People,
As the inventor , please allow me to clarify a few things.
I understand the skepticism when approaching an entirely new technology, especially one that is clearly disruptive and replaces what has commonly been used for decades. Your point is that our claim of using graphite heating elements, cannot be true. We do not use graphite heating elements. We do not use heating elements at all. We do not employ any aspect of heat transfer. Our technology (and our patent) is based on Direct Energy Resistance. This technology heats the water by passing a current though one or more pairs of graphite electrodes (which are not heating elements, but electrical conductors, which is why they do not get hotter than the water) , which excite the water molecules causing friction between the molecules, which results in the water heating itself. Same concept as a microwave, except we use a different method to excite the water molecules. Same method as NUCOR and other steel mills use to melt steel; pass enough current through the material (in this case water) and it gets hotter. So the is no latent heat - zero. Its like comparing a water proof toaster to a microwave. 2nd law of thermo does not apply here.
Since the electrodes don't get hot like heating elements, they do not get mineral deposition, or "scale" on them.
Rheem constantly makes misleading headline statements about they capacity. For example, they claim 4 GPM at 13kW. When you read the fine print, that results in a 20 degree temp rise, which unless you have incoming water at 90 degrees, is not going to give you a warm shower. The equation for all tankless is kW X 6.83 = temp rise (F) X GPM. You can see that their, and other units, follow this formulas as do we. You cannot beat physics.
I suspect some of you are thinking that this is a dangerous device; 1) Current only passes through one or more pairs of electrodes, creating a circuit, with no stray currents. However, we have added two grounding plates in the water chambers as a safeguard and we have passed UL 499 standard in our lab, which assures safety. Any and all units we ship will pass the $(( standard as certified by an outside lab, such as UL or TUV.
If you want to see the US patent, it is number 7,817,906
There are many reasons why people post projects on Kickstarter. Maybe some are desperate, we are not.
Thanks
Jerry Callahan