Update: My husband sent someone over and they turned the gas on in the garage. Now the shower is working.
Do you guys have the equivalent to InstaCart here (where someone does your grocery shopping for you and brings it to your door)?
How do I get the hot water in the shower to work? I figured out the dial on the right let’s the water out… but I don’t know which way to turn the temperature dial on the left. Either way it comes out like ice.
Edit: Link of shower dial: https://imgur.com/a/hkkKEVl
Edit: I didn’t have a chance to prepare because I came here last minute after my hometown was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. After the storm there was no power, internet, or gas. We had a generator but after filling the tank with gas it would only run for 4 hours. All the gas stations were shut down because they were damaged. No one could get gas. The highway was blocked because the Myakka River overflowed. We couldn’t go south because the roads were closed due to damage. Our only option was north but it was bumper to bumper and took 4 hours to get through just a couple miles to bypass the closed section of the highway.
The national guard and fema didn’t come like they did in previous hurricanes like Charlie or Irma.
So my husband got me out of there.
I may seem like another unprepared American, which I am, but it wasn’t on purpose.
Links of damage: https://imgur.com/a/dNpeLpw
Edit: Here is my beach town before the hurricane: https://imgur.com/a/Z9F2l8I
36 comments
I know Delhaize does delivery, idk about any other supermarkets (I think with Colruyt you just place your order and pick it up yourself)
For the shower question: I’m afraid there is no such thing as a Standardized Belgian Shower so you’ll just have to use some trial and error
You can try Albert Heijn for home delivery of groceries. Delhaize and Colruyt have collect & go so everything is gathered for you in advance of pickup.
Obviously the dial will depend on your shower, without a photo or more details don’t think anyone will be able to help you with that.
Delhaize and Albert Heijn do home delivery, Colruyt does pick up service.
In my experience, Carrefour is a bit faster (can do next day, usually) than Delhaize. You can also have UberEats do some groceries if you need them right now.
If you live in an apartment building, it usually takes a while before the water becomes warm. We live on the fourth floor, it takes one minute of ice cold water before the hot water starts. It has to come from the basement.
Show us a pic of your shower. Do you have hot water in the kitchen?
We haven’t invented hot water showers yet. It seems like a great idea. A bit on the expensive side though. /s
I think for the left one. Depending how it’s located. Turn it upward for warm/hot. But if you could show a pic that may work?
Also depending on where you live, there are services that deliver. For example, Colruyt Collect&Go, you have to go pick up. Other services in my town don’t deliver. But you should be fine if you live in a bigger city
As for the shower, the trick probably is you need to wait. So turn the valve one way wait for longer than you think possible with the water running for the water to heat up. If it doesn’t, try the other direction and wait as well. It can take a while before the hot water reaches you.
Is the hot water working in the sink and did you wait long enough to see if it gets hot? It sounds you’re using the correct dial.
Can you get the hot water in the bathroom sink to work? If so, you probably have to wait a bit longer for the water to reach the shower. If not, check if the boiler is turned on/plugged in.
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Unfortunately, instacart doesn’t exist here. Some grocery stores in big cities do deliver. Depending on where you are, there might also be uber eats and deliveroo available if you don’t want to leave the house to eat.
Showers mecanisms aren’t standardized at all around here, i’ve scratched my head a few times trying to get one to work even as a born and raised belgian. Post a pic of it and i’ll try to help you out
when you turn the knob all the way, it should be set al 38C, then you can push the button and go passed the 38C up to whatever temp the boiler is set at.
if there isnt any hot water when it’s turned to the 38, then either the faucet isn’t configured correctly (when installing it, you can adjust the stop), or the boiler is broken.
depress the small button on the left dial, you will feel that the dial can rotate further to the warm section.
For the shower: have to hold that button and turn it further up, once beyond 38°C you probably don’t need to hold it.
to iterate on the shower dial:
like you discovered the rightside dial is to configure the water volume
the left side is to configure the temperature.
you can turn it “up” to 38 degrees. no need to go further initially. the faucet is thermostatic, so it will take 100% water from the warm side untill it gets to 38 degrees. only then it will mix in water from the cold side.
let it run for 2 minutes. (many ppl turn on the water and while wating strip for showering.) if it is not hot after this wait, you should check the heater.
the heater can be one of three systems:
storage electric boiler, typically a big tank in your bathroom
gas dedicated boiler
gas heating system combo boiler.
starting it up i wont cover as it is a bit complicated without seeing the model
Delivery would be different depending on where you are located at the moment. Where do you live at the moment? For the shower dial: turn the left one anti clock wise (towards the red) and when it stops turning, push that button and then you can continue to turn the dial and get to nice hot water.
Shame to hear about your house and the hurricane. If you have any other Belgian related questions on culture, administration, language, etc… You can always send me a chat. Welcome to Belgium
When it comes to Grocery shopping in America vs Europe, in America you’re often expected to go everywhere by car and stores are often a good distance away from residential areas. In European countries, shops tend to be placed in the middle of residential areas, so often, you’ll have a shop within walking distance from where you live.
Using an app to have food delivered at your doorstep is something I haven’t really heard much of in Belgium.
I don’t know the situation you’re currently in, but it might be beneficial to consider checking if there is any store close by and just walking over.
When it comes to Grocery shopping in America vs Europe, in America you’re often expected to go everywhere by car and stores are often a good distance away from residential areas. In European countries, shops tend to be placed in the middle of residential areas, so often, you’ll have a shop within walking distance from where you live.
Using an app to have food delivered at your doorstep is something I haven’t really heard much of in Belgium.
I don’t know the situation you’re currently in, but it might be beneficial to consider checking if there is any store close by and just walking over.
Scrolling through the comments I think your questions have been answered in general.
I just wanted to say how sorry I am this has happened to you. We lost our house in a fire when I was 9, we were lucky to have a place to live in our hometown afterwards (not so lucky when we lost the case against the insurance company…). But I kinda understand what it means to lose basically everything, and couldn’t imagine having to relocate so far away from everything you’ve known your entire life after loosing so much.
Anyway, if you could use a Belgian native in your contact list, dm me, I would be happy to help you with some practical stuff (or even translating, I’m a Dutch speaker fyi). My partner is actually moving from the Netherlands to Belgium this month (he’s from Cyprus), and we’re also looking into all the practical sides.
Hey, I’m also an American living in Belgium for the last 2.5 years. I’m living in Gent and order groceries through Albert Heijn on their website, but husband also uses the app and likes it. I’m not sure if AH delivers in Brussels, but I know they’re expanding and tend to be a bit cheaper than Delhaize. From my experience Delhaize is one of the most expensive stores (as are the ‘Express’ and ‘proxy’ stores that are scattered around. (You didn’t ask about price, but you just left a natural disaster so I figured you might eventually want to save some $).
For the shower, it probably is set up to work intuitively, that knob should be turned up where the other knob is likely for water pressure. If waiting and running it longer didn’t work, try checking your breaker box and the water heater itself. (only pointing out the obvious because you might be exhausted, stressed, traumatized etc.). I don’t know much about Brussels, but if I can help with general questions about Belgium and differences from the US/south feel free to PM me!
Sorry to hear your home got destroyed.
Where are you now ?
Red on taps means hot. Press the button and turn left. Your water should get hotter. If not, there probably is something wrong with the boiler/geiser. Find out what type, use the internet to find a users guide.
Groceries deliveries you can get from every major supermarket chain. At a cost.
Then there is also “HelloFresh” and alike.
You may, however, also have a nice neighbour that will help you out. Just ask.
Keep in mind that prices online are higher than on the shelves in the store. On top of paying extra to have it delivered.
Up is warm down is cold
I laughed at the dozens of comments on the shower and two on your predicament. Water at the beginning of the shower is not the only thing that can be a bit cold here.
Being in a house that gets damaged during a hurricane sounds scary… as does moving out of the area. Glad to hear you got to a safe place with all your basic needs. Hope your loved ones are okay as well.
Yoo Floridian, I am a Belgian guy currently living in the South (took me a while to get used to the temperature too, but in the other direction). Hit me up if you have any questions about Belgium/Flanders, I think I am capable of seeing both the Belgian as the US perspective.
Go shopping yourself bro
Hope you have an OK time here in safe Belgium. Terrible what’s happened in your state..
Up is hot
Down is cold
Good luck 🛀🌡️
Hey there, so sorry to hear what happened, I do hope you and your family and friends are safe!
I’m from the wrong side of the north border, and moved a lot further south a while ago – meaning that my comment might or not be helpful.
In my previous apartment, I had an electric water heater; as soon as I turned the hot water on, it would show the temperature of the hot water that comes out of it (and as it was not all that powerful, it would take some time for the water to get to a decent temperature). If your water heater has a display, it might be worth checking if it gives you any kind of feedback when you turn the hot water on. A gas heater should make more than enough noise (fans, mostly) to let you know it’s working.
When I moved in to the apartment, I also did not have any hot water – turns out the owner had shut a valve on the pipe coming out of the water heater; are there any valves you could check?
I’ve also used quite some showers where something was not working entirely as it should, but turning the water volume all the way up would somehow nudge the heater into working. Maybe it’s worth giving that a go?
I don’t know for how long you will stay here or if you are living close to Brussels but if you’re still in need of support to navigate for shopping etc, my wife can support you within Brussels. She loves shopping and doing groceries so it wouldn’t be a burden. However she will be in Turkey for 2 weeks after this Friday. Still, please feel free to send a message if you need something urgent and I can help for anything I can. I have a car so do not hesitate to contact for urgent needs especially if you need something for kids (if you have). Sorry for the huge damage caused by the hurricane and I hope all will be better soon for you and everyone affected.
So about Instacart: we don’t have that exact service but many supermarkets do deliver. Try Delhaize, Carrefour and Albert Heijn. The first one is the most expensive one but does deliver pretty much anywhere.
Glad the shower works now.
Another service you might like: Takeaway dot com is often better than Uber Eats, which does exist here too. And while Amazon does work in Belgium, it is often worth it to check out bol dot com.
If it makes you feel better, the confused American writing this didn’t have hot water to the shower because the pipe sending water to the water heater hadn’t been opened. It took the gas company coming out to check the water heater to figure that out though.
Also gas prices are insanely high here atm thanks to the war situation, so try to prepare for a winter without a lot of heating and shorter hot showers, in my house we will barely turn on the heating at all and buy a lot of new warm clothes, winters are usually soft in Belgium, at least compared to the rest of Europe, since we rarely get a maximum temperature under 0°C (32°F) but since you lived in the south of the USA, it’s probably still gonna feel cold.
Just dying over the fact that you had a hurricane in Florida and Belgium was your go-to rescue area
>How do I get the hot water in the shower to work? I figured out the dial on the right let’s the water out… but I don’t know which way to turn the temperature dial on the left. Either way it comes out like ice.
I think you can push that button to unlock the faucet and turn it towards the red arrow to get it hotter. but be carefull you don’t burn yourself. the 38 °C is set so it doesn’t get too hot.
My guess for it being cold is because either the water boiler is turned off or the hot water pipe is still filled with cooled water. Or the flow isn’t strong enough for the boiler to start heating. it depends on the boiler and the time between maintenance. what type of boiler is it?
It needs to run for a few seconds (let’s hope not minutes).
We sometime had to remove the lime from the shower pipes untill we installed a watersoftener. But that’s another problem that cause flow reduction and not triggering the boiler. I hope it is not the case with you.
Just know that everything except Antwerpen is parking