Technological Mystery

So, here's a little conundrum:

When I first moved into my house, the shower worked ok, but after a while it began to play up a bit. It would take a long time for the heater to kick in, and sometimes it would not work at all. Pressing the "reset" button would usually resolve the issue, and then I discovered that I could trick it by turning the shower tap on before switching on the power switch. That worked for a while, but in the end even that was no good, and I found that the only way I could get hot water from the shower was to stand with my finger pressed permanently on the reset button, which left only one hand for soaping and rinsing - tricky! (Brief pause to allow appropriate level of chuckling at the image that conjures!)

Back in April and May, when the weather was unbearably hot, it would not have been an issue, but the temperature has now dropped sufficiently for a cold shower to be not quite comfortable. So, after I got back from Bangkok I contacted my landlady to get someone to have a look at it. They duly came the other day, and when I got back from work I noticed that the inlet and outlet pipes were positioned the opposite way round from before. Close inspection revealed a sticker on the base of the shower unit that confirmed that the current configuration is correct, which means that previously the shower was plumbed in back to front.

Now, I don't know a vast amount about electric showers, but I am rather surprised that it was working at all before, if the water was going the wrong way round, but perhaps that isn't actually all that crucial to its functioning. Anyhow, the shower is now working properly, and I am once again counting my blessings at the luxury of having the possibility of an instant hot shower every day.