The Hindu : Buying a geyser, check these tests

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 17, 2002

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Buying a geyser, check these tests

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI NOV. 16. There is no clear winner in this one. According to a survey conducted on geysers by the Voluntary Organisation of Consumer Education (VOICE), it seems that consumers have to compromise on their hot water as there is no "best'' geyser.

Testing 10 leading brands of the 25-litre capacity water heaters on a number of parameters from safety to the amount of energy consumed, the tests revealed that there is no brand that satisfactorily meets all these parameters. The brands that were tested were Remson, Bajaj, Thermoking, Johnson, Usha, Venus, Racold, Spherehot, Crompton and Hotflo.

While Bajaj might not be the best but it is ahead of the other brands and is a "good buy''. VOICE found that it has the lowest heating time but it does use a lot of electricity compared to Remson and leads to an increase in electricity bills and it would only get a "three-star'' rating according to its present energy performance. Bajaj also does offers a longer guarantee period that some of the other brands and it has relatively good energy efficiency.

The study reveals that Remson though it is a well known brand and does well in terms of energy efficiency but it fell short in safety requirements as it failed the `water pressure test' and its tank leaked while it was being tested. `Crompton' fared similarly in the test.

This can have serious consequences as hot water can leak from the geysers and result in burns. It could also lead to short-circuiting of wires and damage the heater insulation.

Venus comes second and is also a "good buy'', but the study reveals that it is not efficient in energy conservation. Usha comes in third and is also a "good buy''.

The study reveals that though all the brands bear the ISI mark, it does not seem to ensure compliance with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) standards.

On testing, Johnson's geyser capacity, turned out to be 22 litres instead of the said 25 litres. All brands declared their `input' value (power in watts) as 2000 W but actual results of some brands vary from 1900 W to 2100 W, this would take a higher re-heating time of water and more power being consumed.

Even though it seems that there is no "hot'' choice for geysers, the upcoming mandatory energy labelling standards will allow consumers to the brand's energy performance at a glance, according to VOICE.

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