Be careful of water heater leakage - Do not exceed the service life of kitchen and bathroom appliances

I believe residents living in Daoxiangyuan, Hangzhou still vividly remember: on the morning of October 16th last year, a 7-year-old electric water heater in a household suddenly exploded, shattering the bathroom and leaving a large hole in the window... Yesterday, the reporter learned from relevant departments that in recent years, with the popularization of household electric water heaters, safety accidents such as explosions and leakage caused by poor quality, exceeding the age limit, aging of important components, improper use, etc. have occurred from time to time, becoming a major safety hazard that users are concerned about.
The service life should be controlled at around 8 years
According to Today's Morning Post, since 2002, the sales volume of electric water heaters in China has been growing by over 16% annually, and the number of electric water heaters in the country has exceeded 20 million units. According to incomplete statistics, about 80% of households in Hangzhou are using electric water heaters.
The "Investigation Report on China's Household Electricity Environment" jointly released by the Consumers' Association and the China Household Appliances Association in Beijing in November last year showed that since 1997, there have been over 1000 water heater related accidents in China annually, resulting in approximately 5900 complaints. As a high-power household appliance product, electric water heaters have particularly high safety requirements due to their working environment being a multi water environment that is prone to conductivity. The requirements for product quality and installation are also stricter than those for general household appliances. However, like all household appliances, the quality of products varies greatly, and the market is mixed with good and bad, which also makes the electric water heater market full of safety hazards.
Although the country currently does not have clear regulations on the service life of electric water heaters, generally speaking, the service life of household appliances is about 8 years. If the user manual does not specifically specify the service life of electric water heaters, it is recommended that users control the product's service life to around 8 years.
The five major components are directly related to safety
The safety of an electric water heater involves every component of the entire product. From the perspective of the product itself, there are five major components that directly affect the safety of electric water heaters.
Inner pot: The inner pot is the core component of every electric water heater product, mainly used to store water, and must have material and process requirements such as pressure bearing, insulation, non rusting, non scaling, and non leakage. Otherwise, it may cause perforation, water leakage, electric leakage due to rusting or scaling, or burst due to insufficient pressure bearing of the inner pot material.
Heating tube: Electric water heaters rely on heating tubes to heat the cold water in the inner tank. The heating tube is immersed in water for a long time and works countless times during use, so using high-quality heating tubes is an important guarantee for electric water heaters. Generally speaking, high-quality heating tubes have the advantages of efficient water electricity separation technology, high insulation effect, strong leakage prevention ability, and long service life.
Thermostat: The main function of a thermostat is to control the temperature of hot water. A good thermostat must have high sensitivity and be able to ensure low water pressure startup, automatically power off when reaching the set temperature, and actively operate when below the set temperature. In addition, it should also have characteristics such as voltage resistance, high temperature resistance, high temperature regulation accuracy, and leakage protection.
Pressure relief valve: The main function of a pressure relief valve is to safely release pressure when overpressure occurs during the heating process of an electric water heater. Generally, manufacturers use 0.7Mpa pressure relief valves.
Leakage protection device: This includes anti leakage plugs, computer safety detection facilities, etc., which are important guarantees for reducing the occurrence of safety accidents.
Some consumers have cognitive misconceptions
Some consumers may think twice about quality and brand when making their first purchase, thinking that this can solve the problem once and for all. However, this is a major misconception when it comes to the safe use of electric water heaters.
Generally speaking, it is easy for electric water heater products to have no problems for three to two years in terms of safety, but it is difficult to say that there will be no problems throughout their entire lifespan. As the components age, scale increases, and the corroded area expands, the risk of electrical leakage increases.