The Home Appliance thread

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Please ignore my previous post! <Blush> Especially...
... Complete rubbish, it seems

No issues sir.

Originally Posted by dadu

Since the Geysers hold a substantial amount of weight (due to water), always use anchor bolts.

Now its bolted tight.All i want that my friends here know about this shortcoming.We should be sure of the strength of the attachments and not just go by what the company provides

[archat68]

Those screws are not enough to hold the geyser. I asked my plumber to use four 4 inch nut & bolt. Made deep holes in the wall, inserted the bolt in the reverse way (the head inside the hole), filled up the hole with a mixture of cement, sand and fine stone chips. After a few hours fixed the geyser on the bolts and tightened the nuts. In this way it is easier to remove the geyser too (in case it needs servicing)

[Aroy]

While fixing geysers
. Do not use wooden block method. Use an electric drill and drill at least 2"/50mm. These blocks are usually inserted in a shallow hole and work loose. Ideally the hole depth should be 5-6 times the diameter (8mm dia and 50mm deep)
. Use a plastic insert matching the drill. I normally use 8mm drill with matching inserts
. Use screws of correct diameter, matching the plastic insert.

Remember that 15L geyser will have 15kg of water and weigh of geyser is another 3-5 kg. So each screw has to support 10kg nominally in a two screw installation.

For larger Geysers - 30-50L, I used a Masonry Bolt (approximately 100/ per insert/bolt combination). This is at least 12mm thick with expanding metal insert, 3" long, and 4 are used per geyser.

Lastly ensure that the bolt goes into a brick and not in between the bricks, where it will work loose from the plaster.

[Jammy28]

I am planning to buy an electric water heater. I see there are two types, i.e., Instant water heaters and Heat & Store water heaters. Also I see there are many brands like Venus, Bajaj, Havels, Elac etc. Not sure which one is better. I am in Chennai. Appreciate any suggestions for the brand and models.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Jammy28

I am planning to buy an electric water heater. I see there are two types, i.e., Instant water heaters and Heat & Store water heaters. Also I see there are many brands like Venus, Bajaj, Havels, Elac etc. Not sure which one is better. I am in Chennai. Appreciate any suggestions for the brand and models.

Instant water heaters are
. Low capacity - 1/2 to 1L
. High power - 3-5KW

Storage Heaters are
. High Capacity - 10L, 15L, 25L, 35L .........
. Medium Power - 1-2KW

Due to high power the Instant heaters start generating hot water fast (instantaneously at Chennai temperatures). The outlet temparature can rarely be regulated and depends on the inlet water temparature. You can rarely use it for showers due to variable outlet temparature and low flow rate. It is ideally used for filling buckets.

Storage heaters as the name suggest store hot water. A 35L storage heater may take upto 4 hours to heat the water from 20 degrees to 70 degrees. So you have to give it time. Secondly unless you use up all the water, hot water will remain in the tank. In places like Delhi, in winter Storage heaters are preferred as they can be always on (switching off on attaining set temparature), giving you hot water on demand through out the winter. The down side is that they will always maintain the temparature by switching on when ever the water cools a bit, hence are expensive to maintain.

Current storage heaters come in many guises. Choose one which
. Has extra insulation, so that water remains hot for a longer duration
. Stainless Steel tank for longevity or Fiber Glass tank for better insulation. Avoid mild steel tanks - they will rust away.
. Has a thermostat where user can select temperature. Useful if you want warm water instead of piping hot water (obviates need for a mixer to mix hot and cold water)
. ISI mark

[Thad E Ginathom]

Here we have solar (not much good during Cyclone Thane!) but in my last place I had an instant heater in the shower room and a storage heater in the kitchen.

The instant heater was fine for the showers. I don't remember if it had a temperature control, but it fed a mixer tap, so cold could be added. The big thing in the kitchen was always a nuisnace, taking time to heat up, and always being scolding hot, whatever I did with the knob. Often wished I just had two "instant" heaters!

[sgiitk]

Got a Kenwood KM010 Kitchen Centre a fortnight ago from Kolkata. Price Rs.42k. Swapped the meat mincer with an SS liquidiser as the glass jar (standard) has a very uncertain life. Got it just in time since the liquidiser base of my old (1989) Kenwood Chef packed up yesterday. Otherwise, we were planning to start the new unit in the new year. Interesting bit is that attachments from 1989 are interchangeable with the current lot. The English never change!

[sdp1975]

Guys , looking for an appliance to bake and grill. Was looking at a microwave first - but then my last microwave went kaput after cockroaches entered the electronic circuit. Not sure how long these microwaves with all the electronic gadgetry last as well - see quite a few complaints on google.

Anyone used a OTG ? Which one should I buy ? Looking at a medium sized one.

[ramzsys]

Bhpians, am looking for a top loading washing machine, and want to know the best of Whirlpool's agitator vs LG's turbo drum.

[Neilguy]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Bhpians, am looking for a top loading washing machine, and want to know the best of Whirlpool's agitator vs LG's turbo drum.

I would recommend to stay away from agitator based washing machines as they are not as gentle on your clothes as pulsator based or front loading washing machines. Clothes tend to get rougher, with more lint and faded colors much earlier in agitator based top loaders than in pulsator based or front loading washing machines. This is my personal opinion out of experience, and others might differ.

I'd vote for LG's Turbo Drum over the agitator based Whirlpools.

[khoj]

I would recommend the 'AO Smith' make heaters, available in both storage 35,50, 75 & 100L capacity and instant types with capacity ranging from 10, 15, 25 & 35 litres. These come with digital controls and the temperature control is excellent. I replaced my aging Racold 50L with a 50 Liter capacity and the Geyser feeds our kitchen and one of the bathrooms. No more scalding surprises the temperature range can be varied from 35 deg C to 75 deg C. The other things that I found better than my other geyser are:

1. True capacity. The volume held in the geyser is per the actual capacity stated. This was at the purchase point wherein the company had set up a demonstration wherein they had cut open their own geysers and a few of the well known older brands. The local brands held nearly 20~25% less water in their internal tanks than the stated capacity on account of the thicker but inferior insulation material used.

2. Superior Insulation. Now a days in the middle of the Dilli winters, the drop in the temperature of the hot water held in the geyser's tank is 3 degree C. We usually run a last heating cycle just after dinner, this is to provide hot water for through the night/very early morning usage. Say we heat the water up to say 38deg C at night, subsequent temp display on the control reads between 36 and 35 deg C in the morning. This after miscellaneous usage through the night and early morning. With the earlier geyser the water used to be ice cold in the middle of the night and this after having run the heating cycle to the fixed temperature of 75 Deg C.

3. Reduced Electric consumption. Again no actual tests but on account of the superior insulation and the absolute control on the temperature this should be a given.

4. Longer warranty : Though I got only 2 years warranty but as I understand subsequently the company tied up with 'Jaguar' and the warranty terms now are 3 or 5 years.

CONS : Premium on price compared to other brands.

Originally Posted by Jammy28

I am planning to buy an electric water heater.

I am in Chennai. Appreciate any suggestions for the brand and models.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The instant heater was fine for the showers. I don't remember if it had a temperature control, but it fed a mixer tap, so cold could be added. The big thing in the kitchen was always a nuisnace, taking time to heat up, and always being scolding hot, whatever I did with the knob. Often wished I just had two "instant" heaters!

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by khoj

I would recommend the 'AO Smith' make heaters, available in both storage 35,50, 75 & 100L capacity and instant types with capacity ranging from 10, 15, 25 & 35 litres.

the company tied up with 'Jaguar' and the warranty terms now are 3 or 5 years.

Why does an instant heater need 35L capacity? Generally all instant heaters have just 1-2L capacity.

I have seen instant heaters with temperature adjustments, not in India though. They are very common in backpacker hostels across SE Asia. But like Thad mentioned, temperature control can be achieved easily by feeding through a mixing valve.

And for the record, I don't have any tie-ups and won't honor any warranty claims

[amohit]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Anyone used a OTG ? Which one should I buy ? Looking at a medium sized one.

We use OTG at home. 17lts Prestige. It costed us 2.6k some 4 yrs ago. We use it to make pizzas, cakes, cookies and recently bread as well.

To give you an idea of capacity, we can prepare 2 8inch pizzas or 1 10inch dia cake or 20 goodday biscuit sized cookies in one go.

If you intend to use it for roasting non veg stuffs at home then go for something that has rotisserie. Otherwise that option is not very helpful.


Hope this helps.


Regards,

[khoj]

I have no idea as to why the instant would have a larger than 1~2 liter capacity tank. It could be that on account of better insulation their design allows one to have access to a certain capacity of hot water instantly but without switching on the geyser. Essentially a mini version of storage heater. On rechecking found capacities to be 6, 10, 15 & 25 litres. Explore attached link for more information A. O. Smith

Originally Posted by Jaguar

And for the record, I don't have any tie-ups and won't honor any warranty claims

now where would we hapless consumers go

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by amohit

We use OTG at home. 17lts Prestige. It costed us 2.6k some 4 yrs ago. We use it to make pizzas, cakes, cookies and recently bread as well.

To give you an idea of capacity, we can prepare 2 8inch pizzas or 1 10inch dia cake or 20 goodday biscuit sized cookies in one go.

If you intend to use it for roasting non veg stuffs at home then go for something that has rotisserie. Otherwise that option is not very helpful.


Hope this helps.


Regards,

Thanks.

I see the large OTGs( mostly over 28 litres in size) have a convection function in them - essentially a fan to circulate the heat.

Would this be useful ? Googling says that a convection oven helps in evenly distributing the heat and allows cooking at lower temperatures. While this may be true with large ovens , not sure if if this applies to the medium sized OTGs ( ~20 litre ), and if there would be a noticeable different in the taste/quality of food with and without the convection utility.