My Love/Hate Relationship with Hot Water in the Shower

Here at the guest house our apartment has a Califone for heating water. The idea is that it heats the water as it comes through the pipe and so you never run out of hot water. This is not to be confused with a 'widow maker' which they have all over here and in Africa, too. A widow maker is a 220 volt wire that runs over your head in the shower and heats the water by some device hooked up to the shower head as the water comes through the nozzle. So, you are standing in water with a 220 volt wire over your head. Oh, yeah, I forgot the best part...to turn it on, you have to reach up and flip the switch while you are standing in the water. Who thought of this bright idea? Many of the houses we looked at had widow-makers in the showers. I didn't relish the thought of that for our kiddos...or for any of us as far as that goes. The kids asked me if any ever gets shocked or dies. I know of a lot of people have them and don't know of anyone first hand that has died, but after all they are called widow-makers. So, now, back to our shower and the Califone. First of all I think it should be called a water warmer instead of a water heater. The water doesn't get hot even though the Califone is turned up full blast. Secondly, I don't know how, but it does manage to run out of hot water even though it is theoretically impossible. This is how my morning shower goes: I turn on all hot water (no cold) so that it will at least be warm and then I get in. If/when it starts running hot I am filled with excitement and dread. Excitement because real hot water is rare and dread because I know what's coming next. After it runs hot for 1-2 minutes it will run totally cold for 1-2 minutes before it settles back in at warm. So, you can see why I have a love/hate relationship with hot water in the shower. Here's hoping that the Califone in our new apartment will work better.