ZojirushiCW-PZC30FC Micom Super Boiler (3.0 Liters, White Ballerina)

Great Japanese Hot water dispenser and a below suggested retail price and my 87 yr old Japanese friend loves this product as her last water dispenser also of the same manufacture from japan lasted quite a few years before loosing its pumping ability.

This product is great! The temperature for black tea is great right away. Just cool it in a cup for 5 minutes and then it's the perfect temperature for green tea! This is great for noodles too! If you want to boil water in a hurry for cooking, just place in your saucepan and put on the cook top and it will be boiling in about a minute!

Bought this via Amazon May 2007, now it's January 2015 and it's finally time to replace it. The only reason to replace it is because the mechanical pump has become very inefficient. One pump used to fill a teacup, and 1.5-2 pumps filled a coffee mug. Now, after a little more than 7 years, it takes 30 pumps to fill a mug. Theoretically, I could replace the rubber gasket, but it has become difficult to find and not quite worth the expense when you do find it. Also, specific to the unit I have, I can tell that the mechanical pump mechanism itself is failing, so even if I do replace the gasket I will not get the 1-2 pump performance I had before. Nonetheless, it was a great deal and if I couldn't afford the more modern electronic pump mechanisms, I would have definitely bought this again.Upkeep was simple. It was used all day every day from the date of arrival until a few weeks ago, when the pump failure became unbearable. Descalination was done irregularly, once a month at best. At first, my housemates mocked me for the purchase, but all were converted within a few short months. It became an integral part of the kitchen, both for dispensing water for beverages as well as for cooking. Taking it apart now, other than the visibly ragged rubber gasket and the dents in the pumping mechanism from 7+ years of moves and rough handling, the unit is in excellent condition. In fact, it's still usable, though a bit of a workout to get the water pumped out. That's why I'm going to donate it - perhaps somebody can fix it or even use it as is. The exterior is pristine, not even any scuffs from all the jostling it has experienced. The color is a tasteful off-white with hints of tan and rose, so it blends in well with most kitchen decors. The flower print is neither too jarring or invisible. The handle is rock solid - you could probably use the unit as a flail and never have to worry about the handle breaking while your enemies cower and tremble at your feet. It is also very energy efficient, as the electricity used to keep water at a specific temperature over an entire day ends up equaling the energy used to heat 12 coffee mugs worth of water from cold to hot (so if you're not going to consume 12 mugs per day as a family, consider a smaller size.)Overall - highly recommended. Just be aware that the mechanical pump mechanism will fail, and it may or may not be fixed by gasket replacement. Also be aware that, at least currently, gaskets are hard to come by. That will probably change in the next 7 years, so you probably won't have to worry about it if you buy it today.

In short I found this airpot to provide nice hot water and be energy efficient too though I have only been testing it out for several days. As I say below, at 14.7 cents per kilowatt it uses $48.93/year. Now to be more verbose...After completing the boil and having the water maintained at 208, I decided to check it out with a thermometer. I poured a cup and stuck the probe in, but my digital food thermometer only showed about 170F so I tried another one with similar results. Finally, I just made my self some coffee and it was nice and hot even after adding milk so so much for my thermometers. The only things I have to compare this to are my old airpot (5.5 quarts = 5.2 liters) and my 1500W electric kettle. Compared to my old airpot this one is amazing as my old one had the water barely hot. Compared to my kettle it obviously is not as hot since the kettle gives you freshly boiled water, though you can still add a bit of milk to the water from this airpot and enjoy a satisfying cup (for some reason I imagined 208F to be hotter with respect to how much milk you could add and still be left with a hot cup, but it still gives a satisfying hot cup).After the initial boil, I remembered that I had a "P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor" (you can check it out on Amazon) which allows me to measure its electricity usage and on my unit I have entered the price of electricity as 14.7 cents per kilowatt. The longer it is connected the more accurate the reading is. Unfortunately I did not connect it before I began the boil but I hope to do so with my next main usage of the airpot - this Friday (UPDATE: boiling 3 liters of water cost 3 cents). In any case, I have had it connected for 5 days now and the pot has gone down from full to 1 liter of water left and the reading says it uses $48.93/year or $0.13/day (of course this is assuming you don't add any more water to reheat when it gets low, though at 3 cents a boil it shouldn't add much to the cost) . This is quite amazing. As a comparison, my last 5.5 quart "airpot" that kept water barely hot used $144/year. My 1500W kettle costs me a penny to boil about 3 cups. My second usage had the yearly cost at $54/year but I attribute this to not using as much water in it as I did in the first time I had used it and I figure that the more in it the more energy is needed to keep the water warm.I would definitely recommend this airpot. I was looking specifically one that did not use electronics to pump out the water and this one fit the bill.Tevila info: For those who understand what I am talking about - I dunked it on a Wednesday morning only until all surface areas of the airpot were covered before taking it out (i.e. did not wait for bubbles to stop). I left it out and open until Friday when I first used it and it worked fine.

I had been looking at the models that are 2x the price of this one and to stay in my budget I went with this model. I think it might be one of their older models. But it is Zojirushi, so you know you are getting the best money can buy regardless of the model. This is a game changer for those of us who enjoy tea, matcha, ramen, pour-over coffee, etc. throughout the day. So convenient! It takes about 20 minutes for the water to boil and then it stays piping hot all day. The 3.0 L size was a little larger than I expected, it takes almost as much counter space (width) as a standard model Keurig while being a few inches taller. But the larger size means less need to refill and boil.

Do not order this item online, did a purchase for this item at Saks and it arrived damaged (dented). Then ordered this from Amazon and it still arrived damaged (broken lid). Have this exact model that was bought in store and it was fine so it seems apparent that shipping is the issue.

works well, heats quickly, stays hot continuously, plenty of water all day great size 3 liters.

Takes time to boil but it stays nice and hot and is so easy to use all you do is full it ups nd keep it plugged in