Well, despite my intrepidness
and Mike's fairmindedness
, it seems that you sceptics
(and cynics?
) made the correct diagnosis.
It leaked.
If that's good enough for you, stop now. If you want the cause and remedy, read on.
Whether you were lucky enough to get a non-leaking Jebo, you should still be aware of a major design flaw - seams. [in the voice of the Grinch] All the seams, seams, seams, seams. They are everywhere on this thing. Horizontal and longitudinal! Six points of connection total - 4 of them glued. The worst part of the design is the decision to mold the threaded parts using TWO sides. In other words, there is a glued joint connecting two semicircles, and the seal and strength of the threads depends on how well the two halves matched up. In my case, one of the input-output assemblies matched up well (held just fine) and the other was mismatched by about 1/2 of a thread. Consequently, this significantly weakened the joint, and (without my knowlegde) separated when I screwed in one of the input/output nozzles. And mind you, I took Marc's words very seriously when I screwed it in. It is simply unacceptable that such a light amount of pressure split that seams. The splits was tiny, and didn't leak right away. Over night (12-16 hours), it let out about 8 ounces of water.
The remedy was fairly simple, but that's just because my place of employment (where the sterilizer is being used) has a shop in the basement. Some marine sealant and a hose clamp took care of the issue, and it's up and running fine now.
Other thoughts:
The new turbotwist have a clear end on the main body, allowing the user to see that the UV light is still working. The Jebo has a red light on the AC adapter that I thought served the same purpose (light on for good bulb and off for burned out bulb). Not the case, it's on regardless. So, the only way to know that your bulb is working is to check it. Piece of cake if you own a turbotwist, right? You can unscrew the bulb endcap without even taking the unit offline. Try this with the Jebo and you will end up very wet. This is because the quartz sleeve is not permantly sealed like the TT, but rather, it's seal is the result of sandwiched o-rings. Loosen the cap, and the water will go right around them. So, to replace a bulb, you will need to set aside some time to spend monkeying around with your plumbing.
I'll update this thread in the next couple weeks re: the performance of this sterilizer.
For now, I have to give it the thumbs down. Oh, I got it working just fine, but I don't appreciate having to "fix" the equipment I buy before I even run it. A Jebo, at it's best price will run you about $50 shipped. A Turbotwist will go for about $85-$90 shipped.
If you're looking to save $35-$40 bucks on your next sterilizer, I suggest you ask youself the question of whether you are willing to pay $35-$40 to give up your peace-of-mind. Because even if you are lucky enough to get a functioning out-of-the-box sterilizer, you are still left with a product that has much more leak potential than other brands.
More to come....