Digital Shower?

Spanker · 28 Jun 2015 at 17:32

Hi, we are looking at a new shower and have lousey hot water pressure upstairs so looking at pumped digital showers. We like the Aqualisa Quartz pumped which has a wired control and we like the Mira Platinum pumped which has a wireless control and some better options, but concerned about signal interference. They both come with 5yr guarantee. The Aqualisa seems to have issues and no real serviceable parts but good reports of customer service when it does go wrong.

Hoping for opinions that actually have experience with them and which one to get?

Nedved11 · 28 Jun 2015 at 17:39

How is your cold water flow? Is it off a tank or off the mains. If it's off the main you will get a better flow through the shower so a non-pumped shower may suffice. Forget about all the nifty new electronic showers. Chances are they won't last. Get a simple basic Mira shower and you will be fine.

Spanker · 30 Jun 2015 at 19:27

Ok, will look into it more. Was hoping for someone that owned one to add opinion as i couldn't decide what to do.

Orifice · 30 Jun 2015 at 22:17

I've got a Mira Platinum, before that I had a Grohe Grotherm. Both digital, no issues with either. Never had any issues with interference for the wireless controls, can even turn the shower on from the bedroom if needed.

No experience of the warranty aspect as have never needed to use it. I've had the Mira for about three years now, used daily without fault. An electric shower doesn't even compare, the difference is night and day. I'll never buy an electric shower again.

Borealis · 1 Jul 2015 at 09:19

I've got the Quartz Digital pumped at home. We've had it about 3 years now and no trouble. The only downside is that because our house is gravity fed, if everyone has a shower it tends to empty the hot water tank rather quickly.

Lopéz · 1 Jul 2015 at 10:25

Nedved11 said:
How is your cold water flow? Is it off a tank or off the mains. If it's off the main you will get a better flow through the shower so a non-pumped shower may suffice. Forget about all the nifty new electronic showers. Chances are they won't last. Get a simple basic Mira shower and you will be fine.

Disagree with this. I have an Aqualisa Axis digital pumped shower. It runs off the cold tank and hot tank. If you have a gravity system like mine you will never get a good shower without either pumping both supplies or fitting a pumped digital unit.

Mine is fantastic, proper hot shower nothing like the dribble you get out of an electric unit.

TFC · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:13

I bought a Mira Platinum about 18 months ago, it's superb.

Trifid · 1 Jul 2015 at 11:32

Looking forward to having my Mira Platinum fitted next week. It's been sitting in the box for a couple of months now.

How is other peoples twisty control thing? I was hoping it would be as smooth and well built as the Nest Thermostat but felt a bit crap when I had a play with it...

Spanker · 1 Jul 2015 at 20:01

Brilliant thank you guys, is it easy to get the temp you want with the Aqualisa ones? It's just that the Mira has a temp display and once you know what you like you can obviously read when it's at the temperature you want. :cool:

teaboy5 · 1 Jul 2015 at 23:23

Getting this fitted, will let you know how i get on.

http://www.aqualisa.co.uk/our-produ...led-digital-shower-with-adjustable-and-fixed/

Lopéz · 2 Jul 2015 at 08:37

My Aqualisa just has a hot to cold no numbers, but it's so controllable you don't need numbers - it doesn't leap from scorching to freezing like some mixers do.

Lopéz · 2 Jul 2015 at 08:40

teaboy5 said:
Getting this fitted, will let you know how i get on.

http://www.aqualisa.co.uk/our-produ...led-digital-shower-with-adjustable-and-fixed/

Make sure you get the right version! Don't go for the HP unless you have a combi boiler (and if you do have a combi, you don't really need a pricey shower like this anyway)

kinobestew123 · 2 Jul 2015 at 11:55

Lopéz said:
Disagree with this. I have an Aqualisa Axis digital pumped shower. It runs off the cold tank and hot tank. If you have a gravity system like mine you will never get a good shower without either pumping both supplies or fitting a pumped digital unit.

Mine is fantastic, proper hot shower nothing like the dribble you get out of an electric unit.

On this last comment, what do people do if the combi boiler isn't up to the task of supplying a powerful shower and there are no water tanks? Isn't your only option at this point to go for an electric shower, which is basically a mini combi boiler (albeit electric powered)?

Are there no electric showers that can pump out a torrent of hot water or is the point that they're just too inefficient at really high KW levels compared to a gas boiler?

Trifid · 2 Jul 2015 at 12:03

kinobestew123 said:
Are there no electric showers that can pump out a torrent of hot water or is the point that they're just too inefficient at really high KW levels compared to a gas boiler?

Are there any (domestic) electric showers that have a 30KW+ heater? Whether gas or electric you need a certain amount of energy to heat water and that doesn't change between gas or electric. Something will have to give, either flow rate or temperature rise.

kinobestew123 · 2 Jul 2015 at 12:49

Trifid said:
Are there any (domestic) electric showers that have a 30KW+ heater? Whether gas or electric you need a certain amount of energy to heat water and that doesn't change between gas or electric. Something will have to give, either flow rate or temperature rise.

Is there any reason a manufacturer couldn't make a 30kw+ electric shower?

That's my question really I guess.

Also, what would be considered the minimum KW a combi boiler needs to be in order to feed something like the aqualisa digital showers?

john_s · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:28

kinobestew123 said:
Is there any reason a manufacturer couldn't make a 30kw+ electric shower?

Other than it needing about 130A supply, when most domestic supplies have a 100A (or less) main fuse...

Dr House · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:37

I have this in my main bathroom
http://www.kohler.co.uk/onlinecatalog/product_intro.jsp?item=547321&prod_num=DTV

Amazing but not worth the money (came to £4k + in the end)

I have this in 3 other bathroom and I am Very happy with it.
http://www.mirashowers.co.uk/online...ira Platinum Dual Ceiling Fed - High Pressure

I have these taps in my bathrooms and again I am very happy so I can only assume the shower system is good.
http://www.crosswater.co.uk/digital-showering/

Also this is very good if you are re doing the bathroom
geberit aquaclean sela

SpeedFreak · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:49

An app that can control taps, for people that find anything in life too much effort

.

Lopéz · 3 Jul 2015 at 09:07

kinobestew123 said:
On this last comment, what do people do if the combi boiler isn't up to the task of supplying a powerful shower and there are no water tanks? Isn't your only option at this point to go for an electric shower, which is basically a mini combi boiler (albeit electric powered)?

My mum had her open vent system replaced with a combi system under a local grant/refurbishment programme.

She's been told the water pressure from the combi is still too low to run a shower from it - so after all this work she still has a poxy electric shower on the cold main which must be incredibly annoying.

teaboy5 · 4 Jul 2015 at 20:47

Lopéz said:
Make sure you get the right version! Don't go for the HP unless you have a combi boiler (and if you do have a combi, you don't really need a pricey shower like this anyway)

Yeah I have the right one which is for a gravity feed system. It didn't cost as much as on that site. Got it for around 400.