Stiebel Eltron

[ians]

IT is bad when you contact a company, they don't answer landline, but leave a message with a cellphone number, but when you contact the cellphone number the wife or somebody answers the call and tells you to phone the landline. You phone the landline and it just goes to voice mail.


I have a breakdown on a Zip hydroboil and need spares.

[ians]

Then just to make matters even worse they don't carry spares for the Zip Hydroboil, but they sell the units

[ians]

Ok so they give me a number to call of a company who might keep spares, but they don't answer their phone either.

So anyone know where I can get spares in Durban for a Zip hydroboil?

[ians]

I thought tecsa would be able to assist, they sell the element but nothing else, but suggest Franke and so the press 1, press 3 press 9 to go back to the operators started, then the wrong person, then back to the board again, then to the director, he is not available. Now I remember why I don't repair geysers and boilers.

You probably wonder why i am getting so pissed off over such a silly thing, new huge customer, just landed a nice commercial contract, and this is how it goes, I look like the twit who cant even fix a silly little thing like a Zip hydroboil, because I cant get spares, maybe I should import Zip Hydroboils directly and keep 1 for spares.

[wynn]

If the contract is that big just replace the whole bloody thing and move on.

[ians]

I have fixed it already, no thanks to any of the companies mentioned in this thread.

There are lots of them, it is a maintenance project over a period of time.

I decided to try kwikot, they have a similar product called the kwikboil which is a little cheaper, but more important, they have backup service for their product and there are branches all over the country.

They have spares available off the shelf for all their units.

It might be an idea to advise the company to replace the units as the Zip hydroboil product fails and just use them for spares as others fail

Any complaints about the kwikot units?

I ran tests on a kwikot kwikboil to see if it would pay us to install timers to reduce electricity on site where there are multiple kwikboils installed, the saving didn't even cover the cost of the timer installation.

By the way not one of the companies have returned my call yet, shocking.

http://www.kwikot.co.za/Products/Kwikboil/Kwikboil%20White%20Appliance.php

[AndyD]

I decided to try kwikot, they have a similar product called the kwikboil which is a little cheaper, but more important, they have backup service for their product and there are branches all over the country.

The Hydroboil is superior in my humble opinion.

Try the Cape Town agents who were Clipper Coffee in Salt River. They carry stock spares and they'll probably be able to point you in the right direction for spares in KZN.

As with most equipment we just make our own elements as and when we need them to the original specs. Taps you can replace with a s'steel ball valve (teflon seat) and a 1/4" threaded nickle plated brass elbow although there's brass taps similar to the originals available if you shop around. Thermostats are available as a standard in the Robertshaw range, there's also cheaper generic copies kicking around. The fill valves we just descale and replace the silicone jumper seat. I haven't needed to buy anything from the agents for a few years.

[ians]

Andy, I am curios to know what makes you think it's superior unit?

[AndyD]

No evidence, just personal opinion having worked on both units. I like the Hydroboil build quality and component spec. I don't have anything specific against the Kwikot unit and I also don't know how it's priced compared to the Hydroboil so I'm not speaking with any authority. I'd also be interested to hear your opinion if you do install a Kwikot unit.

[ians]

Another option is to replace one unit and keep it for spares.

[AndyD]

I hate scrapping items, we make much better margins with repairs than with selling replacements.