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Not uncommon in Brazil to have an electric water heater installed on a shower head, sometimes with lightly covered wiring. Was gobsmacked when I first saw them

Not uncommon in Brazil to have an electric water heater installed on a shower head, sometimes with lightly covered wiring. Was gobsmacked when I first saw them. One even gave me a tingle when touching the faucet and I told the owner. :sweat-smile:

twodave 1y ago
I remember some showers I took in Rio that, to my surprise/dismay, required bringing a match along to light the water heater within the shower. That now seems tame by comparison.
- estimator7292 1y ago
  My flat in Czechia had a gas burning tankless water heater in the shower. Standard tub with a shower head and water heater directly on the wall. The floor of the tub was also at least 10" above the bathroom floor. I literally broke a rib trying to get out of the damn thing
  - hagbard_c 1y ago
    Those things were everywhere in the Netherlands when I was a child - 70's. I had one above the sink in the kitchen in my student apartment (half of a pigsty converted to human habitation, pigs in the other half, a thin wall in between - that's what you get when studying at an agricultural university and living on a farm) running off a propane tank in the garden. We had one in the kitchen and a bigger one in the bathroom, running off natural gas which the country had plenty of after the discovery of a large gas deposit in the northern Netherlands. There were no vents to the outside, the things just vented into the room. They're called 'geisers' (geysers) in Dutch.
    - Doxin 1y ago
      Those would output absolutely blisteringly hot water as well. Almost boiling. As I recall they'd often also have the tap directly attached to them. We kept the pilot light on ours always lit, though I can totally see people turning them off fully when not in use for a bit. The fancy ones had a button to light them. The less fancy ones involved a match and a startle as the gas caught fire. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had forgotten all about those!
gambiting 1y ago
Extremely common in the UK too - you just have a 7.2kW feed going into your shower cabin, while regulations prohibit you from having any electrical sockets anywhere in the bathroom lol. Which leads to an idiotic situation where in Europe it's extremely common to have your washing machine in the bathroom, but in the UK everyone goes "oh no we can't have that it's extremely unsafe" while standing next to an electric shower fused at 32amps. Tbf the building regulations are meant to make it somewhat safe, but I've personally seen dodgy work done by electricians where they wired a shower using a 16amp wire which obviously subsequently melted after some use.
- asdefghyk 1y ago
  Sounds like a instantaneous electric hot water heater. Quite common, in places like Philippines, that do not have cool/cold air temperatures, and less developed electricity supply.
- quickthrowman 1y ago
  The UK doesn’t allow any receptacle circuits in a bathroom? Not even if they’re protected with an RCD? That’s a GFCI for Americans. I am well acquainted with throwing water on resistive heating elements from taking a lot of electric saunas, so electric instant hot water heaters don’t really scare me. The proximity of the current is irrelevant to me when just 30 mA will kill you. Electric tank water heaters work on the same principle, a high resistance conductor encased in a ceramic insulator which is encased in metal.
  - gambiting 1y ago
    >>The UK doesn’t allow any receptacle circuits in a bathroom? Not even if they’re protected with an RCD? That’s a GFCI for Americans. So to be fair - until last year(or 2023?) you couldn't have them at all, then they changed the rules to say you can, but they have to be at least 3 metres away from the nearest bath or shower. For reference, my entire bathroom is 2.5m by 2m - and I suspect 99% of British bathrooms aren't much bigger than this. So in theory - you can. In practice....not so much.
- goopypoop 1y ago
jasonwatkinspdx 1y ago
Yeah, got one of those in a hotel in Florence. Definitely weirded me out conceptually, but I assume they're not electrocuting people on the daily so whatever.

twodave 1y ago

I remember some showers I took in Rio that, to my surprise/dismay, required bringing a match along to light the water heater within the shower. That now seems tame by comparison.

estimator7292 1y ago
My flat in Czechia had a gas burning tankless water heater in the shower. Standard tub with a shower head and water heater directly on the wall. The floor of the tub was also at least 10" above the bathroom floor. I literally broke a rib trying to get out of the damn thing
- hagbard_c 1y ago
  Those things were everywhere in the Netherlands when I was a child - 70's. I had one above the sink in the kitchen in my student apartment (half of a pigsty converted to human habitation, pigs in the other half, a thin wall in between - that's what you get when studying at an agricultural university and living on a farm) running off a propane tank in the garden. We had one in the kitchen and a bigger one in the bathroom, running off natural gas which the country had plenty of after the discovery of a large gas deposit in the northern Netherlands. There were no vents to the outside, the things just vented into the room. They're called 'geisers' (geysers) in Dutch.
  - Doxin 1y ago
    Those would output absolutely blisteringly hot water as well. Almost boiling. As I recall they'd often also have the tap directly attached to them. We kept the pilot light on ours always lit, though I can totally see people turning them off fully when not in use for a bit. The fancy ones had a button to light them. The less fancy ones involved a match and a startle as the gas caught fire. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had forgotten all about those!

gambiting 1y ago

Extremely common in the UK too - you just have a 7.2kW feed going into your shower cabin, while regulations prohibit you from having any electrical sockets anywhere in the bathroom lol. Which leads to an idiotic situation where in Europe it's extremely common to have your washing machine in the bathroom, but in the UK everyone goes "oh no we can't have that it's extremely unsafe" while standing next to an electric shower fused at 32amps. Tbf the building regulations are meant to make it somewhat safe, but I've personally seen dodgy work done by electricians where they wired a shower using a 16amp wire which obviously subsequently melted after some use.

asdefghyk 1y ago
Sounds like a instantaneous electric hot water heater. Quite common, in places like Philippines, that do not have cool/cold air temperatures, and less developed electricity supply.
quickthrowman 1y ago
The UK doesn’t allow any receptacle circuits in a bathroom? Not even if they’re protected with an RCD? That’s a GFCI for Americans. I am well acquainted with throwing water on resistive heating elements from taking a lot of electric saunas, so electric instant hot water heaters don’t really scare me. The proximity of the current is irrelevant to me when just 30 mA will kill you. Electric tank water heaters work on the same principle, a high resistance conductor encased in a ceramic insulator which is encased in metal.
- gambiting 1y ago
  >>The UK doesn’t allow any receptacle circuits in a bathroom? Not even if they’re protected with an RCD? That’s a GFCI for Americans. So to be fair - until last year(or 2023?) you couldn't have them at all, then they changed the rules to say you can, but they have to be at least 3 metres away from the nearest bath or shower. For reference, my entire bathroom is 2.5m by 2m - and I suspect 99% of British bathrooms aren't much bigger than this. So in theory - you can. In practice....not so much.
goopypoop 1y ago

jasonwatkinspdx 1y ago

Yeah, got one of those in a hotel in Florence. Definitely weirded me out conceptually, but I assume they're not electrocuting people on the daily so whatever.