Electric Showers

Participant · 16 Feb 2017 at 17:52

theone8181 said:
So is the only benefit if you have a combi or no loft tank?

Not even sure about the combi bit. When I had a combi, I preferred to run both showers off the combi but never at the same time, vs. having an electric shower and a combi shower running at once. That's how bad they are.

M1k3H · 16 Feb 2017 at 21:04

Pretty happy with my electric shower. About 60-70% pressure of mains shower, nut still very good pressure and temperature.

a1ex2001 · 16 Feb 2017 at 22:35

Participant said:
But still poo compared to almost any other solution.

Classic OCUK over exaggeration why must everything on this website be amazing or rubbish? Yeah the electric shower isn't like standing under niagra but it gets you clean!

Participant · 17 Feb 2017 at 17:07

a1ex2001 said:
Classic OCUK over exaggeration why must everything on this website be amazing or rubbish? Yeah the electric shower isn't like standing under niagra but it gets you clean!

Electric showers are rubbish relative to every other alternative though. Ergo rubbish.

Jez · 17 Feb 2017 at 18:11

I am not totally sure why anybody actually fits electric showers. I am rather versed in property maintenance and completely understand electric showers and all of the alternatives, but i don't really understand why someone would actually choose to install one. I have never considered one, ever, why would you?

Bar literally in a case where you have no hot water system, i guess

Slam62 · 17 Feb 2017 at 18:15

Jez said:
I am not totally sure why anybody actually fits electric showers. I am rather versed in property maintenance and completely understand electric showers and all of the alternatives, but i don't really understand why someone would actually choose to install one. I have never considered one, ever, why would you?

Bar literally in a case where you have no hot water system, i guess

Yes occasionally for what ever reason the usual shower is unusable

rubberduck · 17 Feb 2017 at 18:59

If electric showers are so bad why does anyone bother with them? I think they have been around sufficiently long for people to rumble if they are an unworkable technology.... So what is it? Good marketing? Consumer ignorance? Luck?

Jez · 17 Feb 2017 at 20:32

rubberduck said:
If electric showers are so bad why does anyone bother with them? I think they have been around sufficiently long for people to rumble if they are an unworkable technology.... So what is it? Good marketing? Consumer ignorance? Luck?

They are not that bad, it's more...why choose one in the first place?

Lopéz · 17 Feb 2017 at 22:13

Combi? Get a mixer shower of some description
Hot water tank? Get a pumped digital shower or a power shower

a1ex2001 · 17 Feb 2017 at 23:51

Jez said:
I am not totally sure why anybody actually fits electric showers. I am rather versed in property maintenance and completely understand electric showers and all of the alternatives, but i don't really understand why someone would actually choose to install one. I have never considered one, ever, why would you?

Bar literally in a case where you have no hot water system, i guess

I chose to have one as I can see literally no point in having two showers in a house you can't run at the same time. We have no space for a hot water tank so a combi and electric pairing was easily the best option. Our electric shower is pumped from a 35gal cold tank that trickle fills so it has no impact on the flow rate to the combi fed shower. The 35gal tank was the biggest we could fit in the roof void and the roof was literally built round it. Suggest another solution that gives two showers that can be run at the same time?

Given the choice I always opt for the combi fed shower but the whole point in having a second bathroom and the cost and cleaning that necessitates was so when necessarry two people could use the facilities at the same time!

a1ex2001 · 18 Feb 2017 at 00:02

Participant said:
Electric showers are rubbish relative to every other alternative though. Ergo rubbish.

You might want to look up the meaning of the word rubbish I'm not arguing that electric showers are great but they do serve a purpose.

Jez · 18 Feb 2017 at 08:43

a1ex2001 said:
I chose to have one as I can see literally no point in having two showers in a house you can't run at the same time. We have no space for a hot water tank so a combi and electric pairing was easily the best option. Our electric shower is pumped from a 35gal cold tank that trickle fills so it has no impact on the flow rate to the combi fed shower. The 35gal tank was the biggest we could fit in the roof void and the roof was literally built round it. Suggest another solution that gives two showers that can be run at the same time?

Given the choice I always opt for the combi fed shower but the whole point in having a second bathroom and the cost and cleaning that necessitates was so when necessarry two people could use the facilities at the same time!

Fair use case, good for any scenario where you are adding a shower afterwards to a perfectly good water system which you don't want to re design I guess

The ideal in your circumstance would be to update your combi, and change out a fair amount of your system to provide acceptable flow to both locations. Not ideal I agree!

a1ex2001 · 18 Feb 2017 at 09:19

Jez said:
Fair use case, good for any scenario where you are adding a shower afterwards to a perfectly good water system which you don't want to re design I guess

The ideal in your circumstance would be to update your combi, and change out a fair amount of your system to provide acceptable flow to both locations. Not ideal I agree!

Don't think our mains flow would make the two shower combi an option much as I would prefer it! Now people who have two electric showers you can only use one at a time I will never understand!

Adam_151 · 18 Feb 2017 at 19:29

Rich said:
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.

On the contrary, its very perdictable... A bog standard electric shower runs the heater cans at full tilt (or half if you put it on eco), the temperature dial is simply an adjustble flow restrictor which controls how much water the energy goes into, as it takes 4.19KJ (thats one Kcal*) of energy to raise the temperature of of litre of water by one degree celsius, one, if so minded could work out what the expected flow rate of an 8.5kw (1 kw = 1 Kj per sec) shower if he knew the water start temperature and output temperature.

* Or I suppose.... how many mcdonalds hamburgers you'd have to burn to achieve a better result...

Joking aside, You can get electric showers with thermostatic controls, but they are limited by the same physics, they just take account of differing input temperatures themselves and don't scold you if you have slightly low pressure and someone runs a tap elsewhere in the house

Participant · 19 Feb 2017 at 07:48

I think the point is you only use electric showers for practical reasons where the plumbing and other system factors necessitate it. Nobody chooses an electric shower for sheer showering enjoyment.