Argentina Heating & Hot water

Singh_3

I also went to Chile, and plumbed in my mother-in-law's cabins.
She alway's turned the pilot light off on the wall hung heaters called "junkers"
(that's the manufacturer's name, nothing to do with quality of the unit.) I too had hard time lighting the thing and took way too cold of a shower for this gringo.

Plumber7

Argentina Plumbing & Heating

Argentina: 15 years ago

It started with a young, shy, yet courageous high school girl in a little town in Argentina called General Villegas, and my good friend of thirty years Joe Fagan from Stanhope, NJ deciding that he wanted to learn the Spanish language. Joe isn't the typical world traveler, like me he owns a small Plumbing & Heating business in New Jersey. Debby Fagan, Joes’ wife saw an article in the newspaper one day about a Rotary business exchange program going to Argentina.

(I didn't want to bore you all, so I skipped the next thousand words or so and went right to the water heater part of the story. If anyone wants to hear the entire story, I would be happy to share it with you. Tom)

"The water Heater"
When we first got to Daniel and Carmen's we were shown our bathroom which was brand new. Carmen was showing us how to use the hand held spray in the tub when I said "Yo soy Plumero" . It means "I am a plumber" and it was to tell her how she didn't have to explain these trivial plumbing things to me. This is one of three expressions I know in Spanish.
The next morning Carmen & Daniel went to work and left us in the house. We needed showers badly. Joe went into the shower and I heard a shriek. "Turn the friggin water heater on" We had seen them lighting the water heater before, but they neglected to explain it to us since I told them "yo soy plumero" I went to light the heater and the pilot lit, and then slowly went out. I couldn't get it to light again. Two Plumbers with 30 years experience each, and Joe had to take a cold shower. For some reason they never leave the pilot on, I'm not sure why and we didn't want to ask. The water heater is on the wall near the kitchen sink, for easy access for lighting. (see picture) The problem was the valve in the off position which was below the heater (see picture) which we "Plumeros" missed.

Plumber7

Argentina plumbing truck, a picture of the water heater, and .......my Harley, how'd that get in there?

Plumber7

Argentina Plumbing truck, water heater

Kevin O. Pulver

Rinnai is alive in Indonesia!

I was in Jakarta and used a very different looking Rinnai in a shower. It had a chrome lever you had to turn but I forget why. It seems it was much less "automatic" than the ones we have here. Kevin

Ted_9

In Greece...

My experience to foreign countries is limited.

In Greece however, it is most common to have an electric water heater that would usually be in or near the bathroom. These tanks were small. I'd guess no more than 30 gallons. They always go to the breakers to turn it on and off. They have high limits in the tank, yet they manually turn them on and off. At first I though this was to conserve electricity. This may be true, but they also told me that if you left it on whilst in the shower(I mean sitting in a cold tub and spraying your self with water from the hand held)you could get electrocuted.

I don't know if that true.

Massachusetts

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