Nearly got Seers as well last time, and after I surveying around electrical stores, hearsay from a salesperson that Seers is facing trouble from SIRIM / Suruhanjaya Tenaga for marketing misrepresentation, because some Australia / New Zealand buyers got the wrong info (they thought Seers is DC-powered due to this marketing misrepresentation), so they purchased Seers storage water heater to be installed in their camper trailer or RV. And when they found out they can't use Seers in their RV, they filed multiple complaints even to SIRIM / Suruhanjaya Tenaga.


I believe in Malaysia, no electric storage water heater, regardless of brands, are DC-powered, all should be AC-powered.




This screenshot is taken from Seers' website. See how they mentioned that their storage water heater is a DC Powered Hot Water System (highlighted in yellow) but the product specification (bracketed in red) shows rated voltage is 240V and frequency is 50/60Hz.

I am no engineer so please correct me if I am wrong, but the product specification's rated voltage and frequency is basically saying the product is AC-powered, because DC should be no frequency (0Hz). I believe this is marketing misrepresentation?

Sharing my research I have done last time - there are 2 conventional storage water heaters tank technology in the market:

1. Enamel-coated tank | newer technology, more leak-resistance, and more economical - CENTON, ALPHA, MIDEA are using this.
2. Stainless steel tank | old technology, more prone to leaking at high pressure, higher material cost (stainless steel) - JOVEN and ELTON are still using this.

Hence, better to go for enamel-coated tank brands.




A quick search on Shopee, CENTON has the best-selling and the highest 5-star rated storage water heaters, eg. this Neptune Series. CENTON and ALPHA has nearly the same specs, with CENTON being slightly cheaper but ALPHA brand is more popular. MIDEA is way cheaper compared to the previous 2 Malaysian brands, maybe because MIDEA's power rating is only half of previous 2 (1.5kW for MIDEA and 3.0kW for CENTON and ALPHA), which means MIDEA takes much longer time to heat up.


Adding on to ceo684's advice, make sure the storage water heater u buy comes with and has been installed together with 2 isolation barriers (for both inlet and outlet) to prevent current leakage from water heater to u, and 1 pressure relief valve at the inlet to prevent the inner tank from overpressure which may lead to leaking tank or even worst, explosion. Most SIRIM / Suruhanjaya Tenaga approved storage water heaters should already have this prefixed together.

This post has been edited by Selene Yeo: Dec 14 2024, 10:16 PM

Yeah as explained clearly by ceo684, lower rated power doesn't mean energy saving at all, it just means its heating time taken to heat the same amount of water is slower compared to those with higher rated power.

For instant water heaters where their heating elements are usually only switched on when water is flowing, higher power ratings usually equates to hotter output water temperature if the water flow rates are the same; while for storage water heaters where heating also take place when water is not flowing, higher power ratings usually equates to faster heating time taken to reach to its maximum rated temperature for the same amount of water.




Also, SEERS' product description (highlighted in yellow above) mentioned it has a power consumption 3,000 Watts, but specification (bracketed in red) shows rated power at 660 Watts. Quite confusing

Additionally, one reason why I didn't get SEERS is that most conventional storage water heaters like CENTON, ALPHA, & JOVEN heats up to a max water temperature of 70-75°C, while SEERS is only 60°C. If SEERS outputs only 60°C, by the time the hot water travels thru the piping, lots of heat loss has already taken place, and the output water temperature when it reaches users might not be as hot, unless the SEERS storage water heater is placed very near to the user with minimal water travel required.

This post has been edited by Selene Yeo: Jul 10 2023, 06:27 PM

Not sure about this since solar water heater is way above my budget. But I would imagine solar water heater is basically a storage water heater powered by a dedicated solar panel, hence it will be like paying for a storage water heater plus an additional solar panel. Not too sure about this.