The Shower Water Heater

As Americans, we take hot water for granted. Hot water is heated in a hidden location and comes out of every faucet in the house. No one gives a second thought about a hot shower in the US. In Costa Rica it is a very different story. Hot water is a luxury, especially out in the country. It is not installed in most homes more than a few years old and if there is hot water, it is only in the shower. Who needs hot water in the kitchen or bathroom sinks? Hotel ads will list hot water as a major selling point.

The source of hot water is also very different. The use of a huge hot water tank where water is constantly heated and sits in a tank is almost non-existent in homes here. If there is a tank it is very small. Instead the water is heated at the point of use, sort of like the Insta-hot faucets in the US, and I use the phrase “sort of” loosely. A very common source of hot water comes from water heaters that are built directly into the shower head. The frightening part is that these shower heads are electrically wired there as well. This wiring is usually visible.

For those of us that have always been warned of the dangers of mixing electricity and water, this can be quite intimidating. Stepping into a shower with exposed wires overhead that are connected to the shower head takes a great deal of courage the first time.

To make matters worse, once you turn the water on and discover that the water isn’t getting hot, you notice the sliding switch on the showerhead. There are just symbols that are not apparent which direction is for “ON” or “HOT”. If you are really brave, you will attempt to slide this switch. Don’t do it! I think this is just a dirty trick to see if you are dumb enough to touch it. I have been shocked more than once. So you suffer through it and take a cold shower.

I cannot tell you how many times that I have taken this cold shower thinking that these showerhead water heaters are just pieces of crap and don’t work.. Then a contractor friend of mine told me the secret. The secret is that you just barely turn the water on. Like most Americans, I assumed that the farther you turned the water knob, the hotter it would get. This is the standard for American homes and hotels. Not so for these instant heater showerheads. The lower the water is turned on, the hotter the water will get. Makes no sense to me but now that I know the secret, these showerheads do work quite well.

I do still have some reservations about all the wires overhead but have learned to deal with it. However, every once it a while I still see a set up that frightens me., like the shower in Carlos’ grandmothers house.. Not only are the shower head wires exposed, to get the heating unit to work, you have to turn on the “circuit breaker”. This device is not in another part of the house in a nice little metal box but on the wall right there in the shower! And, its wires are exposed as well. You can even see the metal connections. It looks like one of those switches that they used in the movie Frankenstein. You know, the one with the big lever you have to flip 180 degrees - the one that brought life to the monster. It is one of those things you just have to see to believe. So, I have attached a photo of this contraption. So don’t be afraid to step into this web of wires and take a nice hot shower after all, what is the worst that can happen?

I am back! I can’t believe that it has been over a year since my last entry. That entry was made after I moved to the farm and started construction. Carlos bought me a lap top computer and I was going to use it to begin my blog. I started and then stopped. It was just too difficult to do this when I didn’t have internet service at the farm – or phone service. The first 7 months I lived here there was no phone at the farm or private lines in the entire area.

Chimirol and the Chirripo Valley got phones in December 2006. Before this if I wanted to make a call I had to drive to a pay phone. There was one at Soda Cindy in Chimirol only 5 minutes away. However, if it was raining or there was a breeze or it was sunny or it was summer, it seemed the phone didn’t work. It never worked at night or on weekends. I used to joke that they shut t off on nights and weekends to save electricity.

So I would drive towards San Isidro stopping at every pay phone looking for one that worked. There is a phone in every little town along the way. They are all outdoors at the local markets and right along the main road. They are placed to make the use the most difficult. They are always under tin roofs. So if it were raining it was almost impossible to hear, not to mention all the road traffic - derlivery trucks and mototcycles. To say the least, the public phone service was an adventure – a challenging, sporadic adventure.

But now I live the communiction life of luxury. I have a phone in the house, DirecTV and high speed internet service. The result is that I am now in touch with the world again and I am starting my blog again. I am not sure if this world contact is as great as it seems. I really got used to not having a phone ring. I definitely do not miss having a cell phone. I never would have thought that I would be living in a place with no phone, no cable and no internet for 7 months. It is amazing how much you can accomplish when you are not a slave to these conveniences.

Anyway, I hope to have frequent installments to my blog. Our 2+ years here have been quite an adventure and I hope to share some of these adventures with you.

Stay tuned and let’s see how this goes.