A friend posted that her grandson in Costa Rica had almost died in a freak accident. The boy's father reports: ~ Today, my son was taking a bath in our shower. The shower heads we use here heat the water electrically as it comes through the shower head. While he was bathing, the wiring shorted out and exploded, catching on fire. Thankfully, I was right there and was able to quickly pull Alex out of bath tub to safety. We were also able to extinguish the fire quickly. The electrician said that the the explosion was the result of the ground wire coming into sustained contact with the other wires. He showed me how the main wires going into the top of the shower head had burst. He said if that had not happened, the electricity would have gone through the shower head like a lighting bolt, killing whoever was underneath it. Sounds like it was a shower head like the one pictured below. They seem to be common in Mexico and Asia, and I'm sure other places, but they've always made me nervous. <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kN9D2ILcmKSWNVNXq0Vukg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_pQhZNLDMehw/SZ8f1fdtKII/AAAAAAAAB6I/zrqQ60qy7DA/s800/Kevin%20Mexico%202009%20100-1.jpg" height="600" width="450" /></a> Maybe I'll just wash up in the sink from now on!
Just for fun, take one of those $1 circuit testers from a hardware store that have a 3 prong plug on one end and a series of LED's on the other. These are used to tell you what a typical domestic 110v circuit is doing. Pay attention to the sequence that shows if the circuit has a physical ground. In Mexico, you will find most locations to not have a physical ground. Those electric shower heads made me laugh the first time I saw them. I was assured they were safe and when I inquired if they were grounded, I got a blank stare of the "Tierra physica? Que es eso?" type deal. I think there is an error in the description because the circuit doesn't look grounded and if it was, the breaker should have tripped. This part doesn't make sense to me but I am not an electrician. The electrician said that the the explosion was the result of the ground wire coming into sustained contact with the other wires. He showed me how the main wires going into the top of the shower head had burst. He said if that had not happened, the electricity would have gone through the shower head like a lighting bolt, killing whoever was underneath it. T
Yep, those are scarry. So common in C.A. as they are inexpensive, efficient in their use of power, and easy to (incorrectly as well) install; they are the "norm" in most non-gringo showers. I have one in the house I now rent... they scare the @#$% out of me too. I try to never touch it as I have, at other locations, in the past had "tickles"...:eek1 As the M. Goat states, the one in the photo could be a better than average hook up. I have seen un-covered wire nuts, non-electrical taping, bare wires just twisted together, NO GROUND connection, etc. in my travels. Interestingly enough on its own... but I have also learned that most wiring in many places that we like to explore does not include a true ground. Two hot legs and the neutral, with the neutral serving as "ground" as well for the entire building... :huh HOT water feels good after a long, wet, cold ride - doesn't it?
in my house here and I disconected them. The only good thing about summer here are hot showers, and the only bad thing about winters are cold showers. And the electricity here is screwed too, my dish convertor is always live, and last week I got 35 volts off my USB cable. Thats a wake up call at 6 in the morning
Those Elec. Shower Heads kill people every year in Latin America. I've stayed in many dumps with far worse set ups also. 220V Power with a big Frankenstein type knife switch to turn on power ... all open 220v bare wire, no wire nuts used, bare, open hot wires left hanging at random. Simply unbelievable. A good electrician can always make good money in Latin America. TIP: If you shower ... use your GLOVES to turn on power and ALWAYS wear Zorries (flip flops) !! DO NOT TOUCH anything! They can be deadly!
They don't call them Suicide Showers for nothing... We have 2 here - but I rewired and cleaned everything thing up. Haven't gotten tickled yet...
Yeah what he said, I have two of these in my house in Ecuador. I did make sure they were wired up cleanly no exposed wires etc. They work great and are better than the tank of gas, for the calafon, running out as soon as I am in the shower.
People that dont have another method availible to have a hot shower. When youre at 14,000 feet in the andes and you see one of those death heaters in the shower, you will be totally stoked.
Hey, give me a choice between cold showers at the end of a long day of riding through wind and rain and, in Crashmaster's case, bottomless mud, and a statistically small probability of suffering lasting damage due to electrocution in a nice, hot shower....well, I'll choose the hot shower. Most of the time. There've been a few I won't get near, with or without dielectric flip flops on my feet.
I took a cold shower in the Hauncayo after riding that big fucking pass in a cold driving rain. I'm convinced that's where I picked up my never ending cough. Oh and that was the night I lost my ATM card. Cold showers in CA are nothing compared to cold showers in the Andes.
I've received electrical shocks in the shower so damned many times, it never gets old :eek1 Here is a beauty at Selva Negra in Nicaragua. We called the place Selva Helva. Froze our asses off there and couldn't wait to leave.
You guys know there is not much difference between these and an insta-hot don't you? Biggest problem I saw when in CA was the lack of a ground wire. The shower head is just a heater element in the water stream with a pressure switch so the power is only on when the water is flowing. The ground wire is downstream from the heater element and should/would conduct any stray current to ground if it was hooked up. Electricity always takes the path of least resistance. These actually work pretty well when properly installed and they never run out of hot water. . But like a lot of things in developing countries, there is no code or standard for their installation. User beware.
