seems sturdy, takes some time, but it makes perfectly clean water. The cooling element is all metal, including the cooling fan, makes a bit of white noise, but I run a fair amount of fans, so I don't mind it.The heating element lower is similar to one of those large coffee dispensers you might see in an office or cafeteria, so I'm betting the folks who had units burn out let them run all the way to dry. I'm making a point to only do up to 3L of distill at a time before I empty or refill, that way it doesn't risk overheating itself.