Replacing Groco head with Raritan PHII or PH LBA

[pablosgirl]

Well the Groco has finaly outlived it's usefulnes, two master rebuild kits in 5 years and it now needs another.  So I think it is time to replace it.  I have been price shopping for the Raritan PHII and the PH LBA and I found the PH LBA at sailboatowners.com for $314 and the PHII at boatersisland for $316.  Sounds like a nobrainer to me, but was supprised that the bowl is only worth $2?  The last time I looked for the LBA I found it to be in the ~$260 range.  Has anyone seen the LBA for cheaper?

[Stu Jackson]

1.  I have found Google searches VERY helpful for comparison shopping.  That's how I found a $386 water heater for $246.  Unless someone bought exactly what you are looking for last week, I doubt pricing will be the same.

2.  I bought the PHII 'cuz I found a great sale at WM.  The LBA doesn't have a skirt to hide the bottom plastic, don't know if it matters to you.  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3797.0.html

[Roc]

I forgot where I heard this, but searches on Google don't come up with the best prices.  Actually, they are the most expensive.  Sites that come up on Google have different pricing than the same site that would come up on Bing, or another browser.  Try to use different search engines.

[Stu Jackson]

Roc, that could well be true.  What I did in my search was to find the distributors who HAD the water heaters, then I went to the individual websites and found the best prices, didn't use the Google search for the pricing itself, only the sources.  I have since converted my search engine to DuckDuckGo.

[pablosgirl]

So is there any difference in the two models?  I know they use the same pump and on the LBA you use your old bowl.  That just leaves the base and the skirt.  I know that Peggy highly recommends the PHII.  So is the base on the PHII better than the LBA?

[Stu Jackson]

From the link I provided earlier:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3797.msg45649.html#msg45649