Electric Shower Head Heater- Hmm, Would You Use It?

[Saintly_Loser]

I’ve used them a lot. Never in my home town (or country), but in Asia, and once in a guest house in Ireland. Never had any trouble, and always had plenty of hot water.

[Arrendajo]

I used them in South America. And somehow survived.

[grude]

I have actually considered buying one of these, I can’t stand showering with no heater.

Right now I have taken to heating water on the stove or using the electric kettle and using that to heat a bucket of water and bathe with a cup, rather than use the shower head.

[Siam_Sam]

@Siam_Sam

We don’t have one in our present residence but have had in the past.

Actually, this turns out not to be true. I do have one in my bathroom just not in the shower with me or the shower head. It’s set up below the sink and feeds the hot water into the line. Plus I completely forgot the one in the wife’s bathroom that is installed in the shower area and which she uses. Again, no problems with them. And they’re not exactly like in the OP’s link but rather little self-contained boxes with a line coming out of them through which the heated water travels.

[Colophon]

@Mangetout

That’s weird - I’ve never seen them here.

Instantaneous shower heaters are very common (almost ubiquitous), but they’re usually a wall-mounted, permanently-installed unit - the heating happens in a completely sealed box with dials, fixed on the wall, and the shower head is on the end of a hose.

I’m about to install one like thisin my own bathroom (replacing a similar, but old and decrepit one).
It’s pretty much the only option for us because:
[ul]
[li]We don’t have sufficient hot and cold pressure for an ordinary mixer[/li][li]We don’t have a large enough hot water tank for a pumped mixer[/li][/ul]

I’ve never seen anything like that, either. I’m in England and we have an electric shower, for the same reason as you, which looks similar to this. The incoming water pipes and electric cable are concealed in the wall and plastered and tiled over. Certainly if I saw electric wires leading into the shower head I’d be more than a bit sceptical!

BTW our appliances are earthed through the mains water pipe, and AFAIK that’s still common practice in this country. Maybe not for new-builds though.

[Aji_de_Gallina]

@bouv

Uhhh…if one took “the smallest precautions” during installation, then you shouldn’t be getting any shocks when you touch the showerhead. That’s a sign the shower head isn’t grounded properly…which seems odd, to me, because aren’t most ground connections made to a water pipe? I mean…the pipe’s right there, how hard could it be to wire the ground to it?

Actually…I guess since it’s in a wet area (duh) it should use a GFCI, but I imagine a lot of places these are used don’t have the same regulations that the US has. But still…even a regular, proper, ground shouldn’t be giving anyone any shocks.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the homes these are used in don’t have a proper ground at all…so the showerhead is wired to the ground connector, but back at the junction box, that ground either isn’t attached to anything, or is attached to the neutral line, which is much worse, but I think was also a common thing to do, and might still be in some areas.

That’s why I said it, grounding is the minimal precaution, but most people in Peru have no concept of grounding and simply tape up the ground wire, because our electrical installations have no grounding wires.

@Mangetout

Running water can generate static electricity - I wonder if that’s what Ají de Gallina meant.

Otherwise, yeah - any kind of electric shock is a bad one.

No static, no.

[minor7flat5]

I’m heading off to Brazil next week and I hope to survive the electric shower heads yet again.

It was sure surprising the first time I ever saw the things, but everyone assured me that I would live and I just did like everyone else and took my showers.

It is an intimidating experience the first time: Not only are many of the installations dodgy (with the black tape or even bare wires), but they draw so much current that the house lights dim and flicker when you are using it. It’s like the prison lights dimming when they throw the switch on the electric chair :eek:.

[Gatopescado]

@Vicullum

I’ve used them a few times in Brazil. Personally, I hate’em–the ones I tried didn’t so much “spray hot water” but rather “dribbled luke-warm water” even when optimized.

Same here. None of them looked like they were “professionally” installed. Wires hanging out of a hole in the wall and lots of electrical tape. But that is what passes for “professional” in Brazil from other observations.

[elbows]

I saw them all over, when traveling in South America. Sometimes attached to some extremely dodgey wiring. And sometimes it was a water flow/heat ratio you had to balance. Good flow, but cold. Luke warm but barely a trickle. It reminded me of being peed on. But when you’re up at high altitude, getting gamey after a few days, piss warm water is a blessing - when you can find it!

[nubian53]

I live in the NewYork,our boiler/burner is down temporarily and was thinking about getting one of these. Any body out in the northeast have any experience with these?

[Count_Blucher]

@gaffa

I first encountered one in England, at the youth hostel my wife and I were staying at.

You know that now we’ll be forever wondering just how you got her to say yes.

“Say you’ll marry me…!”
“Never!”
FwaaaazzzzzZZZZZZZZ!
whimper
“Will you marry me now…?”
sob “yes…”

@Arrendajo

I used them in South America. And somehow survived.

One day we’ll rinse with hot waves
One day we’ll scrub in freedom
One day we’ll laugh in our joy
And we’ll rinse…

[Czarcasm]

How would I use it? As a prop in the next Final Destination movie.

[Eva_Luna]

Reported.