Suicide Shower
That sounds scary! These water heaters are actually very common in this part of the world, and if you can get past the idea of electric wires in (actually above) the shower they work quite well.
Hot water isn’t standard in Panama. There are many people who never had a warm shower in their lives. I’ve seen neighbors bathing the children outside with the garden hose. Of course this is the tropics and cold water isn’t especially cold. To me it feels like a swim on a hot day, maybe a second to get used to it and then it’s refreshing and really nice.
We have an on demand gas water heater on an outside wall with lines to the shower and kitchen. When I moved in a neighbor pointed it out as something really special. It’s temperamental though. You need to turn on the hot water and when it’s hot, then turn on the cold and hope you get something pleasantly warm for a minute before it turns totally cold. Repeat the process as needed. I quickly decided this was more trouble than it’s worth and just took cold showers.
The water heater stopped working. It’s been so long I don’t even remember when. New batteries didn’t help, and we didn’t care enough to try anything else.
Now though it’s the height of rainy season, and we’ve had a few very chilly days with little to no sun, and temperatures down to 70 at night. Ok, I can hear most of you laughing and rolling your eyes, but we are acclimated to heat and happy in the 80’s. This is why we don’t live in the mountains. We like it warm.
A long time ago we bought a suicide shower to help a friend. She ended up fixing the one she had so she didn’t need it. They are inexpensive enough that it wasn’t worth taking back to the store, so it’s been in storage. Then it dawned on us. If we don’t want cold showers on chilly days, we could get it out and install it!
These heaters draw quite a bit of power so always use a heavy duty wire. You can see the circles on the unit, black for hot, white for cold, and half and half for warm. Black tends to pop the circuit breaker, but warm with a slower water flow (less to heat) produces a very nice, comfortably warm shower. I don’t mind a cold shower at all but even I will admit it’s very pleasant to have warm water sometimes.
So, if you find one of these in a shower, don’t freak out. It won’t electrocute you. It will just give you some nice warm water.
I've heard them called Widow Makers! It does take a while to get used to how to use the hot water heaters here. When we first came, it was scalding hot or freezing cold (and not so fun in the mountains). We finally have one that is adjusted pretty well to a slightly hot shower as long as you only run hot water. If you turn on the cold, the hot shuts off. They are so temperamental here!! Love this post. Glad I checked and you're back on. :)
I know what you mean. The gas heater was bad like that but this one is much better. It doesn't get really hot but is very good at giving us pleasantly warm water, all the time.
I need to catch up on your posts too! See what's going on with you and your lovely family.
That sounds like a good shower head. Yeah, when my friend rented a house recently she was told it included "hot water" which was a big selling point. Then it was so sporadic, it was like she never had it! Yikes. My kids would not be okay with that. Actually, I wouldn't!!! :)
My sons call these the Kamikaze showers! You really need these on the cooler days here in Nicaragua. I also remember some rather cool days in Costa Rica as well. Some people may laugh, but if you don't live the life, don't criticize!
We live down in the lowlands so it doesn't get chilly very much, but if it is cool, or you aren't feeling well, or just don't want a cool shower it's nice to have some warm water. I know a lot of people think we are nuts for living the lives we have but some of us are having a great time!
I am with you. many people don't understand the life style, but it is a lot of fun and never a dull moment.