Live in the Philippines

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The heat is on!

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About a week and a half ago, a friend showed up at our house.  He is from General Santos, his name is Jun Jun, or Jun2.  Jun Jun is a carpenter.  Actually, he is much more than a carpenter.  He is an all around fix-it guy.  He can fix anything, and he does it to very high standards.  He can not only fix things, he can build just about anything you could imagine.

We have been using Jun2 for repair jobs and basically any kind of construction for many years now.  Even before we moved to the Philippines, we would hire him to do things around my in-law’s house when needed.  Since living in the Philippines, we have used Jun2 for different types of work many times.  When we lived in General Santos City, we were always using him to work on something.  Since moving to Davao, it is more difficult to get him, since he lives about 3 hours away, but when possible, we hold off on any needed work until he is available to travel up here.

So, anyway, about 10 days ago or so, Jun2 showed up here.  We didn’t know he was coming, but that was OK.  He is a friend, so he was welcome here.  He told us that he took some time off from work and wanted to come and see us.  He asked if there was anything we needed him to do around our place.  Of course, the answer was yes!

First, I had him repair the ceiling fan in my office, and he also replaced the light kit on the ceiling fan with one that was much brighter.  It really made my office much nicer having the nice brightness, and made me realize just how dark my office had been previously.

The next morning, after Jun2 had fixed my ceiling fan, I was enjoying my office so much.  I felt like I had moved into a whole new office!  I got thinking that just such a minor thing, and it really made a nice improvement in my life.  What else did I need him to do to improve my life, or the lives of my family?

That was when it hit me… the hot water!  Or, the lack of hot water would be more accurate.  When we moved into this house in 2010, there was hot water in the master bathroom.  The house actually had a US style hot water heater, which is very rare in the Philippines.  Most people here, if they have hot water at all, use the small instant hot water units in a shower or whatever.  Really, I like the instant hot water units, but since this house had a tank type hot water heater, that was OK too.

Well, the hot water heater died a year or two ago.  I took cold showers instead of hot.  I planned to have  an instant hot water unit installed in the shower, but really, after a few days, I got used to the cold showers.  From time to time, though, I would still wish for a hot shower, but not so badly that I rushed out to buy a heater.

Well, with Jun2 here, I had the opportunity to have such a heater installed and working properly.  I’m no handyman, so this was a bit of a hurdle if Jun2 was not here to handle the installation. So, that next morning after the ceiling fan repair, I talked to Feyma and asked her if she thought we should get a hot water heater for our shower.  Of course, she said yes! 🙂  And so, Feyma and Jun2 were off to the hardware store.  They bought a new instant hot water heater!  Total cost?  P8,000.

It took Jun2 about 2 hours to have it all installed and ready to go?  After he finished it took me about 2 minutes and I was enjoying a hot shower again! Sure felt nice!

I don’t know why it would be, but I have noticed that the showers I take now are a lot longer than they used to be!  I wonder why that is?

The other day, our son Aaron asked if he could take a shower in our bathroom.  Of course, I told him.  He came out of the bathroom a while later and I heard him mumbling the words….

“That was the best shower I’ve ever had in my life!”

Ha ha.. it is sure nice, I agree with Aaron!

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Comments

  1. Those instant hot water heaters are great for homes in The Philippines, many of which are only set up with cold water plumbing. You heat just the hot water you are going to use and don’t pay for keeping a big tank of water hot all the time. I have used them in hotel enviorments in The Philippines and also when I was visiting the UK.. Once they are installed, the electrical wiring in place and the water hook-up, they are a lot easiier to replace ( if need be ) than a 40 gallon electric hot water heater such as the one I have in my own home. I priced a few models of those hot water boxes while in The Philippines and I think they run about 6000 peso or thereabouts.

    Nice to read that AJ liked the hot water shower. Bob, just think, your shower may become the most popular place in your house now Will it be equipped with WiFi ? LOL

    • Hi Bob – Those on demand units do save a lot of energy! I am surprised that they are not popular in the States. For one thing.. you never run out of hot water no matter how long you stay in the shower or how many people shower before you!

      Hmm.. wifi in the shower? Let me talk to Jun2! 😉

  2. Hi Bob;
    Hot water on demand is wonderful, I have to spend more for mine as I need the pressurizing unit built in as we feed of a roof tank. But there is no way I can live without it especially with the cool months coming, and most days during the rainy season. my afternoon shower I use cold water. But that morning shower!!!.

  3. Hi Bob,
    I installed two of these units about four years ago. One in our master bath and one in the guest room. I really don’t understand why they haven’t caught on more in the US. The units that I put in have their own pressure pumps because I have a gravity pressure water system in my house. To me it is the small luxuries like this that make life really good.

      • In my opinion, I would guess it comes down to price. When I was doing some improvements to my home, I priced the tankless water heaters at Home Depot, Lowes, and Manard’s, the three major chain stores in my area.
        They (the tank style) were substantially less expensive than a tankless style heater. If my memory is correct they were about 1/2 or less the price of a tankless.
        When priced at independent dealers the price difference was even more dramatic.
        Since there is no immediate penalty other than a slightly higher utility bill there is no big sense of urgency to convert.

        • Hi LeRoy – Upon reading your comment, my first reaction was that you were wrong. Upon further reflection, though, I realized that you were not wrong. My initial thinking was that the tankless units were far cheaper than the tank type heaters. But, we are talking apples and oranges, because the big tank type units are good for the whole house. The tankless ones here are good for only one room max, or even just the shower, etc. So, you would have to purchase multiple of the units that I am talking about. I believe there are tankless units for an entire household, but they are much more expensive.

  4. Bob. Yes hot showers sure are nice; glad to see you got yours working again. Three things that I insisted on when we built our house in Libmanan in 2012 were A/C in our bedroom, internet service and a point-of-use water heater for a hot shower. I forgot, I also insisted on a separate floor drain in the shower.

    • Hi Mike – Yep, I’ve got all of those bases covered too! For internet, I actually have 3 different accounts with different providers (Globe, Skycable and Smart), so I am really covered for internet! Since it is my business, I have to make sure I have good access to that!

  5. Bob I am not as tough as you,that is one thing I had fixed in our place.When we had to shower with cold water they were very short onesand after that a hot shower is so nice.enjoy yours.

  6. They are called tankless water heaters in the States, and they are sold at most hardware stores like Lowe’s. Government tax credit can be had if you have this unit. If they are not already popular in the States, my guess is that the National Association of Homebuilders (NAH) needs to be weaned away from building new homes that automatically accomodate the traditional hot water heater. A lot of people are used to the huge hot water heaters, and may not be aware that there is a better, energy-efficient alternative. To change this culture, the NAH has to initiate the change.

  7. OK, check. I too figured that I could probably be OK without hot water, but you convinced me. Hot water it is (when I get there).

    • Hi Jamie – You can make it without if you are determined… I made it for a couple years. I must say, though… for comfort.. hot water is the bomb! 😉

  8. The point of use kind, like in your picture, installed in the actual shower, is against code here in the US, If they got water inside them, it could ground to you, and that would be your last hot shower. They can be used, but must be installed someplace so that it could not be touched, while you are standing in water. I have seen electric ones that can handle up to 4 separate points of use, but they draw 100amps. and are pretty expensive compared to a tank type here. The whole house tankless ones are propane or natural gas, but can cost far upwards of $2,000.00, so most here stick with the tank style, since electic is much cheaper here than there. New ones of those can also exceed 2,000.00 if you get into the newer heat pump style ones, that have tanks and are super insulated, but still would be a long pay-off over a standard 50gal. hot water heater at $150.00.

  9. A few years ago I helped my son switch from tank to tankless. the cost was twice as much as a tank type. The cost of energy keeps going up, he lives in Montana, and keeps his outdoor hot tub going year around. It added about $100.00 a month to a $500.00 a month Natural Gas bill, at the time. He is on a budget plan so his Gas bill is the same every month for a year, then it gets adjusted.

    If he built an earth sheltered home, he would be able to heat with a 100 watt light bulb, an even then have to open doors to cool it off in the winter.

    Who knows the basic rule of 3’s??

      • During that time the cost of NG went up 100%, the following year it went up another almost 100%. at the time we put in the new tankless hot water heater he had a super efficient central heating system.

        The following year he had the siding removed and installed 3 inched of Styrofoam, house wrap, inert gas filled double pane windows and new wood siding, doubled the depth of the ceiling insulation.

        On warm day in January it will get up 0 degrees F.

        ‘

  10. bOB, HOT WATER IS A MUST FOR ME. i HAVE SOME ARTHRITIS ISSUES BUT HAVE FOUND hEAT MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE IN RELIEVING PAIN THAN MEDICATIONS AND i DON’T LIKE MEDICATIONS OF ANY KIND. i DON’T HAVE EITHER TANKLESS OR TANKED HOT WATER IN MY HOUSE SINCE WATER IS ALWAYS A PROBLEM BUT i BOIL THREE L4 LITER POTS OF WATER AND THEN ADD JUST ENOUGH COLD WATER TO MAKE IT BEARABLE ON MY FLESH– i WANT IT VERY HOT ! I HAVE AN ARRANGEMENT WITH THE HOTEL I USE IN THE CITY TO BE SURE MY ROOM HAS A WORKING HOT WATER UNIT BEFORE I CHECK IN. I USE THE HOTEL WHEN THERE HAS BEEN NO WATER AT MY HOUSE AND MY STORAGE TANKS ARE EMPTY. And I need Jun2x to remove the stinkin caps lock button from my Puter

  11. Bob,
    We don’t have hot water in the house we are renting. So when I want a warm shower Anne just heats a couple kettles of water and mixes them with the cold water in a tub. A cold shower can be refreshing in the morning though.

    • Hi PapaDuck – We have also done the “boil some water” thing from time to time over the past couple of years too! It works great! The water heater is more convenient, though. 😉

  12. Ah warm beer and cold showers — who said the PH is not paradise? Could it have been the people with warm showers and cold beer?

  13. Kuya Bob,

    Wifi in the shower is one thing I have an advantage of…LOL… My current Globe wifi setup allows for wifi availability throughout the house and even out to my salaset (gazebo) about half way across my 4k sqm lot.

    As you and some readers may know when I am in Afghanistan I was unable to come to this and many other Philippine sites, however, I do check into them periodically, even though, it has been several years since I commented on any sites.

  14. I think they haven’t caught on in the US because most of the public is opposed to taking a shower with an electric cable.

      • The first encounter I had with one of those hot water shower units was in the 1990’s in the UK. I must admit I was a bit reluctant to take a shower with that 240 volt ” box ” just inches away. Although I have not heard of any electrocution by hot water, I guess you could also possibly get some kind of electrical leakage from the heaters in a traditional electric hot water tank, if something went wrong. I wonder if there are any built in safeguards for something like that.

  15. Hi Bob, this will be outside your article but really need the advice. I’m moving to outside Iloilo, with my wife, don’t know who to trust with cargo. I’ve found many complaints with most companies. Was going to use abs cbn star kargo, then found Lbc add they have 2 offices around our home. Then alpha cargo, Manila forwarders. Most all are black listed except Lbc.v please help need to ship soon. I have most everything ready to pac Thanks

    • I have had a lot of good dealings with LBC, Russell, so I would probably go with them if it were me. I have had some bad dealings with Manila Forwarders, so I would avoid them personally.

      • Yeah Bob, LBC is the way to go! Used to use Forex which btw is also a good carrier, but LBC is much more convenient since they pick up at my house for less than Forex for same size boxes. LBC also has a huge warehouse in Portland, OR and…… they shipped 1100 boxes for free from the Filipino community to the victims of Yolanda. The girls, Alma and Myrna at their office in Portland worked their little butts off and mostly on their own time to get those boxes processed. My hat off to LBC and their devoted employees!

  16. Never took a hot shower in our house in Davao but he water tank was in the sun so sometimes the water is warm. Boiling hot water for a shave is a must!!

    • Hi Nick – I have lived in Davao for more than 12 years and have yet to find a Jun2 here! I am sure one exists (or more than 1), but I have yet to find him!

  18. A little off the subject here forward..But yes those shower units are great…But I was thinking the other day…How we washed for almost 10 years now the dishes with cold water and have never had a problem and thinking of how in the U S …. this would never be considered..!!!!

    • Hi Lenny – I fully agree with that. We use cold water to wash dishes and such too, I think that almost everybody in the Philippines does. It never caused us a problem at all. In the past when my mom was visiting us here, she was shocked that we did not wash dishes with hot water, she didn’t like the idea. It has never caused us a problem, though.

  19. The tankless water heaters I checked out in California were gas. Upon researching the topic, I discovered that these require larger gas pipes than what houses are normally equipped with. So it would mean having to do some repiping of my gas lines. The regular tank water heater seemed a good deal at the time. I’ll be interested to look at the models in the PI.

  20. I’m late to this article but here’s data.

    A watt is a volt-ampere. If you need xxxx watts to really slam heat into a flow of water, that means the volts X amperes multiply has to equal xxxx. The prevailing US voltage is 120 V and the Philippines are at 220. That means amperage in the US would have to be much higher for those xxxx watts. Or a wiring change to the house would be required to bring the 240V line from the clothes dryer to bathrooms.

  21. Hey Bob
    Why havenen’t these caught on in the US? Well first of all, most units are electric. Unless you already have an electric hot water tank there’s really no big reason to replace it. If you’re using natural gas. replacing with elritic is a bigger cost to convert. although they do make a on demand gas water heater, it doesn’t lend itself well to high cycles ( on, off, on, off, on, off) you get what I mean. And then the number one reason why I would never get one… people are done with their shower when the tank runs out of hot water. :O Putting an endless supply of hot water only defeats the purpose. my solution would be to buy a smaller hot water tank.

  22. I notice on the expat forums there are a number of reports of electric shocks from the water heaters used in the Philippines. This partly occurs from the fact that the electrical systems in most houses here are not properly grounded, and when water gets inside the unit. The units need to be properly grounded and should also be checked periodically. Some people have also been electrocuted by them. This link will give you some idea what can happen: http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/7937-wall-mounted-electric-shower-heaters/

    • Hi Tim – If the heater units are installed properly, there should not be a problem. Our on demand hot water heaters are installed at least a foot (maybe more) above the water outlet. I don’t see any way that water could get into the units. Yes, if the units are installed at too low of a level, I can see where there could be a problem, though. Anyway, I have been using these units for nearly 15 years now, never had the slightest shock. They are of no concern to me, and cause me no fear.