Waterheater Replacement!

We're getting a new waterheater in the apartment today.  This may not seem like a very big deal, but the water heater situation here in Chile is a bit different than in most of the US.

The waterheater (or "calefon") we have now is a manual setup, that you have to light with a match when you want hot water.  After lighting the flame blasts strong when you turn on the hot water, and the water flowing through the pipes is then heated.  It's quite a thing to see the blue flame flaring up when the hot water is flowing.

This system is great, as the only water that is heated is the water that you use -- and when you have gas in the canister and remember where the matches are, of course.  If you don't have either of those, be prepared for a cold shower.

My roommate and I, for the past few months now, have been surviving on lukewarm showers because our calefon just isn't working right.  Now that the fall/winter is approaching and the temperatures have dropped this temperature problem is becoming a nuisance ("mis huevos se están congelando!" -- go on and translate that).  So, my roommate Rulo finally made the move to replacing the setup.

The new calefon is an automatic setup, so no matches will be required for its use.  It will definitely be a great convenience, however I know I'll always feel a bit of nostalgia for those dark winter mornings, when I crawled into the kitchen to frantically search for matches to give me a warm shower.

UPDATE: It's Sunday and the new water heater still hasn't been installed.  The installation team came on Friday and Saturday, and both times they didn't have the correct parts.  This kind of service is so Chilean!  I took a damn cold shower last night.

The calefon, in the kitchen behind the sink.

You've got to find your matches.  Here they are, the rare occassion they are easy to find..

Flip the....

....lever on the gas canister.

We fortunately have a few backups.

Move the dial to "encendido," press down, then stick the match into the opening above...

.....to light the flame.

Rotate the dial to your desired setting and you're good to go.

The flame under use.

Our new calefon, just before installation.  Although the name "Junkers" would not fly in an English-speaking country, it's one of the best brands of calefones.