Hot shower/long

[Cali vet]

I’ve been spending more time in Cali these days so the last time I went down I rented an unfurnished house in the north end. The owners said if I needed any kind of repair, painting etc. Salvador who is the replacement vigilante on Sundays but essentially unemployed the rest of the time, would be glad to take care of it. My novia adores a hot shower, something the majority of calenos don’t have (and don’t need) so I decided to have Salvador install one of those electric showerheads that heats the water just before it sprays on you. I picked up the device at a nearby ferreteria and called Salvador over to install it. I showed him the installation instructions card and he stared at it intently for a long time until it dawned on me he didn’t read.  So I read them to him out loud and when I got to the part about the second ground wire he said oh that’s just for “saving energy”, no es necesario. I thought about that for a moment and realized he had a valid point. Without connecting it there would be a good chance the occupant would be killed by electrical shock the first time he took a shower and would never turn on a light switch again. But I stuck to my guns, “we’re going to ground that sucker Salvador” . Bueno pero hay un problemita Senior. Turned out the plumbing had been “renovated “ a number of times and there wasn’t a steel pipe to be found anywhere. So we went outside, found the ground stake that grounded the whole house and I went back to the ferreteria for umpteen meters of #10  wire. Salvador then proceeded with the installation but to my surprise (why was I surprised at this point?) his solution was to run the ground UP OVER the roof ‘till he got over the bathroom then down to the bright red (for danger?) shower head. A couple of times around the naked wires with electrical tape made the connections “impermeable” and ya! it was done. I paid him eight dollars for a days work then headed for the shower to test it out thinking oh my novia’s gonna love this. The water was scalding! I read the instructions again. They said, ”turn the shower on briefly and moisten yourself then turn it off, soap up and turn it on again briefly to rinse.”  What a country! My novia has taken to using the other bathroom, the one without no fancy schmancy red electric showerhead.

[Wayne1]

... in response to Hot shower/long, posted by Cali vet on Sep 3, 2002

There was one of those gadgets on the Casa Franco shower in Bogota when my wife and I were doing the Consular tango.

We both got shocked by that thing at least 3 times while we stayed there...LOL.

But the hot water is necessary in Bogota because it was cold as a witches tit.

Wayne

[mudd]

... in response to Hot shower/long, posted by Cali vet on Sep 3, 2002

now thats funny!!!!! i wish their were more stories like that on here. keep it up PLEASE!!!!!!!

[AlexG32]

... in response to Hot shower/long, posted by Cali vet on Sep 3, 2002

My inlaws have one and a couple of times I forgot to place it on the warm setting and would switch it while the cold water was running and zapp.  Needless to say I learned very quickly.

[Red Clay]

... in response to Hot shower/long, posted by Cali vet on Sep 3, 2002

...  bought one of those for me knowing I was used to hot water and BOY, I'm glad they did. Actually my wife and I paid 'em back of course, that's an expensive luxury in Peru.

And now that you mention it, I ain't really sure that thing is grounded, either, YIKES. Still had the pleasure of a couple of cold showers at the other places where we stayed during our recent visit.