I bought my GF family a water heater a few trips ago. I just screws into the pipe coming out of the wall and replaces the regular shower head. But it has a small heater in it to heat the water as it goes by. Well my gf's father had a friend who supposedly knows electrical work wire it up. When I saw it I ended up scratching my head. The guy wired it with a double poled ceramic-brass toggle switch only 6 " above the shower head!.... thos switched look very dangerous!....you can SEE the brass connectors under the ceramic! So you KNOW it is not waterproof!. It has two wires from the house power going to it, and they have a green ground wire going from the shower head up into the wall-cieling joint...( hopefully to a real ground)
I dont think this looks too safe... and i want to buy something here in the states to bring back to rewire the unit and move the switch away from the shower stall. I was thinking of adding a light above the vanity mirror and put the switch right next to that new light fixture. But at the store the guy asked my if its 110 or 220...he thinks its 220 because of the double pole throw switch. But i dont think the house has a ground wire...I just think they ran a ground from the shower head on out.... outside where power comes into the house is just 2 large dia wires( poorly coated I might add...lots of cracking) they are about 8 guage. So I am thinking that its only 110 coming into the house.
also the guy said If I put in a GFI in the bathroom, it would be a moot point, if there are other poorly wired fixtures through the house, on the way back to the fuse box.
so ...does 220 normally come into the houses from the street?
does anyone think that the green ground running out of the shower head to ground is sufficient to protect agains getting elctrocuted from water splashing on the ceramic switch?
second part... i want to buy some hand tools in santiago....anyone know of a better place to buy them , and get decent stuff , at a decent price?
thanks...bob
I dont think this looks too safe... and i want to buy something here in the states to bring back to rewire the unit and move the switch away from the shower stall. I was thinking of adding a light above the vanity mirror and put the switch right next to that new light fixture. But at the store the guy asked my if its 110 or 220...he thinks its 220 because of the double pole throw switch. But i dont think the house has a ground wire...I just think they ran a ground from the shower head on out.... outside where power comes into the house is just 2 large dia wires( poorly coated I might add...lots of cracking) they are about 8 guage. So I am thinking that its only 110 coming into the house.
also the guy said If I put in a GFI in the bathroom, it would be a moot point, if there are other poorly wired fixtures through the house, on the way back to the fuse box.
so ...does 220 normally come into the houses from the street?
does anyone think that the green ground running out of the shower head to ground is sufficient to protect agains getting elctrocuted from water splashing on the ceramic switch?
second part... i want to buy some hand tools in santiago....anyone know of a better place to buy them , and get decent stuff , at a decent price?
thanks...bob