A dangerous English B & B ?

Yep, I've seen and used them many times in the UK. Never thought anything of it.

:)

Any chance you have a picture of this? We just spent two weeks London and bath, and in two of our three lodgings (B and Bs) there was s such a shower control. Seemed perfectly normal (tricky to find the sweet spot then no problems) and I am certain it was properly grounded through the wall and with proper GFCI in line. I am also certain that this was in all the bathrooms in both places.

Yes, that is common in the UK and Ireland. I wish I could have one here! You never run out of hot water. The things you learn when you travel.....

I've seen them. They also have a ground fault circuit breaker to keep the happy shower person from becoming a "chip." There should have been a label on it but it's possible that it wore/washed off.

What you saw was an on-demand water heater. They sell those here now. They work well and should not be a source of concern. This is not something to worry over.

Yes, it sounds like an on-demand hot water system. I remember that one B&B in Scotland had an on-demand system that required switching the system on with a switch outside of the bathroom in addition to controls in the bath. My wife didn't understand the Scottish accented English and had an cold shower. We also experienced on-demand systems in Germany. If the stereotype about Germans is close to true, on-demand electrical water heaters can be used with conference, at least in Germany. The incentive is energy efficiency. On-demand systems provide hot water at the nozzle without having to heat a 50 gal tank of water and the delivery pipe.

Yes, they're becoming popular here in the area where I live, but they're not installed in the shower like they are in the UK.

Bill , I am thinking they have had this type of system for quite a few years in UK,, and haven't had issues with its safety.

The electric shower that you used meets all the requirements of the British safety standards, which can be found at http://www.iee-wiring-regulations.co.uk/.. These are different from the regulations used by other countries, but no less rigorous. For example, they do not allow power sockets or ordinary light switches in bathrooms. Light switches are either outside the room, or a cord-operated ceiling-mounted switch is used. The electric shower units use cold water at mains pressure, and require a separate, heavy-duty power supply. The hot water supply in many older buildings is often at low pressure, which is OK for a bath or basin but means poor flow at the shower head unless a pump is installed. You are more likely to find such an arrangement in a small old hotel or a B & B. Modern purpose-built hotels, at whatever price, will have other systems of water heating and distribution at an acceptable pressure.

I thought perhaps the dangerous B&B was serving rancid bacon or eggs that had gone off.

I appreciate hearing from so many of you who have more experience than I. I stand reassured. :o)

Actually, wouldn't that be any place there serving the coronary-causing "English Breakfast"?

My first experience with this kind of on-demand hot water system was in, yikes!, 1977. Yes, they have been around for a very long time, and it was in more than one country even way back then. Some were coin or token operated. Both were far superior to having to get up at 0:dark:30 to bathe so that there would be hot water available in the hotel, B&B, hostel or even my apartment when I lived in Nuremberg.

The London hostel where I stayed in 1971 had this system. As I recall 5p got you 5 minutes of hot water. People shared the shower to save money.

Lo and Denton, I remember a coin-op in the early Seventies. But, since I've resumed traveling the last five years or so, I haven't encountered one in any of three countries (UK --England & Scotland -- France, Czech Republic. Then again, I've visited mainly large cities. Maybe some of the smaller areas still have them.

The other benefit is that if someone else draws cold water from the system the automatic safety cut-out ensures, unlike some mixer showers, that you do not get scalded! We have used two such units for over 30 years, one in a shower cubicle and the other over the bath.