I can't remember if I've written about showers in Brazil. Many people have. Most apartments and houses do not have hot running water. And contrary to popular believe, not all of Brazil is in the humid tropics, so it's nice to have hot showers. So, we have these:
It's called the chuveiro. There is an electric current that runs through the apparatus that heats up the water. The nice thing is that you have almost instantaneous hot water (if the water pressure is right). The not so nice thing is that it's a mixture of water and electricity. Just a wee bit risky, I must say. But it works. At least most of the time.
Friday night, our oldest daughter was taking a shower, when we heard her start yelling, "MOMMMMMMM!" I've heard that before. It means something is malfunctioning with the shower. A few times there has been smoke (a horrible plastic smell). And once or twice just really hot water and lots of steam. But it means it's time to change the chuveiro. My informal YouTube research helped me learn that you can actually just change the little coil "element" inside the head, and all is good. We had 2 leftover shower heads from our last apartment (yes, we took EVERYTHING with us when we moved. We left it as we had found it: barren). Rather than being totally Brazilian (fixing it rather than throwing it away), we opted to just get rid of the old shower head. Unfortunately, my husband couldn't change the shower head because it was night. In order to change it, you have to turn off the power, and that means turning off the lights. And also unfortunately, my husband was leaving in 45 minutes for an orchestra tour. But he assured me that I could do it the next morning.
However, Saturday morning arrived and I had my hands full with 3 children. I couldn't call the dear hubby, and his sporadic texts weren't giving the me the confidence I needed to deal with electricity and tools. So I ended up taking a bucket shower. You know it: fill the bucket with warm water and attempt to get yourself clean as shampoo runs in your eyes.
Sunday morning I decided that I was done with the bucket, and I was going to face the chuveiro. And I did it! Turned off the power. Unscrewed the square boxy like thing that the wires go in. Removed the old shower head. Screwed on the new shower head. Put the new wires in the square boxy thing. Turned the power back on. Hot water! Nice, warm shower!
Someone saw me disposing of the old chuveiro today (yes, it sat around in our apartment for a full 24 hours before I got around to taking it out with the trash. It was one of those kind of Sundays). She was SO impressed that I, an AMERICAN WOMAN could change the chuveiro. I feel pretty dang proud of myself!
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It's called the chuveiro. There is an electric current that runs through the apparatus that heats up the water. The nice thing is that you have almost instantaneous hot water (if the water pressure is right). The not so nice thing is that it's a mixture of water and electricity. Just a wee bit risky, I must say. But it works. At least most of the time.
Friday night, our oldest daughter was taking a shower, when we heard her start yelling, "MOMMMMMMM!" I've heard that before. It means something is malfunctioning with the shower. A few times there has been smoke (a horrible plastic smell). And once or twice just really hot water and lots of steam. But it means it's time to change the chuveiro. My informal YouTube research helped me learn that you can actually just change the little coil "element" inside the head, and all is good. We had 2 leftover shower heads from our last apartment (yes, we took EVERYTHING with us when we moved. We left it as we had found it: barren). Rather than being totally Brazilian (fixing it rather than throwing it away), we opted to just get rid of the old shower head. Unfortunately, my husband couldn't change the shower head because it was night. In order to change it, you have to turn off the power, and that means turning off the lights. And also unfortunately, my husband was leaving in 45 minutes for an orchestra tour. But he assured me that I could do it the next morning.
However, Saturday morning arrived and I had my hands full with 3 children. I couldn't call the dear hubby, and his sporadic texts weren't giving the me the confidence I needed to deal with electricity and tools. So I ended up taking a bucket shower. You know it: fill the bucket with warm water and attempt to get yourself clean as shampoo runs in your eyes.
Sunday morning I decided that I was done with the bucket, and I was going to face the chuveiro. And I did it! Turned off the power. Unscrewed the square boxy like thing that the wires go in. Removed the old shower head. Screwed on the new shower head. Put the new wires in the square boxy thing. Turned the power back on. Hot water! Nice, warm shower!
Someone saw me disposing of the old chuveiro today (yes, it sat around in our apartment for a full 24 hours before I got around to taking it out with the trash. It was one of those kind of Sundays). She was SO impressed that I, an AMERICAN WOMAN could change the chuveiro. I feel pretty dang proud of myself!
Mine broke more than 6 months ago and I've been lazy to replace it. Water is cold now.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just that I'm lazy, I'm afraid of the thing. The fact that it died didn't make me sad.
Hahaha! I can totally relate! Since my husband had already successfully changed the shower, I felt like it was manageable. But I hope you get some hot water soon--it's suppose to be cold this week!
DeleteWoohoo! I love the feeling of knowing I actually fixed something myself. Cheers to you for touching the dreaded electric shower of doom. I hated those things.
ReplyDeleteI love your description. Maybe I'll start referring to the shower as the D. E. S. D. (Princess Bride reference intended).
DeleteWe have those in our showers and I never knew the name for it! And I had no idea you could change it. Thanks!!!
ReplyDelete