Ben & Darren,
I will as always give you my honest opinion, which I am sure others will totally disagree with me.
Firstly Ben, yes they are still in business and if you decide to get one from them let me know, and I will tell you who to deal with as like some on here will say all they want is your money then cannot be bothered with after sales if things go wrong, let me know and I will help you.
I looked in to buying one years ago, and I think I bought my first one from Brodex about 3 years ago, and have had no problems with it at all.
When it is turned on full it is seriously boiling which is superb on certain types of work, and then you can lower it for others, and when the weather is cold.
I think it was £3k, but to be honest it is a brilliant piece of kit that we use on a regular basis.
I started with no money at all when I set up my business over 20 years ago, and I am the old fashioned type of window cleaner, but have moved with the times so to speak.
Depending on what you actually want from a hot water system, I cannot speak highly enough of the ones we have, and I welcome you to come and see how it works and our set ups if either of you require.
I am not much good over a computer but am willing to speak on phone or meet in person to help either of you move forward with any advice or help I can.
I'm not sure what units Archer has, but the current systems that Brodex sell are the Hurricane units made in Canada. Omnipole also use these heaters.
http://itrheat.com/products/hurricane-heating-systems/Hurricane have been around for a few years now so I would imagine that Brodex has been supplying them for sometime. They look a good heater and I haven't found any negative reports of them on the yacht/long boat forums. They do run fine on red diesel which is probably why they are quite popular.
Archer - please may I ask.
How does Brodex incoporate their system into their product? As a cold water system the pump simply draws pure water from the tank, pumps is through a resin di vessel as a final polish and then out to your hose reel via a van port. So I presume that the heater would be fitted between the outlet of the di vessel and the van ports.
If so then does the heater have multiple couplings so you can heat water for a second operator and how does the unit deal with the excess heat it produces?
Does the heater switch on and switch off all the time if you stop working for short periods - talking to customers etc?
Also, does the exhaust come out of the top of the unit or do they supply the ones that have the exhaust underneath?
Can you see a model number anywhere on the unit? Brodex will remove the manufacturers name plate and replace it with their own, but should leave a model number somewhere.