ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Interesting puzzle

I saw this on one of my auction sites and it rang alarm bells in my mind. They call this a 3000w instant water heater but they sell it with a NEMA 5-15 plug. I did some research on these on other sites and they appear to actually be a 240v heater (12.5a) that they put a 120v plug on. That makes it a 750w heater.
OTOH if the actually did make a 3kw heater at 120v it would be 25a. They say 32a but they spec 2.5mm wire (somewhere between #14 and #12).
This whole thing doesn't add up if you read the description but since the reviews don't talk about tripping breakers I am guessing the real answer is it is a 750w heater @ 120v.
Of course it isn't listed
I am not willing to spend the money to find out. 750 watts wouldn't heat much more than a trickle of water (42 BTU/minute)

https://www.temu.com/tankless-elect...page_sn=14021&_x_sessn_id=4o3fifk7n0

That heater looks just like one I used overseas. Such units are typically mounted over sinks and provide just enough warm water for hand washing. It’s possible that the unit has some approvals, just not from an agency you’ve ever seen here.

They said there were no "certifications" in one write up I saw. If you saw this overseas it was probably running on 240v too so it would be 3kw or so. That could bring up a gallon a minute to a usable temperature if the "cold" water was already 65 or so.

That would be consistent with what I saw.
The ad copy is so poorly written I have zero confidence in anything posted. As for certifications, I’m not ready to take any representations at face value. Apart from simple translation issues and legal disclaimers there are a multitude of different meanings the term may have. There is also the practice of many manufacturers to offer products off the same production line in both labeled and unlabeled forms. You pay your money and take your chances.

My favorite tale on this topic came from a guy who grew up during WW2. His mother worked at the local plant, making tents fo government contract. By contract the plant was allowed to only make things for government contract — no civil production allowed. Folks at the plant took a liking to the kid, so they made a tent just for him. They made a tent “for the contract” from brightly colored cloth. With a knowing wink, the government inspector then rejected the “army” tent for being out of spec for color.. The company then disposed of this “defective” tent at the kid’s birthday party. 😁

Things like this from China are not going to be submitted to a NRTL and, as you say you take your chances. There are plenty of devices like receptacles, lamp holders, cube taps and such that come without listing and are available in various places on the internet, in dollar stores and even WalMart. They may have something that looks like a UL listing mark but UL says they are bogus.