Team-BHP - The Home Appliance thread

Looks like they are not making good geysers anymore. The Racold instant geyser in my home in trivandrum is going strong after 10+ years. But my 2 year old 25L Racold geyser in bangalore keeps getting broken down every now and then. Have replaced the drum once, heating element twice and the thermostat once. Its like the everything except the outer shell has been replaced at least once. The service guy says, its due to the hard water in our area, but I don't believe.

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Originally Posted by tj123 (Post 1626633)

Advise required to buy a 25 lts electric Geyser. It should be energy efficient preferably 5-Star rated BEE & must be aesthetically pleasing to look at.

Kindly advise.

Take a look at Remson as it has a fully copper tank. Copper tank has less scaling in hard water areas and has better heat retention as well.

After that I would recommend AO smith. Ao smith has a SS tank with a glass coating to prevent scaling.

The most popular one is Racold Eterno but that has a coated SS tank. It wont last long and will rust eventually.

We have a Sol Ray geyser which has been going good for ages... definitely well over a decade. Yes, it has needed a service man couple of times for minor issues. Recently the gasket at the heating element needed replacement (started leaking) and the heating element was cleaned. We have slightly hard water, and it seems the scaling happens on the heating element, which can be cleaned in few minutes. The service man said the drum remains unaffected. If they still make geysers that last so long, they would be worth considering.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639 (Post 1629981)

Thanks , For me energy efficiency is of Paramount importance. Please let me know are these products (AO Smith, Racold) etc have some sort of energy star ratings ?

Hi,

We are planning to change our 5-year old refrigerator (Godrej). We find ice in the crisper and water in the deep freezerlol:

Please suggest a good brand/model in 300lts range. I checked Hitachi website and found this model to be good: 3 Door Refrigerator: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd.

Thanks in advance,
Pallavi

Hi Pallavi,

Our Hitachi 438 Litre refrigerator is 2 years old now and it is a superbly designed piece of equipment. It was the only brand which came in the capacity that we wanted which fit into the place assigned to the refrigerator in our kitchen. This is because of the thickness of its walls compared to the other brands in the market.

The freezer in the bottom drawer is also a big plus. It's very easy to clean as you can take it out completely from the main unit and wash it outside.

It's a little pricy compared to the other models but I have not regretted it one bit. It's a good investment and it's made in Japan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pallavi (Post 1642472)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pallavi (Post 1642762)

Hi Sharath,

Thanks for the info. How is the service of Hitachi? Do they have service centres in Bangalore? Did you ever had to use it?

-Pallavi

Yes, they do have service center's in bangalore. I mean, it is not the company owned service center's, but they have outsourced the same to third party companies.

I was told that they do. However, I am not expecting any issue for a long time hopefully.
Service Center Locator: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pallavi (Post 1642762)

Hi Sharath,

Thanks for the info. How is the service of Hitachi? Do they have service centres in Bangalore? Did you ever had to use it?

-Pallavi

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMaruru (Post 1643241)

Yes, they do have service center's in bangalore. I mean, it is not the company owned service center's, but they have outsourced the same to third party companies.

Thanks for the info. Any idea how their service is?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharathjeppu (Post 1643473)

I was told that they do. However, I am not expecting any issue for a long time hopefully.
Service Center Locator: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd.

I am hoping the same but want to be prepared if & when the need arises :)

Hitachi is one brand which we shortlisted. Please suggest if there are any other good brands/models which we should consider.

-Pallavi

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639 (Post 1629981)

Take a look at Remson as it has a fully copper tank. Copper tank has less scaling in hard water areas and has better heat retention as well.

How come copper has better heat retention? Isn't that simply a function of the insulation?

Copper tanks permit better uniform heating.

IMHO, go in for one with a large capacity; hot water will stay hot for even couple of days with the present day PUFinsulation.

All heaters use PUF insulation, and are, IMHO equally placed, therefore, heaters are almost a commodity from my POV.

I use a venus 20 L one.

If you are living in a flat / high rise building, or use a pressure booster in the water circuit to your bathroom, ability to withstand high pressure inlets and a "no return valve" to prevent cold water from the mixer getting into the tank through the (heater's) outlet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharathjeppu (Post 1643473)

I was told that they do. However, I am not expecting any issue for a long time hopefully.
Service Center Locator: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd.

We had several "cartridge" (installed in a suspended ceiling) units in my office. The computer room unit was on 24/7. By the time it gave trouble, it was big trouble, as the unit was already over ten years old, and it was hard to find the parts! Ten years: not bad!

How important is inbuilt heater for washing machines. I have seen that you can get a good fully automatic without inbuilt heater for 5000rs less.
In Delhi water temp goes down to 15 degrees in winters. Is it too cold to wash clothes in that chilly water?
We are thinking of a new LG/Whirpool automatic(buying within next 1-2 days). Earlier IFB and Samsung were also in contention, but service centers of both leave a lot to be desired(In Noida).