www.CostaRicaTicas.com

. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in and around CR, and has been in places other than the gulch, has undoubtedly showered under what is commonly called a suicide head. I heard about them before I ever saw them and my first thoughts were; water ...close to electricity...danger, danger danger. Then I used them for several years with no problem, always wondering if I would get zapped. On my most recent trip, I took one apart to replace a broken "resistencia". Again, my curiosity was raised even further, for IT IS water in contact with electricity without the user getting electricuted. Can anyone explain the concept and what the actual danger is or isn't ?

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

GM...not sure I can technically answer your question...but I have used many of these throughout my years of Lat Am travel and living. I have had a couple of "shocking" experiences also...without total electricution obviously . I am just very careful now NOT to touch the showerhead or any metal around the shower while in the shower. If one is nervous about using them, there is usually a switch either on the showerhead, or somewhere in the room, for turning off that feature. Normally in the tropics the water is not so cold that it shocks you to take a cold shower. Hot showers are actually a gringo thing. Most Latinas I have been with prefer cold showers...and are so hot that they need them .

On another note, my condo here in Panama has a battery operated gas heat box...which seem to be the norm down here. It is much cheaper and energy efficient than the hot water heaters we are used to in gringolandia. I change the D battery about once every 3 months. With the current energy and globalwarming crisis in the world, I hope more of us go to this kind of hot water technology...

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All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts...

Global Warming? With the below zero weather we have had here in the Frozen Tundra these past weeks, all I can say is Thank God for global warming........ when does it start ?

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

they are plastic and don't conduct electricity

Take a shower in the dark and watch the electric light show going on inside these things.
I also have showered where there was exposed wiring IN the shower!
Good advise: don't plan on a shower in bario La Carpio.

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Why Chicas Come to CostaRica:

"Predators gather where prey abounds"

The housing is plastic, but I would imagine that whatever heating element is used inside the thing would be metallic. I have never seen one of those heads connected without exposed wiring or loosely applied electrical tape. They sure appear dangerous, but I guess they wouldn't be sold if they were. Regardless, it definitely beats the hell out of a cold shower.

It is quite an experience to reach up and touch the metal bar... once while I was showering I made the mistake of hanging something on it and kablam. It's serious electricity and burned my fingers slightly. I'm at least a little surprised there are not warnings or we aren't warned when we check in.

In a typical electric hot water heater in the states the water comes into direct contact with the metal heating element. Not much difference in that compared with a suicide heater.

The difference would be that in latin american the wiring standards are non existant. The ground, the green wire is usually not connected. The wiring is exposed and connected poorly with a little tape. All the above greatly increases the chances of getting shocked.

And yes never ever touch anything up there when the shower is on. The circuit breaker for the shower head is 45amps which is a lot of juice.

One night last May I was taking a shower in one of the back rooms with one of my regulars at Kamur.

When I reached up to adjust the showerhead I got a little shock. A few minutes later my sweetie reached up to adjust it and I yelled, "NO"!
Her other hand was holding my crank!

She grabbed a towel to make the adjustment on the showerhead. Smart girl.

Wit

Obviously, this article brings some, ahem, 'light' to the subject.

http://www.belizenorth.com/electric_shower_head.htm

Everytime I stepped into that f'ing shower of my girlfriend in Barrio Carmen Guadalupe, I said my prayers to her (Carmen Guadalupe, heh, not my girlfriend).

However, I *really* wish I could have shown you a picture of her electrical disconnect for her stove. I K*D you not when I say that it looked EXACTLY like a freaking hotseat connect switch. My god man, this thing could just crispy-fi anyone touching it if they had so much as a little ground. The ceramic handle covering the slammer was cracked and had BARE METAL exposed.

It's a wonder that so many Ch*ldren each year aren't zapped into heaven through electrical situations like this. Or are they, and we just never hear of it?

UPDATE:

Someone help me... a movie with (thinking) Brad Pitt or Edward Norton has a scene in it where, one of them, waking up with some very bad hangover problems, wanders out into the hallway where a housekeeper is taking a wet mop and cleaning the walls.

And she brings the mop near an exposed lamp circuit on the wall and the mop goes ZZZZ--TTTKAAKK!!.. except she's not even scared or nervous. She KEEPS doing it, while cleaning. It's NORMAL to her. And the character is freaking the hell out.

Funny scene. Scary too, because it's probably right up there with reality. People just don't understand electricity.

Lorenzetti shower heads = Brazilian for Electric Shock.

Hmmm...maybe I can answer this...

Showerhead