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Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Old Mar 19th 2014, 1:24 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by hotscot
You still talking about your wife? I'm not sure...
Yeah. I came over all passive aggressive for a moment there.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 1:32 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Uncle_Bob
It seems that bed bugs are more of a problem here, check your hotel here

http://www.bedbugregistry.com/
We stayed at the Extended Stay in Houston TX last year while we were working there for a few weeks. I got bitten to death by bed bugs, but they never touched my husband. He wouldn't believe they were bed bugs, until one night one bit me on the end of my finger and it was so painful it woke me up. I immediately put the lamp on, and we found three in the bed.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 1:34 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by beachgal21
We stayed at the Extended Stay in Houston TX last year while we were working there for a few weeks. I got bitten to death by bed bugs, but they never touched my husband. He wouldn't believe they were bed bugs, until one night one bit me on the end of my finger and it was so painful it woke me up. I immediately put the lamp on, and we found three in the bed.
OMG I would have been hysterical.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:19 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Steerpike
?



I agree - UK electric showers are abysmal compared to all the showers I've ever had here. Now, in CA, they do require you to install some flow regulator, which is not terribly limiting but - I've removed them from my shower head since I like to have skin abrasions from my shower ...
Could be that my father in law was a plumber that all the family power showers were top notch! I did appreciate the non stop (sometimes very) hot water though.

To be fair, we do have good showers. However, our electric water heater is far from both showers and the kitchen sink making for wasted water while waiting for the shower to heat up.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:32 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Recirculating pump?
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:41 am
  #51  
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Smile Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

teapot stand, or cosy for that matter
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 4:37 am
  #52  
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Moonshadow_Girl
Could be that my father in law was a plumber that all the family power showers were top notch! I did appreciate the non stop (sometimes very) hot water though.

To be fair, we do have good showers. However, our electric water heater is far from both showers and the kitchen sink making for wasted water while waiting for the shower to heat up.
In my old townhouse and my current condo, the hot water is recirculated. This make the cost of building a home more expensive since hot water return pipes need to be installed. It also increase your utility bills since it is much easier and more efficient to insulate the water heater than to insulate all the hot water pipes. A hot water recirculating pump for a home is usually only about 1/25th HP so that doesn't consume a lot of power.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 8:18 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Michael
In my old townhouse and my current condo, the hot water is recirculated. This make the cost of building a home more expensive since hot water return pipes need to be installed. It also increase your utility bills since it is much easier and more efficient to insulate the water heater than to insulate all the hot water pipes. A hot water recirculating pump for a home is usually only about 1/25th HP so that doesn't consume a lot of power.
How does a recirculating pump work? I can imagine that it is temperature triggered, such that when the temp at some remote location on the hot-water delivery side falls too low, it forces water to circulate, returning the cooled pipe water back to the hot water tank for re-heating? If that's true, then how does one use a recirculating pump to speed up hot water delivery when you have a tank-less heater like I do? I have a tankless heater way down (40 feet below) the house, and it takes a good 90 seconds for even lukewarm water to start to flow when the faucet is turned on full (it was bad enough when I had a tank down there, but now with the tankless it's nuts). I guess you would feed the return flow into a secondary input into the tankless heater?

Obviously a trade off of energy waste vs water waste!
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 9:57 am
  #54  
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by arran29
teapot stand, or cosy for that matter
Thanks - I shall make sure to pack ours in the essentials box
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 10:18 am
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by beachgal21
We stayed at the Extended Stay in Houston TX last year while we were working there for a few weeks. I got bitten to death by bed bugs, but they never touched my husband. He wouldn't believe they were bed bugs, until one night one bit me on the end of my finger and it was so painful it woke me up. I immediately put the lamp on, and we found three in the bed.
Bed bugs come with the business in the hotel world, no way to avoid them, even the pricey nice hotels charging several hundred a night see them at some point. Most times nobody ever knows, so online sites are not all too accurate, and you also have people claiming there are but upon professional inspection none are found.

Hotel rooms are cosmetically clean and that is about it, the goal is to have the room look clean, but its not really clean on a germ level, quick spray and wipe of surfaces, not nearly enough time to kill most viruses and bacteria.

Hotel rooms are just dirty places, no getting around that.

Also never ever ever use the duvet or bed spread, just use the sheets, only the sheets and pillow cases are washed between guests, the duvet or bed spread are on a as need basis, no way to wash them daily, and they are not.

Towels are of course washed between guests, but I'd suggest bringing your own since they well can have a pretty good adventure from dryer to the time they actually are placed in the room and handled by who knows how many people.

Also unless sealed in a plastic wrap, don't use the glasses and mugs in the rooms either, many times they are just rinsed out by house keeping in the room, and never washed in a dishwasher.

Housekeepers are generally expected to clean 15-20 rooms in 8 hours, so do the math and deduct breaks, and its not much time per room.

Carpets do get steam cleaned 1-2 a year or as needed, but not often.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 2:52 pm
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Steerpike
How does a recirculating pump work? I can imagine that it is temperature triggered, such that when the temp at some remote location on the hot-water delivery side falls too low, it forces water to circulate, returning the cooled pipe water back to the hot water tank for re-heating? If that's true, then how does one use a recirculating pump to speed up hot water delivery when you have a tank-less heater like I do? I have a tankless heater way down (40 feet below) the house, and it takes a good 90 seconds for even lukewarm water to start to flow when the faucet is turned on full (it was bad enough when I had a tank down there, but now with the tankless it's nuts). I guess you would feed the return flow into a secondary input into the tankless heater?

Obviously a trade off of energy waste vs water waste!
A recirculating pump only works when there is a reservoir of hot water i.e. a tank, to return the cooled water to.

A recirculating pump saves water, a tankless heater saves power, you can't do both, with the benefit of hindsight, your tankless heater should not have just been plumbed where the tank used to be, it should have been moved as close as possible to the points of usage, perhaps in or near the kitchen, and this is possible because of the very small size of tankless heaters. .... In the two houses I have lived in since moving here, the water heater has been installed as far as it is possible to get from the master suit bathroom!

Last edited by Pulaski; Mar 19th 2014 at 3:19 pm.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:11 pm
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Pulaski
A recirculating pump only works when there is a reservoir of hot water i.e. a tank, to return the cooled water to.

A recirculating pump saves water, a tankless heater saves power, you can't do both. .... In the two houses I have lived in since moving here, the water heater has been installed as far as it is possible to get from the master suit bathroom!
Our house has what is called a "California Basement" -- a small partial basement big enough only for the the furnaces [and concomitant A/C units] and water heater. One second floor bathroom is pretty much directly above where the water heater is two stories below. The shower has almost instant hot water. The lavoratory takes about 10 seconds with that 8 foot vertical run to the risers. The bathrooms on the other sides of the house take a bloody minute to get hot water.

We went to convert to tankless, but venting requirements for such devices are quite different than for tanked heaters which is why you usually see them mounted on the exterior when added at a later time. It would have been a royal PIA to install a tankless in the basement because of the different venting requirements. So installed a new tank.

BTW, newer tank heaters [at least here in California] are very well insulated and don't need additional insulating blankets. The exterior is always cool to the touch.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:24 pm
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Jsmth321
Bed bugs come with the business in the hotel world, no way to avoid them, even the pricey nice hotels charging several hundred a night see them at some point. Most times nobody ever knows, so online sites are not all too accurate, and you also have people claiming there are but upon professional inspection none are found.

Hotel rooms are cosmetically clean and that is about it, the goal is to have the room look clean, but its not really clean on a germ level, quick spray and wipe of surfaces, not nearly enough time to kill most viruses and bacteria.

Hotel rooms are just dirty places, no getting around that.

Also never ever ever use the duvet or bed spread, just use the sheets, only the sheets and pillow cases are washed between guests, the duvet or bed spread are on a as need basis, no way to wash them daily, and they are not.

Towels are of course washed between guests, but I'd suggest bringing your own since they well can have a pretty good adventure from dryer to the time they actually are placed in the room and handled by who knows how many people.

Also unless sealed in a plastic wrap, don't use the glasses and mugs in the rooms either, many times they are just rinsed out by house keeping in the room, and never washed in a dishwasher.

Housekeepers are generally expected to clean 15-20 rooms in 8 hours, so do the math and deduct breaks, and its not much time per room.

Carpets do get steam cleaned 1-2 a year or as needed, but not often.
This makes me feel sick. I guess it's the same the world over and I've got bookings at 4 different hotels in the next few months, every night I shall be remembering your comment
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:27 pm
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Pulaski
A recirculating pump only works when there is a reservoir of hot water i.e. a tank, to return the cooled water to.

A recirculating pump saves water, a tankless heater saves power, you can't do both. .... In the two houses I have lived in since moving here, the water heater has been installed as far as it is possible to get from the master suit bathroom!
+1

A traditional recirculating hot water pump is always running circulating the hot water through the hot water heater and pipes constantly. The pump doesn't need to be very powerful or large since as long as it can keep the water flowing at just above a trickle, the pipes stay hot. The pump is installed on the return line next to the hot water heater and sucks the water out of the pipes back into the hot water heater and doesn't obstruct the flow to the fixtures. On mine, the pipes coming into the pump was still very hot. Therefore you need the hot water and return pipes insulated to keep energy costs down.

Recirculation doesn't seem to use very much energy if done right since my summer energy costs were only about $40-$60 per month total for a 2,100 sf townhouse.
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Old Mar 19th 2014, 3:31 pm
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Default Re: Weird..the things you can't get in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Jsmth321
Bed bugs come with the business in the hotel world, no way to avoid them, even the pricey nice hotels charging several hundred a night see them at some point. Most times nobody ever knows, so online sites are not all too accurate, and you also have people claiming there are but upon professional inspection none are found.

Hotel rooms are cosmetically clean and that is about it, the goal is to have the room look clean, but its not really clean on a germ level, quick spray and wipe of surfaces, not nearly enough time to kill most viruses and bacteria.

Hotel rooms are just dirty places, no getting around that.

Also never ever ever use the duvet or bed spread, just use the sheets, only the sheets and pillow cases are washed between guests, the duvet or bed spread are on a as need basis, no way to wash them daily, and they are not.

Towels are of course washed between guests, but I'd suggest bringing your own since they well can have a pretty good adventure from dryer to the time they actually are placed in the room and handled by who knows how many people.

Also unless sealed in a plastic wrap, don't use the glasses and mugs in the rooms either, many times they are just rinsed out by house keeping in the room, and never washed in a dishwasher.

Housekeepers are generally expected to clean 15-20 rooms in 8 hours, so do the math and deduct breaks, and its not much time per room.

Carpets do get steam cleaned 1-2 a year or as needed, but not often.
I've stayed in plenty of hotels over the years and will continue to do so in the coming years. I don't try and think too much of how clean the bed is, because I wouldn't get into it and I'd never sleep!

I actually knew someone who, when traveling, brought her own sets of sheets/blankets for the bed. If you're traveling by car I guess you could do all of that. But traveling somewhere by plane kind of makes that idea a bit hard.
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