Grumman Driver
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2023
Electric water heater elements are one of those things that don't really get noticed. First of all, they are part of the water heater and that is likely to be in some out of the way location that you can't get to very easily. Second of all, probably 95% of the unit is hidden inside the water heater so you never see it until it quits working and you decide to replace it. That's just the nature of this type of product. Water heater elements tend to last so long that most people forget where they purchased them from anyway by the time they ever do in fact fail. Mechanically, they are really not that different than the travel immersion heaters that you plug into a 110V output and use to warm up a cup of water -- basically just a "Super Size" version of it. :)Best I can tell, the thread on the unit that screws into the water heater is a 1" NPT, but it's a pretty short length of thread, so I can't really tell if there is a taper on it. It could be a straight thread, but it does seem to have the same TPI (threads per inch) as the 1" NPT.So, how can a review such an item? By the time it does fail, the odds are Amazon will either not allow me to revisit the review and update it or the seller will not be around (or will be operating under a different name). If you see this review still up and there is no "Updated:" date at the bottom, then that probably means that the unit is still working for me. At some point, I might create a test rig so that I can verify the wattage claims on items like this.As far as a rating goes, I'll give it a 3-star (i.e. "average") rating -- nothing special about it catches my eye to entice me to raise it to 4-stars (i.e. "above average"), but nothing wrong with it either.STAR RATING SCALE:1 -- Poor product; Waste of money at ANY price; Blatant lies in the original listing.2 -- Below average product; Something about it is a bit lacking; It could be conflicted specifications or errors in the original listing or that it was arrived with damage that was unlikely to have occurred during shipping and should have been caught in either the manufacturer's or seller's quality control.3 -- Average product; Meets expectations, perfectly serviceable, but does not do anything that sets it apart from similar products; Does not have some features that makes me say, "Wow, that's a neat feature".4 -- Above average product; Something about it sets it a bit above similar products on the market.5 -- Excellent product (or perhaps customer service); There is NO room for improvement whatsoever; NOTHING is perfect, so this rating *should* be EXTREMELY difficult to achieve.
Edward S.
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2023
I need to replace my water heater elements- The existing elements were BOTH 3800 watt, which was well below the maximum rated capacity. I ordered these two elements, a 3500 and a 4500 watt capacity, in order to raise the total wattage available. The maximum capacities for my water heater are 3800 watt recommended for the upper element and the maximum rating on the lower is 5500 watt.These elements are well within that range and are of a standard configuration in order to retrofit for most water heaters. They are a heavy designed element that appears to be of a high quality material and craftsmanship.