Reviews on the Kuuma water heaters?

[ksceviour]

Arrgh, didn't drain the HWT well enough and now we need a new one.

Looking at the Kuuma 11 gallon, model 11840. In the lower price bracket but that doesn't necessarily mean its bad. Anyone out there with a review on this model of hot water heater?

 

[Lou_tribal]

Arrgh, didn't drain the HWT well enough and now we need a new one.

Looking at the Kuuma 11 gallon, model 11840. In the lower price bracket but that doesn't necessarily mean its bad. Anyone out there with a review on this model of hot water heater?

This is exactly the model I bought last year and that will go in next weekend.
Cannot say for usage as not used yet but about construction well I do not see any difference from the seaward I had before. External envelope is SS, tank is aluminium. For the price it looks fine. Made by Camco.
Only thing, I have not been able to remove the drain valve to replace it with an anode. Drain valve is plastic one and looks like it is sealed with a kind of sealant. As I did not want to break it I did not try the crow bar but was just not able to unscrew it using a regular wrench.

L

 

[Andy G]

I have installed two of these heaters. One after the other. The first lasted about two years and developed pin holes in the tank itself. The company I bought it from said it only came with a one year warranty!

I bought a second unit, after talking to the importer & finding out they offered a two year warranty. That was about four years ago now and the unit is working well.

What I did do, which helped, was to replace the water hose from the engine to the heater as the old hose was so calcified up that there was very little engine heated water making it through to the heater. Typically after running the engine for about 40 minutes the water would only be warm at best. Now it is quite hot.

 

[Xsbank]

I installed one last year and it works fine. I used Sharkbite connectors so I can easily remove it if it bakes. I figure I can buy 4 of these for the cost of a Torrid.

 

[Delfin]

High cost doesn't necessarily long life when it comes to water heaters. My very expensive Sur-Cal developed leaks after minimal usage over 4 years. Copper tank, and the leaks were in the seams. A good balance between cost and quality, IMO, is Isotherm Spa, which has a stainless tank and poly cover.

 

[ksceviour]

Thanks for the feedback. I picked one up today. I'll be running new heater hose to the engine replacing the original copper lines and I like the sharkbite fittings idea.

 

[FlyWright]

I installed one 10 years ago and at that time, it was a Force brand. (same as Kuuma). Mine also has the engine coolant heat exchanger feature. It's performed flawlessly for me.

 

[ksceviour]

Excellent, I picked up one with an exchanger as well.

 

[Pau Hana]

Interesting topic, as we just replaced a 1995 Torrid 30 gallon unit last weekend. The painted steel shell was rusting badly, and the heat exchanger was corroded- but it was still working perfectly.

Torrid bought the replacement to our boat, and took the old one away for autopsy.

For my money, I'll bet on this Torrid lasting another 23+ years....