Chile Forum

Re electric flash shower heaters,sorry to be a bit negative but that US unit you mention would be rated at 9-12 Kilowatt, and I would think it's meant to be run on US 3-phase current. Single phase consumption would be 50Amps, which is unheard of for a domestic installation here.
I've seen smaller wattage ones, around 4KW, but they don't work well when the inlet water temperature is low in the wintertime.
Also as they are virtually unknown here, there are no normas covering their installation or use.

Bugger! I had hoped that I had found a way to not hack up the apartment with vents and pipes. I have no desire to start showering with a candle though. the current situation can't stand though as the gf turns off the water heater to save energy forcing a early alarm in the morning a hour before the planned shower to start up the tank. not fun! not fun!

MikieO wrote:Yes, Bosch have been selling them here for years, the hard water plays havoc with the little "micro turbine" hence the importance of having a water treatment system in line upstream of the califont.

Thanks for the tip, a water filter is now on our shopping list.

Nate, can't you just put the water heater on a timer and sleep in a little bit?

I will have to check to see if there is a timer available that can take the current. It would be nice but I don't think the timers for lamps will not be sturdy enough to take the load for the water heater. Honestly the tank is 80 liters and both of us don't use that much showering in the morning so an hour of heating before I got up to shower would do for the entire day. After living with gas califonts for several years hot water tanks seem somewhat idiotic.

something to consider when placing it is direct wind direction..if the pilot keeps blowing out or, the flames are fighting to heat the the membranes your gas bill will be high...best to mount it on the wall nearest your most commonly used hot water tap in the house...usually the kitchen to shorten the distance the hot water will have to travel and depending on the amount of bathrooms and people showering and using hot water could be an idea to install 2

oregon woodsmoke wrote:Nate, can't you just put the water heater on a timer and sleep in a little bit?

Done! they have timers here that you can wire into your fuse box, I got a 16 amp one as that is the same rating as the fuse breaker and I get to sleep in again! cost about 16K at homecenter. Thanks Oregon!

El pescado wrote:

admin wrote:It has to be outside by law now anywhere in the country. That can be a sort of enclosed but well ventilated shed attached to the house or on a patio of sorts. Don't forget to insulate those pipes. No point in heating more water than you need to.

Highly recommend again buying one with an electric ignition. You will save a bundle in gas pilot light running all the time.

Or you can do it the way I do...go start the pilot when you want hot water and hope you remember to shut it off before you leave to work. Like I dont have anything better to do! Freakin peice-o-crap...it dont even work right, the water is either LAVA HOT or ice cold.

I recently installed a Noritz 751 Tankless here in California. It is an indoor mount, but I am told that the newer models are very tightly built to vent to the outside. This one has electronic ignition and runs on propane. Here's a pic of the install: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/pho ... 4560tQEGJo

This house is a 4BR 3BA still under renovation. As owner-contractor, it is a slower project than I would like, but what we lack in speediness we make up for in meticulous overkill

This baby uses the 120V circuit to power the controller you see to the right of the unit, as well as the igniter. It can easily power two hot showers at the other end of the house. It has a small filter before the intake point, but I am looking into an in-line treatment unit too, since the water in southern Lake County is a bid hard with lots of calcification.

Pat

OK, so you are just putting a timer on the original HW heater, that should be problem solved, through trial and error you'll see how long it takes to heat up to shower temp.
Pat, nice install. I think you intimated that this is your home, so are you getting inspections on the work? I say this not as some sort of jerk but to caution you about the air requirements for the bigger Takagi, Noritz, Rinnai heaters.
We did a custom home in '04 where we had a couple of Rinnais, one fully enclosed in cabinetry but with make up air coming through ducts in the mounting wall (high and low combustion air) That unit was (I think) 200,000 BTU. We had SUCH a time trying to get this install past the inspector (who was being an a$$hole). We even made up new cabinet doors to replace the original ones with louvers in the fronts, waaay more that the square inches required in the unit specs. He went after the air volume in the room next, (it was a small laundry) saying that we couldn't draw combustion air from the room, giving us no credit for the ample air being drawn through the mounting wall.
In the end, I took it out, installed a shelf and plugged a 10 gal electric one into the control outlet to get him out of our hair, reinstalled the Rinnai after final.
I see you have a window close by the unit which is great but if you have less than a magic # of square feet in the room, watch out!
In Chile, I've installed the califont in exactly the same way as I've described above, I have 3" round foundation vents to install in the exterior wall for make up combustion air ($3 at Home Depot). These will probably help with the Bosca fresh air during the winter too.

MikieO,

Thanks. No inspector. The top right of the web page has the "previous - next" feature to scroll forward or backward thru the entire album of the place, and the following shot with wall paint and the new sink is taken from about halfway between the window and the back of the room, which is a laundry/pantry room. I think it's probably big enough. I will be on the lookout for fainting wives though.

This unit is rated at a 45ºF temperature boost at 7.5gpm. The distributer told me I could override the default output setting of 125ºF and set it as high as 185ºF.

I don't think I will be doing that.

Pat

otravers wrote:We just bought a 14-liter califont from Junkers (Ach Ja Deutsche Qualität!) that ignites thanks to the water pressure (they call that "hydropower"), you don't even need batteries to run it. It was actually cheaper than the battery-powered version of the same heater. The guy at Sodimac explained that they had bought 1,000 units, thus bringing down the price, which I have a good feeling is something he made up on the fly

Anyway, much better than our older pilot-based heater. Faster, warmer water, according to our early tests. We did the shower+washing dishes+washing hands test and water stayed warm, though water pressure dropped at the 3rd or 4th faucet we opened.

Interestingly, one of my contractors based in Montana recently asked me about that type of water heater design - apparently they're starting to get some traction in the US.

Junkers calefons sold in Chile these days are hardly Deutsche Qualität since I believe they are made in China and the quality has fallen off in recent years, along with complaints of lower reliability. If you got one of the German-made ones then you are lucky indeed.

The hydropower ignition as you know works by spinning a small turbine which in turn generates enough current to fire a piezoelectric sparker.

Here are the Junkers ignition system codes

* Series P – pezorozzhig (piezo starter; forced manual starter)
* Series B – ignition via battery
* Series G – HydroPower (hydrogenerator)

I have not yet searched the entire thread to know if the original poster's questions on regulations were answered. However, the latest Chilean SEC regulations/normas for calefon installations and related requirements can be found in DS.222/96, found here

http://www.sec.cl/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/ ... DS_222.pdf

patagoniax wrote:Junkers calefons sold in Chile these days are hardly Deutsche Qualität since I believe they are made in China and the quality has fallen off in recent years, along with complaints of lower reliability. If you got one of the German-made ones then you are lucky indeed.

You know what, I let my guard fall and was just assuming, I don't believe I checked when we bought it. Just looked inside the heater and saw Made in Portugal (BBT Termotecnologia, a Bosch subsidiary).