sail boat too.
[Sunday, May 18, 2008]
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