Comments for Life Transplanet

Comment on Rincon House Considerations and Updates by Fran and Steve

Fran and Steve — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:45:31 +0000

No, it is not crazy to have a wood house here. I have seen some that have lasted a long time. It is certainly unique, and has a certain coziness. As long as you treat it and maintain it (and keep your fingers crossed if a big hurricane comes through), it could last for many, many years. Since you’re willing to do all that, I see nothing crazy about keeping it. You might have trouble getting insurance in PR, though. Since the standard here is cement with flat roofs, you might have to pay more for insurance. — Fran

Comment on Rincon House Considerations and Updates by anonimo

anonimo — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:34:23 +0000

Go wood! Wood last longer than concrete when construction is done right. Drawback is resale value since most banks won’t finance wood construction. You’ll need to find a cash buyer.

If I were you and building my dream home, wood would be it!

Comment on Our Dur-O-matic Shower Water Heater by Britton

Britton — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:51:33 +0000

I’m not too afraid actually. I understand the risks and how to improve upon the current situation and will. But for now this works great.

Comment on Our Dur-O-matic Shower Water Heater by adolfojp

adolfojp — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:05:18 +0000

Those shock shower heads are pretty common in low rent college student targeted apartments. They were everywhere in Mayagüez the last time that I lived there. I had the *pleasure* of using a few of them. They work better than solar water heaters in cloudy days or on days where a few people need to shower at night and then in the morning before the sun has a chance to come up to warm the water again. I would buy one if I ever needed a quick fix, but make sure to inspect them every once in a while because they are prone to breaking, and when they break they can be very dangerous.

I had two incidents with two different shower water heaters. The first one involved your typical faulty wiring with bad grounding. The shower head would zap you whenever you touched it and because it appeared to have been mounted by hobbits you would touch it you stood up straight, and I am only 5’10″. The landlord was less than helpful and now that I think about it I put up with getting shocked every day because I was young and (more) stupid. The second water heater malfunction almost scalded me. I am pretty convinced that it would have left some scars. Those heaters power up when water flows through them and shut down when the water stops flowing. One day the water shut down and the heater didn’t. The heater heated the air, and as the air expanded the heater started whistling like a teapot while blasting hot steam to the sides. I managed to jump out of the shower ripping the shower curtain in the process just before the shower head was shot in the direction that I had just abandoned, followed by a stream of steam. :-/

You seem like really nice hard working people and the island could use a few more people like you. So the next time that you come here please invest in a ground-fault circuit interrupter before you make the news by accident.

Comment on Our Dur-O-matic Shower Water Heater by Fran and Steve

Fran and Steve — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:50:02 +0000

I was totally shocked (no pun intended) that these things existed. With all my experience in PR, I had never seen nor heard of one. I thought everybody had either a regular tank-type water heater (electric or solar) or else the on-demand one. Those suicide showers must be for use in some very rural areas. I see a lot of solar heaters on roofs. They look pretty beat up and rusted out. The house we bought has an on-demand one. Not only are they very affordable, they do the job. We get hot water in 3 bathrooms, a kitchen (including a dishwasher), and a laundry room. Besides, they are super energy efficient since you don’t have to keep a tank hot. It’s hard to say, but I would guess our on-demand one (calentador de linea) is more efficient than our California gas-heated tank. With that said, you should probably just stick with your Duromatic, since a calentador de linea is more “stealable” in your absence. — Fran

Comment on Our Dur-O-matic Shower Water Heater by Linda

Linda — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:25:28 +0000

We have an on demand water heater (actually 2 of them, one for the house and one for our studio apartment in the garage). they work great and although the water pressure for the hot water isn’t wonderful, at least you can get it hot on those chilly winter days (chilly for a cold shower that is)!! I’ve seen those electric shower head things, the one you bought looks safe, but the other one!! holy crap!

Comment on Our Dur-O-matic Shower Water Heater by Britton

Britton — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:06:28 +0000

Once we get more time to invest in the place we will upgrade the water heater situation. This is a temp fix for sure.

There is an electric water heater in the wood house (not sure if it works or not) but the water lines don’t go to the cabana so I haven’t messed with it at all.

The roof on the concrete cabana does have copper hookups for a water heater, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to set something up. I like the idea of an instant on electric or gas setup, that is essentially what the electric shower head is but on a smaller scale.