Tell me about under sink instant water heaters.

Mrs MTG has got an under sink water heater.
I fitted it as the previous one failed shortly after the warranty ran out. Now this one has done exactly the same.
It was the same make and model to make lining the existing pipes up easier, so now I’m thinking we should try something different.

How about this one from Screwfix for a start ?
£175 and not particularly good reviews.

This looks better value, but I’m not sure I understand it properly.
Is the idea that you leave it switched on all day to keep 15l of hot water instantly available ? That seems a bit wasteful when you only want a bowl full twice a day to wash up.
Looks like you need a separate pressure reducer and expansion tank as well, adding about another £90 to the price.

The type that just heats the water as it flows through sounds more like what we want.
Any better deals than that Screwfix one about ?

let me get back to you with the model we have.

Had it for 5+ years.
Ours also failed after a couple of years. It kept tripping.
Can’t remember what they said the issue was.

We also changed for the same model & that very occasionally trips.

Ours is also a ‘heat on demand’ type which I agree makes sense for us.

I’ve got a Zip Aquapoint 2 fitted in the kitchenette of my office. It holds 5L of hot water and is enough to wash up the coffee cups/wash your hands etc.
It’s been here for about 10 years and I think I’ve only ever had to change the anode once. I got it as at the time it was the only system that would supply two hot taps simultaneously (kitchenette and toilet next door) and I’ve been pretty pleased with it although I’d go for an on-demand type if there was one that could feed more than one tap.

We had one installed at work the other day, first five minutes, boom, apparently it needs a ventilated tap, which according to the installing plumber is a tap designed to leak to alleviate the pressure.

A person I work with fitted one,he loves it and has had no problems.
I wonder about the whole energy costs and any long term savings.
They are not cheap.

these things are supposed to be good, expensive though

http://www.quooker.co.uk/enuk

Isn’t the Quooker the one that’s been mentioned in Private Eye recently for misleading advertising ?
We don’t need boiling water, just hot water, and I’m always suspicious of manufacturers who don’t make their prices clear on their web site anyway.

Nobody got any recommendations for a specific make and model ?

We’ve used redring units in our last two business premises, recommended and installed by my brother who knows his onions..

good bits of kit

Kettle

We had one installed at work the other day, first five minutes, boom, apparently it needs a ventilated tap, which according to the installing plumber is a tap designed to leak to alleviate the pressure.

This explains why you can’t turn off the hot tap in our office and it always dribbles. Learn something new everyday 🙂

I’ve been supplying Redring RP1 units for ages now, no faulty ones as yet.
Quookers are great.

From the Redring fitting instructions

The unit is NOT to be fitted to a bath or kitchen sink other than for hand-washing purposes.

That doesn’t make sense to me.
Hand washing takes 30 seconds, while filling a washing up bowl takes 2 minutes, which makes it sound like it’s only rated for short use, but then it’s OK to use for a shower, which can take 5 minutes.
Why is it OK for a shower but not for washing up ?

The failed unit is a Hyco which “is suitable for handwashing and light dishwashing applications.”

Got a few in our office in maidenhead. Because of the hard water in the Thames valley they last about three months before keeling over. We also had the Tefal bench-top ones: they lasted half a day! Conversely in a domestic situation they last ages, but seem to sit there and chew electricity unnecessarily.

Tbh a proper, non-Chinese made 3kw kettle is a much better proposition.

thinking about it further, we use our units to fill a washing up bowl 3 to 5 times per day, for only maybe 3-5 days per week max. plus hand washing, so yeah it’s probably only really occasional use

We ripped one out of our Appt because the thing packed in, so too the waste disposal. So with both units gone from under the sink we have gained much more space for important stuff like cleaning stuff and spare inner tubes.

I’m not getting another, the first ( and only one ) lasted about a year and came as a freeby from a kitchen fitter we know, wouldn’t have gone out and bought one, but seemed a good idea to fit it as if was free. Took some time to get used to the third degree burns from it just after we fitted it 😆 and honestly since it packed in we never missed it, don’t now either hot water from the tank and kettle far outweigh a bit of bling under the sink.

HTH

Why is it OK for a shower but not for washing up ?

I suspect it’s to stop people using them for commercial washing up?

Or they expect people to wash up under a running hot tap.

Or the water isn’t quite hot enough – I suspect I have washing up water hotter than I do for hand washing or a shower?

ours is a Redring power stream

one of the smaller ones

Good news.
I got out the Hyco wiring diagram and a voltage tester to see if it was something simple like a relay I could replace myself to save scrapping the whole unit.
The wiring diagram didn’t quite match what I found once I’d removed the cover, but it did mention a resettable trip switch.
Checked the voltage and, sure enough, it was live one side, but not the other.
Pushed the button in and we’re away with hot water again. 🙂