> I'm currently in Sao Paulo and the hot water setup is a little scary. There's no hot water reserve or hot water plumbing at all. While that's a common setup,

> I'm currently in Sao Paulo and the hot water setup is a little scary. There's no hot water reserve or hot water plumbing at all. While that's a common setup, some homes have instead a "boiler" which is a large water tank heated by a electric resistance. The disadvantage is that, once you've used up all the hot water, it takes a long time to heat up again; electric shower heads are instant. Another common setup is a gas-powered heater; I never liked these, since they're dangerous (you have to be very careful to always leave the window open while they're operating, and always be mindful of leaks). Sometimes a home has more than one setup at the same time (like having the gas-powered heater for the kitchen and one service bathroom, while the main bathrooms are on a boiler or use electric shower heads). > In homes with bad grounding Or no grounding; I live in a relatively modern building (~30 years old) which predates the newer three-pin power plugs, and all sockets have no ground. I suppose, though I'm not certain, that the power panel for the apartment has no ground wire, with the neutral being connected to the ground only near the meter in the ground floor.