Electric vs Mixer Showers on Combi Boilers

Pulsedriver

Pulsedriver

Pulsedriver

Soldato
Joined
19 Dec 2003
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Hey folks, hope all is good with everyone.

I recently bought our first family home, and before we move in are fixing / decorating etc

The shower is a Triton 'Enrich' which I believe is a 8.5Kw electric shower, the water is more than hot enough, but the power isn't great, and it looks like an 80's device (the aged white colour doesn't help that!)
Anyhow, the cable currently is a 6mm cable, so the local electrician has basically said to replace the electric shower, and move to say, a 9.5kw or higher, I would need a 10mm cable run from the fusebox to the shower to replace the existing 6mm cable, an expensive job at near £300 ish to do.

What I was thinking, was swapping it all out for a mixer shower, has anyone done this and found it was worthwhile? We have a Valiant Combi Boiler, and at the moment it's just a cold feed into the electric shower, so I am aware we would need a hot feed installing, but overall costs won't really be any more than the wiring upgrade, and apparently we will no longer need one of those isolation switches if we have a mixer shower - a bonus in itself!

So, would love to hear feedback from anyone who has done this, with a similar setup (Combi boiler moving from electric to mixer shower)

Is it likely that the water will go cold if someone turns a tap on downstairs if someone is in the shower?

(Also, any recommendations on mixer showers?) I did think something like this might be good? http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/mira-agile-erd-bar-mixer-3221-26760
 
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I have http://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/...nted-bar-shower-valve-w-adjustable-riser.aspx

Parents have a mira electric shower and mine is much more powerful, in terms of water presure. If a tap is turned on or the toilet flushed, the pressure drops a little, but it's still more powerful than parents. The temperature doesn't really change though.

I'd definitely go mixer from the boiler rather than electric based on experience.

The only issue i've had is the plastic end caps dropping off the knobs, but a bit of silicone stuck them back on fine :)
 
Go for the mixer, the owner shower just won't compare. However bare in mind when another outlet in the house is turned on the pressure from your shower will drop...
 
Even the cheapest mixer/thermostatic shower running off a combi will out perform an electric shower by miles!, do it and dont look back. Only issue would be if the boiler fails, you gonna smell :)

Mick
 
Echo all the above. Hope you're not on a water meter because the heat and power from a mixer shower is fantastic, you won't want to get out :D
 
300 bones for a shower rewire is on the steep side unless you've got a pretty long run?

I know the Mira Advance electric showers have a valve inside that just controls flow - I don't think it pressurises it so if the water pressure is low to begin with the shower isn't going to make much difference apart from temperature.

Has the sparks confirmed that changing out the shower will increase flow rate?
 
He never said, he just said it would be better with an upgraded electric shower - although I get the impression it wasn't a sales pitch as he didn't seem overly keen on the wiring job saying it is probably a long run...

This is the boiler spec for the one I have;

 
Go with the combi option it will be a million times better, just make sure the mixer you get is thermostatic and all you will notice when someone flushes the loo etc is a slight loss in pressure. I would only ever consider an electric if I had no other option or I wanted a simple solution to running two showers at the same time.
 
I have an electric shower on a combi, it's OK, but the thing I like best is that it gives me some redundancy if the boiler does fail for any reason, having a usable shower is very handy :)
 
Let me expand a little, hopefully makes sense then!

I have two bathrooms, one with a bath/shower combo (mixer shower). The smaller en-suite has only an electric shower (Aqualiza Quartz). The boiler in my property is a Logic Combi boiler.
 
A low KW electric shower will slow the flow in order to get the temp to where youve set it. A higher KW shower will still do this but to a much lesser degree. Unless you are trying to remove skin.

Mira do a sports shower that also spits out air to give the impression of a more powerful shower.

Having said that the ONLY downside to a shower on a combi is that most combi's can only provide hot water to a single outlet so WILL go cold if anyone turns on a hot tap elswhere.
 
mattyg said:
A low KW electric shower will slow the flow in order to get the temp to where youve set it. A higher KW shower will still do this but to a much lesser degree. Unless you are trying to remove skin.

Mira do a sports shower that also spits out air to give the impression of a more powerful shower.

Having said that the ONLY downside to a shower on a combi is that most combi's can only provide hot water to a single outlet so WILL go cold if anyone turns on a hot tap elswhere.
Click to expand...

Never had a problem with ours going cold the thermostatic mixer shouldn't allow it all we get is a drop in flow if someone turns a tap on etc.
 
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I have a main bathroom with a combi shower and an ensuite with a high power electric.

We never use our ensuite, because the combi shower is about 100 times better than the pathetic electric shower.

I plan to convert to an unvented system asap as our ensuite never gets used.
 
a 10.5kw shower is very nice,much faster flow rate than a less kw,i came from a 7.5kw I think and upgraded the wiring,so much better now
 
Ours is 10Kw and it still sucks compared to the combi shower. Sucks to the extent that we only ever use it when we absolutely have to, despite it being less than 3m from our bed.
 
Participant said:
Ours is 10Kw and it still sucks compared to the combi shower. Sucks to the extent that we only ever use it when we absolutely have to, despite it being less than 3m from our bed.
Click to expand...

I'd save the money on the unvented system and just use the bathroom, save the ensuite for when there is a queue!
 
a1ex2001 said:
I'd save the money on the unvented system and just use the bathroom, save the ensuite for when there is a queue!
Click to expand...

Fair shout, but we have two young kids and there are two reasons we're looking at unvented:

1. It takes ages to run a bath in the evening, and
2. We'll soon need to have two people showering at once.

Things putting me off are

1. Our flow at the garden tap is only 20L/m
2. As you make reference to, they're flipping expensive :).
 
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