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On Demand Hot Water Heater


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Bosch has always been the most recommended on this board. Mainly because of the quality and the fact that they have trained service people who come out from Guadalajara. Other brands are not so lucky, and if you do a historical search you will find lots of people... including me... begging for knowledgeable on-demand heater service personnel... with none in the offing... for most brands.

Before getting this one, I did a ton of research and asking around for personal comments. I was assured by the installers that they knew exactly how to fix the CaloRex. We shall see. Or, with luck, never have to see...

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15 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said:

Bosch has always been the most recommended on this board. Mainly because of the quality and the fact that they have trained service people who come out from Guadalajara. Other brands are not so lucky, and if you do a historical search you will find lots of people... including me... begging for knowledgeable on-demand heater service personnel... with none in the offing... for most brands.

Before getting this one, I did a ton of research and asking around for personal comments. I was assured by the installers that they knew exactly how to fix the CaloRex. We shall see. Or, with luck, never have to see...

CG, are  you using it for your whole house. ?

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I have had a problem getting hot water to the kitchen sink.  Problem is it is a long run of plumbing from where the hot water heater (propane - tank type) at the opposite end of the house.

After researching solar hot water heaters, tankless instant heaters both gas and electric, etc.- I opted for an under sink "mini-tank" electric heater.  Amazon Mexico have a nice one in-stock for immediate shipment from the warehouse in Guadalajara - the Bosch ES4 4 gallon heater.  It uses 1440 watts (120 V) and has a 98% efficiency rating.  Cost was $4,515 pesos with free shipping.  Easy to mount and connect and was able to do it without getting a plumber.  Turn on the tap and you get hot water in about 3 seconds.

My wife loves it and is now much happier.

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12 hours ago, Ferret said:

I have a Cinsa On Demand bought from Amutio. It takes TWO "D" batteries and as soon as I put them in, I buy two more. This model works with lower pressure but I always have hot water on demand.

I did not go digging through my walls when I renovated BUT, I highly suspect that I have an open loop since the hot water tries to come on when I flush the toilet. It was a bit disconcerting but now I just shut off (flip the switch) the heater (which is in my bathroom and vented) when not looking for hot water. I did have a check valve installed but then the heater wouldn't work properly at all. Sigh. I distinctly recall two water lines coming out of the tinaco in San Miguel. One went to the hot water heater and from there to the hot water lines. The other did the cold water loop. Here I have only one line coming from the tinaco. Can anyone else comment on this???

Quirks, all houses have 'em.

There's only one line coming down from my tinako. It's split at first floor to feed the hot water tank. 

BTW, if your water is gravity feed only, I found some fantastic shower heads at Mega (don't know if they have them at all Megas, but worth a look). They are made by a Mexican company that makes ecologically sound stuff and it is specially designed to give good shower pressure on gravity feed. I can't tell you how it works, all I know is that it does. They are fairly small, and totally plastic, with rubber gaskets between the various sections. I have to remove and soak them in vinegar every couple months to remove the hard water deposits, but that's true with all showerheads unless you have a water softener. 

They're about 180 pesos and well worth it. I always had decent pressure in my downstairs shower because my tinako is quite high and it's 2500 liters, so quite a large volume of water, but my upstairs shower was always quite wimpy until I put one of those shower heads on it.

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Some other good MXN made house water tech:    the FillPro by PIDSA replaces the entire toilet filler and float valve setup, works from low to high pressure, is quiet, and easy to adjust (small plastic hand set screw).    Low cost too.

https://fillpro.com/#fillpro

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6 hours ago, mudgirl said:

They're about 180 pesos and well worth it. I always had decent pressure in my downstairs shower because my tinako is quite high and it's 2500 liters, so quite a large volume of water, but my upstairs shower was always quite wimpy until I put one of those shower heads on it.

Would you mind telling us the make/model? I have low pressure and a small pump installed at the tinaco to make showers acceptable. But I still can use only one brand and style of showerhead, and remove the water-saving washers, and make the internal hole bigger, to get decent pressure.

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6 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

Would you mind telling us the make/model? I have low pressure and a small pump installed at the tinaco to make showers acceptable. But I still can use only one brand and style of showerhead, and remove the water-saving washers, and make the internal hole bigger, to get decent pressure.

Here is the company: https://www.cumnda.com/ There are photos on their website. The ones I saw and bought in Mega are clear plastic. They really don't look like any other shower heads I've seen. They don't have any water saving washers in them (I hate those and always had to remove them in past showerheads). They do have a small screen up near where it screws onto the water pipe outlet, which needs to be cleaned from time to time from grit and mineral buildup, but I just do that when I soak in vinegar to remove the calcium deposits from the holes.

They still don't have the kind of pressure you'd get from a totally pressurized system, but they work far better than anything else I've tried here.

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  • 1 month later...
On 4/3/2020 at 3:16 AM, mudgirl said:

There's only one line coming down from my tinako. It's split at first floor to feed the hot water tank. 

BTW, if your water is gravity feed only, I found some fantastic shower heads at Mega (don't know if they have them at all Megas, but worth a look). They are made by a Mexican company that makes ecologically sound stuff and it is specially designed to give good shower pressure on gravity feed. I can't tell you how it works, all I know is that it does. They are fairly small, and totally plastic, with rubber gaskets between the various sections. I have to remove and soak them in vinegar every couple months to remove the hard water deposits, but that's true with all showerheads unless you have a water softener. 

About once a year, I take a straight pin from my wife's sewing kit and push it up all the holes and it's as good as new.  I also remove the showerhead and clean the screen of any loose debris.

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A quicker method:  Put muriatic acid in a small bowl and hold it up to the shower head for a few minutes.  The acid will dissolve the built up minerals.  Run the shower with cold water to rinse.  Naturally, use care and rubber gloves, etc.  You can also use this method for the lavatory sink faucet screens, which are often difficult to remove.

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