Hot water heater/Sosua

Danny W

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Mar 1, 2003
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I am buying an electric hot water heater (about 20 gal.) this week. Any recommendations where to buy in the POP area? I won't have time to go to Santiago.

I would appreciate any recommendations on the best (insulation, efficiency) brands as well.

I know all about the tankless heaters and am considering putting them in my new house. This is just for now in my apartment. Thanks - D
 

Rocky

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Apr 4, 2002
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Hopefully someone else will have a good suggestion as to where to buy, but I would like to suggest to NOT buy a Dominican brand and stick to American.
The differences are incredible, both in performance and durability.
Brand new Dominican tanks/rustbuckets, can barely last 2 years, 3 if you are lucky.
Someone gave me a used American tank, 7 years ago, and it's still going strong.
 

Danny W

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Rocky said:
Hopefully someone else will have a good suggestion as to where to buy, but I would like to suggest to NOT buy a Dominican brand and stick to American.
The differences are incredible, both in performance and durability.
Brand new Dominican tanks/rustbuckets, can barely last 2 years, 3 if you are lucky.
Someone gave me a used American tank, 7 years ago, and it's still going strong.

Absolutely, I want an American brand.
 

Rocky

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Perhaps the best thing to do would be to phone Ochoa or any other big hardware store in Santiago, to get the price of an American 20 gallon unit, then check out our local hardware stores and see if there was that much of a price difference.
I am going to guess that 20 gallon units are quite rare, and may not be available in Sosua or Puerto plata, but it's worth a try.
 

SKY

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I use one of those. It is a Eemax Flow Controlled heater made in the U.S. It works as well if not better than a tank. You always get hot water. After several minutes it will be Luke warm for about 40 seconds and then kick in again.

An electrician friend of mine bought it in the Capital for 11,000 RD and installed it along with a plumber. It goes outside the house or apt. at the ground level.
 

Ted

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Oct 20, 2004
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Tankless Water Heaters

Can the Eemax unit be mounted/installed in an apartment closet, in place of the water heater ? Also - what size/voltage, etc. Thanks
 

SKY

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Ted said:
Can the Eemax unit be mounted/installed in an apartment closet, in place of the water heater ? Also - what size/voltage, etc. Thanks

The unit is about one foot by 5 inches. Not very large. 240 Volt. This is the contact info.

EEmax Inc. 353 Christian St. Osford, Ct 06478
1-800-543-6163 203-267-7890 E-Mail eemaxinc@aol.com

I really do not know much other than what I posted here from the small installation booklet that came with it.

In the booklet it says: The heater should be installed below the level of all hot water outlets serviced by this heater.
 

Danny W

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Mar 1, 2003
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I followed Rocky's advice and got an American (actual brand name) water heater, 30 gal. American also is sold at Lowes in the US under the brand name Whirlpool, and is very highly rated. I am in NY and wanted it immediately, so my girlfriend was able to buy it in Sosua and have it installed for a little under 20,000 pesos. In the US the unit would sell for 6,000 pesos less, but the delivery and installation would have been much more expensive, so I'm satisfied.

I'll probably go tankless electric in my new house. - D
 

Ted

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What causes waterheaters to fail so much - is it quality of the heater ? Are the cheaper heaters refurbished ? I have a friend in the water business here in Canada. He questions whether it is actually a water quality issue. If this is true, won't the tankless heaters corrode/destroy just as quickly as a regular heater ?
 

Rocky

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Ted said:
What causes waterheaters to fail so much - is it quality of the heater ? Are the cheaper heaters refurbished ? I have a friend in the water business here in Canada. He questions whether it is actually a water quality issue. If this is true, won't the tankless heaters corrode/destroy just as quickly as a regular heater ?
There are more minerals in the water here, than in North America, and that may contribute, but the big difference is the quality of materials & workmanship.
Dominican Water heaters are made out of old recycled Ladas.
 

azabache

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Rocky said:
There are more minerals in the water here, than in North America, and that may contribute, but the big difference is the quality of materials & workmanship.
Dominican Water heaters are made out of old recycled Ladas.


You mean those Russian made cars that were popular in the DR about 25 years ago? Ooops I think I'm showing my age.
 

Rocky

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azabache said:
You mean those Russian made cars that were popular in the DR about 25 years ago? Ooops I think I'm showing my age.
Those are the ones, formerly Fiats, sold to the Russians, who managed to make them even cheaper & junkier.
One of my scariest moments in a car, in my life, was in a Lada, going down an elevated expressway with expansion bars, at 60 MPH.
That car, and I am being generous calling it that, was swaying all over the place, occupying at least 2 lanes, and the worst of it, was that it was brand new.
Lord only knows what they are like after a few years.
Of course, we are slipping off the topic a bit, except that Dominican hot water tanks are the Ladas of the water tanks.