Source of heat for hotwater - Page 5

bob saunders · #41 03-29-2008, 08:03 PM

H o n d u r a s ~ S p r o u t s: Dangers Of The Electric Shower Heaters

adrianb · #42 03-29-2008, 08:13 PM

Thanks Bob. Here's a picture of a car accident:

suarezn · #43 03-29-2008, 08:19 PM

So question for everyone here who have electric water heaters, or electric shower heads...Do you have them hooked up to inverters or no showers when there's no power? That seems like most of the times you can't just take a hot shower whenever you feel like, but wait until EDEsomething turns the power on.

This is the reason I was recommending propane, tankless heater...

Ringo · #44 03-29-2008, 08:25 PM

Lets' get real. It is a huge problem anywhere in the world. Product made in one country BUT the instructions translated and printed in another. Following instructions takes some basic knowledge and some common sense and may become, in some cases, fatal. Not to comment IF the product is bad or not. The instructions CAN make a good product bad.

Any one NOT have this experience?

Regards, Ringo

BTW: Bob? You getting what you need?

Chip · #45 03-29-2008, 08:47 PM

Skippy

First, generally there is no ground wire installed in the homes here. Second, in spite of your insistence that 110V can kill someone, that will be very unlikely here as the Amps are much, much lower that in the States. I'm an engineer as well and also have done some rewiring and have had the pleasure of touching a hot 110 line in the States and here and there is no difference. Furthermore, I have been shocked numerous times by touching appliances here and computers while I was barefoot and even wet. And while it stung a little that was it. Also, being an engineer as well, explain to me what is the difference between an electric water heater in the States and the shower head appliances with regard to the failure of the heating element? I think it stands to reason if the heating coil were to fail while there was water flowing that the wwater would be energized, so why isn't there a large number of cases of deaths in the US where people have electric water heaters and copper pipes? Also, 40 deaths in so many years is not a whole lot considering that probably more people in the world use these types of shower head units than anything else. I have to run - have to attend a party and first have to take a hot shower - I'll let you guys know later if I made it, haha!

eztime · #46 03-29-2008, 08:50 PM

hello guys...I have not posted here in a while first of all the me tell you I and a maintenance engineer. I have installed many of propane heaters. personally I believe that is the best way to go. hot-water on-demand and very efficient. also pretty simple and easy to install. the unit only comes on when there is a call for hot water. and then turns off when there is no more demand for hot water very efficient and very safe. that is if it's installed properly. now on to a little story....I have known for years the water and electricity does not mix..you can mix the two together but with a less than pleasant outcome. I recently rented an apartment for my GF..but did not realize it had a shower hot water heater.that was the first and that had seen anything like that in my life..first thing that went to my mind is that I'm going to get electrocuted. or get the shock of my life. so far have continued to use this mechanism would extreme caution. but the very first chance I get I'm going to install a propane hot water heater..

eztime · #47 03-29-2008, 08:55 PM

40 people dying from being electrocuted is not a lot less than one person you..that's 39 more than it needs to be

eztime · #48 03-29-2008, 08:58 PM

also people mistake getting electrocuted with the getting shock..I had a friend tell me one time that he got electrocuted while installing a ceiling fan ... I tell him no you got a shock if you had gotten electrocuted we would not be having this conversation

Chris · #49 03-29-2008, 09:53 PM

People are not reading carefully enough. There are two conversations here. Propane on demand hot water heaters (a little flame goes on in a white box mounted on the wall and heats the water as you open the faucet) .. and
An electric shower head - the water gets heated on demand by an electrical heating element inside of the shower head. Scary stuff, but we showered with two of these in two bathrooms for 5 plus years. If this is correctly installed, it is safe, cheap and effective. This is the one that Hillbilly talked about some time past.

Skippy, people here are quite self-sufficient and understand what we are doing clearly. So, no more of this two and fro one-upmanship please. We do have more than one Engineer on the board. In fact, a man that I was married to once was a nuclear engineer. Uhm.. we always had hot water ...

So, back to our electrical shower heads in the DR. Obviously they need to be correctly installed. The correct water pressure is important, otherwise, as someone said, you don't get hot water, or it is scalding. I don't know all the electrical stuff off by heart but will ask my husband for specs. He is an engineer twice over (electrical and electronic) and installed both these showerheads in Dominican Houses with Dominican Circumstances with street power from EdeNorte, 24 batteries and two inverters and a backup generator. OK, the house was well grounded. Our shower heads worked and worked well no matter where we drew power from, although on inverter they ate power quite ferociously. The piece that I insisted on, was where the pipe came out of the wall and into the actual showerhead - have that pipe well insulated with a thick piece of rubber around it. We also made sure that the showerhead was quite high up so that no-one incidentally could touch it while showering.

With long periods of outages (for days and weeks) with no power at all (and we did run out from time to time) .. we put the water from the tinaco on the roof through a coiled black pipe (coiled up on the roof) and I always had something for a shower. I don't know who remembers but we had that period where we had no power, and the propane ran out and the country was short of both diesel and gas. Remember? I could still take a hot shower!

Hillbilly · #50 03-30-2008, 08:48 AM

For 46+ years and counting I have used various and sundry methods of hot water heating. I have had lots of cold showers, too. Unless I was in Jarabacoa or Constanza, it was no problem, but i was a LOT younger then.
I have had shower-head water heaters for close to 40 years with very satisfactory results-with the caveats expressed by Chris above, and others-and important energy savings.
I have had an on-demand propane water heater, which, while very efficient, was also very costly, even when propane was cheaper. No more.

I have had and still have, medium sized electric heaters. they can be useful if you have a good source of electricity 24/7....However, there is an important pair of caveats: They can be very expensive if people leave them on all day and night (1) and I have heard that they can explode if the water goes off and they turn into boilers, rather than heaters!! (2)

Oh yes, I have put hoses on the roof, too!

I think, with the new technology and materials that are available, a combination of shower-head heaters, Tinacos on the roof, and a good solar heater, you would be more than well supplied.

HB