Bathroom Electric Water Heater

[micky]

My uncle just bought a condo in Bangkok.

He wants to install an electric bathroom water heater.

Please recommend a good and reliable model.

Any additional advice is much appreciated.

Thank you.

[SteeleJoe]

Wade through this this -- lots of good info.

[Crossy]

Let's put this in DIY.

A unit from a big name, correctly installed with a ground and RCD will be as safe as it would be in the West.

[bankruatsteve]

If you're talking about on-demand hot water for like a shower unit and looking for a brand name... I'm happy with Clarte.

[noise]

There are water "warmers" and water heaters. I have both.

The heaters are 3 phase wiring and very sensitive to water pressure. You need separate hot and cold water feeds to faucet and/or the shower to allow the user to adjust.

The warmers (as I call them) feed a a single water source shower (that is just one water supply pipe coming from the warmer). There is no way to mix hot and cold. You have to adjust the temperature on the unit. They, too, can give you hot water, but most of the ones I have used do not get it as hot as I like it on some of the cold winter days up here in CNX.

[InterestedObserver]

There are water "warmers" and water heaters. I have both.

The heaters are 3 phase wiring and very sensitive to water pressure. You need separate hot and cold water feeds to faucet and/or the shower to allow the user to adjust.

The warmers (as I call them) feed a a single water source shower (that is just one water supply pipe coming from the warmer). There is no way to mix hot and cold. You have to adjust the temperature on the unit. They, too, can give you hot water, but most of the ones I have used do not get it as hot as I like it on some of the cold winter days up here in CNX.

Seems to me that a 3-phase water heater would have a high kW rating and really get the water hot. You would need an automatic mixer valve or manual cold water feed to control the shower temperature. Water pressure effects the flow rate hence to ultimate shower temperature. Your water 'warmer' I understand to mean a small capacity unit that doesn't heat the water much due to its low kW rating.

[Crossy]

Yeah ^^^, the 'warmers' are the standard 3.5kW on-demand heaters, they're the biggest you can attach to a 5-15 meter without sending it into orbit. Unfortunately they're barely adequate in CM during the cool season.

You can get significantly more powerful single phase heaters, up to about 10kW which work well provided your supply has enough oomph.

[Pib]

I have two Fagor FI-6 6000W heaters (German designed/made, part number FI-6, bought at HomePro at approx 6000 Baht each, still sold at HomePro at approx 6000 baht, installed free by HomePro, uses approx 27amps). Each runs on a 30amp, single phase circuit and has two internal safety/circuit breakers. These are basic, good quality heaters with no adjustments/controls on the outside. Some heaters sold seem to look like spaceship control panels. They have three year parts warranty and one year labor warranty. On-site service in Bangkok (number on the warranty card and Fagor website to call) "after" the one year point cost 500 baht and they respond quickly; zero charge for warranty labor within one year. One of the heaters needed a small internal switch replacement at about the 2.5 year point...all I paid was the 500 baht labor fee on the in-home repair (took about 15 minutes to repair); have had no problem with the other one.

Heater/Wattage size of any heater you can install will depend on the electrical circuit feeding the bathroom....the uncle needs to determine that first....he don't want to go out and buy a 6000W or higher heater if his circuits can only handle a heater in the 3000 watt ballpark....he'll just end up with a circuit breakers that pop all the time/immediately. During the few cold snaps in Bangkok a heater in the 3000 watt ball park (requires a 15 amp dedicated circuit) may not warm the water enough; a lot will depend on how warm the water gets in the storage tank depending on how much direct sunlight the tank gets during cloudy/cold snap days. A 6000W heater heater will raise the incoming water temperature by around 35F-40F (e.g., incoming water 80F; water output 115F-120F...water hitting the body at 120F feels hot!).

Also a consideration is how the cold water and hot water taps/lines are installed in the shower. If the incoming cold water line don't tee off and feed the cold water tap/output and heater separately, with the heater output then feeding a separate the hot water line/tap and the shower line connected between the cold and hot water outputs, then the uncle will probably need to get a heater with external controls to control the water temperature versus just being able to adjust the shower head water temperature by mixing the hot and cold water taps. Instead he will need to adjust the water temperature with the spaceship controls on the heater. Ain't no standard answer for water heaters in Thailand due to wide differences in electrical and water line installations.

Edited April 17, 2011 by Pib

[CDNinKS]

On sort of the same topic.....I am going to be installing a multi-point system in our new house build. The master bath consists of 2 sinks, a bath and a shower. Also backing onto this bathroom is a half bath (toilet and sink only) My plan is to supply all the sinks and bath and shower with one multi-point heater. Question.....if I'm in the shower with a nice regulated temperature and someone opens a tap at one of the sinks will I get a shock in temp change? I suspect the answer to be "yes". So, I'm thing that possibly 2 ways to avoid this is 1) install a dedicated multi-point just for the shower or 2) try and find and a pressure regulated shower faucet (I had one in Canada and it worked great)

[JAS21]

"Ain't no standard answer for water heaters in Thailand due to wide differences in electrical and water line installations."

Yes, be careful, some heaters operate on a pressure switch and some on a flow switch. Flow switch types are usually suitable for multi outlets whereas pressure switch types are usually fitted to showers as the opening of the supply valve to the shower heater initiates the heater. If the heater is before the shower valve then you need a flow switch type....................