Electric Showers

Rich · 12 Feb 2017 at 17:36

Hi Guys,

We have an Aqualisa Vitalise SLX, I believe it is the 8.5KW version here. Im not allowed to describe how bad it is on here due to the language ban, but needless to say, we aren't happy with it.

Is there any such thing as a *GOOD* electric shower, or am I wasting my time even looking?

Cheers,

Superficial · 12 Feb 2017 at 18:48

I have always a god things to Say about Mira and their support is great. In fact the innards of electric showers are very simple and if you take he time to study the service manual Mira will happily send you the parts after a quick phone call or send an engineer. Be careful though as they can technically charge you for the engineers time if the issue is with the property and not the shower.

2 year guarantee as standard with Mira and great UK based support.

you don't say what your issue is exactly...

Rich · 12 Feb 2017 at 21:08

Product design is crap. It has a dial for temperature with no markings or numbers on it. That in and of itself is largely inexcusable. You can turn the dial to the same point and get completely different temperatures on different days. It's unpredictable and annoying.
Water pressure is poor. Heating up time is poor. You turn the dial and then wait 30 seconds for it to figure itself out. Because you don't have temp markings on the dial you have to repeat this set and wait farce a few times. By the time the shower is at the desired temperture it's been running for 2 minutes. The whole thing is just poor.

When I say "are any electric showers any good" I guess what I mean is, do any come close to a proper plumbed shower?

Cheers,

Schizo · 12 Feb 2017 at 21:12

I've got a triton and seems great,electric showers are never great and push out enough water for a shower,I've never liked a electric shower but there good for what they are.....convenient.

Participant · 12 Feb 2017 at 21:24

There is no such thing as a good electric shower, assuming that your definition of 'good' is more flow than a modestly listed watering can.

Even the 10.5kW ones are poo compared to a pumped, unvented, or even one running of a crap combi. Part of it relies on your water mains pressure and internal plumbing, but even if these are optimal, the only good reason I've ever heard given for installing an electric shower is boiler redundancy.

And when I say 'good', I mean good if you're a landlord that's installed a cheap boiler and doesn't want your tenants to withhold rent because they can't shower when the cheap boiler has broken down.

As you can probably tell, I really don't like electric showers.

a1ex2001 · 13 Feb 2017 at 14:00

I'd agree with the above, while it is possible to get an acceptable shower from an electric (9.5Kw +) it will never be a great shower experience. We have a second bathroom with a 9.5Kw Mira shower in it we opted for this so we could run both showers simultaneously without impacting the other. The main shower runs of our combi boiler an is excellent due to good water pressure and flow rate the second electric shower has a built in pump and draws water from a 35 gallon cold water tank that trickle fills directly above it. So both can be run without impacting the flow or temperature of the other, also means if the boiler dies or the gas is off we can still shower.

I'd love to have gone unvented hot water but we have nowhere to put the tank the 35 gallon plastic tank was literally the biggest thing we could get in out loft space and the ceiling down at that pint!

joeyjojo · 13 Feb 2017 at 14:21

Never seen a good one.

I think you're probably making a meal of the temperature setting 'problem' though OP. On ours it obviously also varies depending on the inlet water temp, but say if I know if it's cold out I'll need to set it to 7-7.5 (out of 10), but on a warmer day 6-7, etc. Yours does sound slow to respond though, ours takes maybe 5 seconds.

Six6siX · 13 Feb 2017 at 15:36

We have a 10.5KW Aqualisa Quartz which is alright - even with our 'meh' water pressure. Obviously isn't as powerful as a direct mains fed/pumped one but the eventual plan is to have something like that in a second shower room - in that case, the redundancy offered by the electric one will be useful and usable.

Muban · 13 Feb 2017 at 17:34

I have a Mira Jump (good to retrofit as it's a Multi-Fit). Never had any problems with Mira showers (my folks have an older Mira). Don't have any issues with water pressure though as the water pressure in my place it pretty high anyway.

Participant · 13 Feb 2017 at 21:12

Six6siX;30499362 said:
the redundancy offered by the electric one will be useful and usable.

That argument just doesn't wash (bit like people with electric showers).

Why cripple your showering enjoyment every single day, just for the one time in five (at worst) years that your boiler breaks down?

Buffman · 13 Feb 2017 at 21:26

Participant;30500491 said:
That argument just doesn't wash (bit like people with electric showers).

Why cripple your showering enjoyment every single day, just for the one time in five (at worst) years that your boiler breaks down?

I think the case that six six has made is the best price:effort:reward ratio if you have 2 showers (depends on your house layout!).

I've had electric showers (mira) and they've been fine.

No point heating a hot tank in the roof if you don't need to.

Duke · 13 Feb 2017 at 21:31

If you have a hot water tank then get a proper pump shower plumbed in, they are so much better.

Six6siX · 13 Feb 2017 at 22:22

Participant;30500491 said:
That argument just doesn't wash (bit like people with electric showers).

Why cripple your showering enjoyment every single day, just for the one time in five (at worst) years that your boiler breaks down?

It's not really to cater for a boiler breakdown or gas issue or something - more so that we can have the option to have multiple showers going at the same time. And cost/convenience of the house system overall as mentioned. I came to the conclusion that I'd rather have one of each eventually.

a1ex2001 · 14 Feb 2017 at 21:00

Six6siX said:
It's not really to cater for a boiler breakdown or gas issue or something - more so that we can have the option to have multiple showers going at the same time. And cost/convenience of the house system overall as mentioned. I came to the conclusion that I'd rather have one of each eventually.

We did the same I weighed up all the options and the combi and electric pairing best suited our needs and budget.

theone8181 · 15 Feb 2017 at 07:38

Ive got a power show so ive never experienced an electric shower, but i thought you could get an inline pump installed with an electric (obviously with a tank to feed it).

Jez · 15 Feb 2017 at 08:43

theone8181 said:
Ive got a power show so ive never experienced an electric shower, but i thought you could get an inline pump installed with an electric (obviously with a tank to feed it).

The limitation with an electric shower is usually (almost always) the power of the element and its ability to keep up with the temperature differential that you ask of it. In winter especially the temperature differential you ask of it is quite large depending on the heat setting you select, and an 8.5kw shower as in the OP's example will throttle the flow quite significantly. A pump wont help as incoming flow is not usually the issue with electric showers

Rich · 15 Feb 2017 at 17:21

Thanks for all the responses guys. Looks to have confirmed my suspicions. We have a main bathroom where we could have a plumbed shower so we might go that router.

a1ex2001 · 16 Feb 2017 at 08:02

Jez said:
The limitation with an electric shower is usually (almost always) the power of the element and its ability to keep up with the temperature differential that you ask of it. In winter especially the temperature differential you ask of it is quite large depending on the heat setting you select, and an 8.5kw shower as in the OP's example will throttle the flow quite significantly. A pump wont help as incoming flow is not usually the issue with electric showers

Exactly this the flow rate difference on our electric shower is quite funny, it is pumped from a cold water tank in the loft which in the summer gets quite warm on a sunny day giving you a much better shower experience!

Participant · 16 Feb 2017 at 08:05

a1ex2001 said:
Exactly this the flow rate difference on our electric shower is quite funny, it is pumped from a cold water tank in the loft which in the summer gets quite warm on a sunny day giving you a much better shower experience!

But still poo compared to almost any other solution.

theone8181 · 16 Feb 2017 at 12:55

So is the only benefit if you have a combi or no loft tank?