Hot Water Saga

When the technician came Monday to fix the hot water heater he did fix it, but he also told us that ours was really old and emitting carbon monoxide. So although we had hot water Monday night/Tuesday morning we were slowly dieing by breathing (at least we had the windows open)! So Tuesday he came to install a brand new heater where we don't have to constantly lite a fire when we want hot water. It was spiffy and brand new so we didn't care that he left the dirty old one on the floor in our kitchen (it wasn't connected so it was no longer emitting carbon monoxide). Last night I washed the dishes with hot water and all was well. The morning when I went to shower there was no hot water. I went to the kitchen and saw there was also no fire. However, since this was a new hot water heater I couldn't lite the fire. There was only hot water in the kitchen sink when I turned it all the way up. This lead to about a minute of hot water in the shower- aka enough to fool me into shampooing my hair before returning to ice cold water. Needless to say I was freezing this morning in 30 degree weather having washed my hair in ice cold water. When I got back from school I asked my roommates about it. Ines turned on the shower and hot water came out when it was all the way turned up. She suggested that since I shower in the morning when everyone else is showering there isn't enough water pressure for the heater to automatically lite the fire. Therefore saying I simply can't shower before school in the morning if I want hot water. My other roommate Osvaldo said that he showered around lunchtime and he only had a minute of hot water also before it was ice cold again- therefore having nothing to do with other water pressure in the building. I briefly turned on the shower and it was hot, but obviously I only left it on for a minute or so. Hopefully I'll have time to run after my teachers' class tonight before it gets dark. So I'll shower at an off time (like Osvaldo did) and see if it's hot or ice cold water. Ines thinks it's the pressure, Osvaldo thinks it's the heater, so after I try to shower tonight I'll cast my final vote. Regardless I think we should the technician back b/c I should be able to shower in the morning with hot water if I want. I almost want the old heater back; even though it emits carbon monoxide we could leave the window open and at least have hot water...

That brings me to another point: there are no smoke detectors or air detectors of any kind in Spain, at least not that I've seen. None in my apartment, none in my friends apartments, none in the schools, nor restaurants, etc. So if I die here it will probably be from an odorless gas or a horrible cold I get from showering in ice cold water in the winter. Good thing I like to be outside and usually have a pretty strong immune system!