Rubbish Shower
 

Hi All,

I've been "persuaded" that the bathroom needs doing this year. One
thing I'd like to improve upon is the shower.

Currently it is a cold mains fed electric shower (Kw unknown) and it's
not good.

How can I improve it? I have no water tanks in the property at all and
I think it would be difficult to add one due to size and weight
considerations. Certainly a 50 gallon one as recommended for a power
shower would be very difficult.

Are there any alternatives? Would it be worth running the new shower
straight from my new-ish Biasi combi?

Is it likely the old electric shower's flow is being restricted by
limescale as we're in a hard water area?

All opinions welcome!!

Cheers.

On 6 Feb 2005 09:27:01 -0800, (Martin) wrote:

Hi All,

I've been "persuaded" that the bathroom needs doing this year. One
thing I'd like to improve upon is the shower.

Currently it is a cold mains fed electric shower (Kw unknown) and it's
not good.

How can I improve it? I have no water tanks in the property at all and
I think it would be difficult to add one due to size and weight
considerations. Certainly a 50 gallon one as recommended for a power
shower would be very difficult.

Are there any alternatives? Would it be worth running the new shower
straight from my new-ish Biasi combi?

Providing there is not a stream of family members looking to use hot
water elsewhere in the property, showers from combi, are, by and
large, superb. Combined with a thermostatic bar mixer like so,

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...11292&id=21764

I run one off my Britony IIT gas water heater [which is basically a
combi without the central heating :-] and it's excellent.

Is it likely the old electric shower's flow is being restricted by
limescale as we're in a hard water area?

Possibly. Is it possible you could upgrade your electric shower to one
of a greater kw? You might have to run a new cable [maybe 10mm], but
it's an option. I have heard [and only heard because I don't have one]
that some of the newer electric showers are very acceptable in terms
of performance.

cheers
Garry

Martin wrote:
Hi All,

I've been "persuaded" that the bathroom needs doing this year. One
thing I'd like to improve upon is the shower.

Currently it is a cold mains fed electric shower (Kw unknown) and it's
not good.

How can I improve it? I have no water tanks in the property at all and
snip
Are there any alternatives? Would it be worth running the new shower
straight from my new-ish Biasi combi?

Usually, yes.
Another alternative may be to add a heat recovery device in the drain,
which warms the incoming cold water.
This will dramatically lower the amount of water needed to be heated.

You need to say how big the output of your combi is (in KW), and the
size of the shower.
Turning the shower on hot, and observing the electricity meter should
tell you the size of the shower.

Is it likely the old electric shower's flow is being restricted by
limescale as we're in a hard water area?

Possible, but unlikely.
Most electric showers in this country are significantly limited by the
electrical power input.
It takes 4100J/l to heat 1l of water by 1C.

Or at .2l/s, and 40C temperature raise, about 24KW, or 100A at 240V.

Most showers are nowhere near this powerfull.

"Martin" wrote in message
om...
Hi All,

I've been "persuaded" that the bathroom needs doing this year. One
thing I'd like to improve upon is the shower.

Currently it is a cold mains fed electric shower (Kw unknown) and it's
not good.

How can I improve it? I have no water tanks in the property at all and
I think it would be difficult to add one due to size and weight
considerations. Certainly a 50 gallon one as recommended for a power
shower would be very difficult.

Are there any alternatives? Would it be worth running the new shower
straight from my new-ish Biasi combi?

Is it likely the old electric shower's flow is being restricted by
limescale as we're in a hard water area?

Get a good electric shower is the obvious answer- certainly the easiest to
fit.

Look at the Mira range- not cheap but we are very pleased with ours.

The ones you see in the "sheds" don't seem to be nearly as good- we've had
those before and didn't plan on getting another electric shower. However, we
came across the Mira several times while staying away and decided to risk
it. Never regretted it.

--
Brian Reay
www.g8osn.org.uk
www.amateurradiotraining.org.uk
FP#898

showers from combi, are, by and
large, superb.

Didn't work for me. Whenever there was any cold water demand the pressure
dropped enough to trip out the boiler so (with a long-ish pipe run) there
was an unacceptable wait for more hot water.

You could check this for yourself by running the bath hot tap and seeing
what happens when someone flushes the loo.

I bit the bullet and put in a tank above the shower, with a power shower.
Your alternative might be a high rating electric shower (but expect it to
need rewiring).

I run a standard Aqualisa Quartz non pumped shower from my combi and it is
quite superb great pressue and flow,highly recommended not cheap but very
easy to install.Also the backup from Aqualisa is superb .

"Newshound" wrote in message
...
showers from combi, are, by and
large, superb.

Didn't work for me. Whenever there was any cold water demand the pressure
dropped enough to trip out the boiler so (with a long-ish pipe run) there
was an unacceptable wait for more hot water.

You could check this for yourself by running the bath hot tap and seeing
what happens when someone flushes the loo.

I bit the bullet and put in a tank above the shower, with a power shower.
Your alternative might be a high rating electric shower (but expect it to
need rewiring).

Our shower is fed from the mains, heated and pumped by electricity. I'm
always surprisedthat there's no drop in pressure or rise in temperature when
someone flushes the lav next door, that used to happen with our old one.

Mary

"Alex" wrote in message ...
I run a standard Aqualisa Quartz non pumped shower from my combi and it is
quite superb great pressue and flow,highly recommended not cheap but very
easy to install.Also the backup from Aqualisa is superb .

Hi All,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like the combi is the best bet as it's
only a few feet away. Pressure at the taps seems quite reasonable and
constant.

I'd prefer the pumped option but it looks a nightmare to do.

Cheers for the help.