Just being told that the shower in en-suite is electric

[Viviot]

AIBU actually?

Doing redecoration in the recently built house, and had no idea such thing exists so didn't pay attention before.

And now being told that the shower in the ensuite bathroom is electric

Just like why would you install that in 2010 built house with exceptional water pressure, and powerful boiler that provides boiling-hot water.the other bathroom has normal shower with hot water from boiler. Just like why??

*boiling not boiing. My shower is not Zebedee.

I have that exact same shower in my bathroom and it’s fab. Not mega powerful, but my water pressure is shockingly bad upstairs anyway, and I don’t have a combi boiler so can’t even run a full bath without the water running out! I’ve bought one of those shower heads with what looks like rocks in it and the pressure has increased no end. No idea how it works but it does!

Just had American relatives to stay and they were really impressed and in love with the electric shower. No pressure problems here and instant heat - lovely!

lardymclardy I've attached the pic because I still had a hope it was not the electric, yes

I'm still quite frustrated to be honest (thinking about the energy costs & if there are any issues with the hot water supply)

Wondering how much it will cost to replace it.. have to get some quotes from local plumbers, or electricians& plumbers in this case?

I am an American who is an architect who is obsessed with plumbing (I brought my own toilet innards over with me to the UK) and who lived in the UK for some years. In most of the USA and most other countries with modern plumbing the "boiler" is actually a water heater and the mains pressure carries through it to the pipes beyond. This makes sense if you generally have good mains pressure everywhere (which you do not in the UK). In most places in the USA the mains pressure is so high that you actually have to have pressure reducers in some situations for certain types of fixtures (sprinklers, drip systems, water filters).

So, going back to the UK.....the pipes are ancient (you guys have been doing plumbing since the ancient Roman times) and the water pressure is very very very low, so water is then stored in a tank and the water pressure comes from the gravity from that tank (this is why you are only supposed to drink from kitchen faucets in old houses, because the rest of the faucets are fed from the tank which might have pigeon poo or something in it). So, the hot water heaters/boilers then heat up water and passes it on to the pipes with even less pressure than the minute amount it had to begin with. This is also why you have separate hot and cold water taps in the UK in "MODERN" sinks (still makes me giggle)....you have to put the water into a plugged sink to get warm water, because it's too hard to regulate otherwise. And of course when it comes to a shower, there isn't enough pressure from the hot water to compete with the cold water to get a hot shower. So, in order to get a hot shower, people install electric showers that pump the water through while heating it. (I will get a little mean here and say that the only people I have ever met who say that they like their electric shower are British people who have never experienced a good American shower....or bald men who don't need water pressure to rinse their hair).

In conclusion, it sounds like the OP's house was either plumbed and/or by someone who did not know what they were doing and did not need an electric shower.

PS. If your gas goes out, your modern, properly insulated water heater should still stay hot enough for showers for another day or so.

Vanilla

It is a special high-amperage switch, the Crabtree one is quite good quality. You have to fit if the right way round, and the terminals are large so must be very tight, and preferably retightened after a week or two, because the copper cores deform under pressure.

If the terminals become loose, the wires overheat and you need a professional repair.

If you live in a warm country where central heating systems don't exist, then all showers are electric! (Or very cold!)

The pressure of ours is just fine. Pretty strong.

Not all of the UK has bad water pressure Mrs USA architect. Many new houses have no header tank as the pressure is fine so is all directly mains feed as ours is.

Combi boilers are the most common form of boiler in the UK so no hot water tank and no extra supply of hot water if your boiler breaks down.
Much more economical to instantly heat water through an electric shower than heating the whole of a hot water tank if you have that system. Can also take ages to heat up the water in a tank so easier to have instant hot water from an electric shower.

Thank you SofiaAmes for that explanation - having lived in Canada, UK and USA, I have never heard of an electric shower. I do remember the odd shower in UK and Europe that made a weird pumping sound, was that electric? Whatever those were, they weren't very good.

We (now in USA) have a water heater that's just for the showers and the sinks. Our boiler is separate and is for the radiators. We always have very strong water pressure, but it's certainly possible to run low on hot water if everyone in the house takes a long shower at the same time of day.

In the UK, a shower that has an electric heater in it is called an electric shower, and a shower that has a pump in it is called a power shower.

I don't recall ever seeing one that has both.

Viviot - I'm a bit confused as to why you should be worried about the hot water. Earlier you said you were worried about the hot water in the ensuite, surely there is a hot water tap for the basin. Why would that be a problem?

I like my electric shower - it is pretty powerful and is the perfect temp ridiculously quickly.

Didn't like the previous one which decided to catch fire on Easter Sunday morning while I was in it! It was only a teeny fire, but I couldn't put it out myself because of the electricity. The fire service were really lovely tho, so I suppose there was an upside.

I just love my electric shower. I cannot understand how you can buy a house without knowing water systems. All other utilities are from the main water tank. And yes I have had boiler breakdowns but still could shower. shakes head in disbelief

Sorry, I think I was not clear in my explanation and have also managed to offend Doubletrouble.
Mains pressure comes from the mains lines which are dependent on the plumbing of the street/city etc.
So you can have a new house in an old neighborhood with crappy pressure, or a new development where all the mains piping is new.
I lived and worked in London doing residential architecture and we did not have a single project in 7 years that had good mains pressure. But I'm sure that that might be different in some of the new build developments.
Here's a well written explanation about the difference between the power showers and electric showers. It's possible that the builder of the OP's house did not want to run hot water pipes to the en suite bathroom.

Is Americansplaining a thing like mansplaining now?

Hush now silly little English people. I’m going to explain to you how your plumbing works (and base it on an idea from 20 years ago that doesn’t represent most houses.)

SofiaAmes - "If your gas goes out, your modern, properly insulated water heater should still stay hot enough for showers for another day or so."
Not if you have a combi boiler so no water tank. If gas goes off you have no hot water immediately. Agree about the americansplaining!

SofiaAmes
Thanks for that.

It must be amazing to have such technology.
I live in rural Scotland so stuff like plumbing hasn't really caught on here much. We do have a well at the end of the village, but live near a stream so that does for our cooking stuff.
We take water up to the sheep in wooden buckets.
It's too cold to wash here so no one does it. We are all accustomed to the smell anyway.
I think showers and the like are all quite fancy, but I really can't see the fashion lasting.

Thanks @pigletjohn. We moved in 3 weeks ago and DS has destroyed it in as many days!

OP - our plumber looked at our electric shower when we moved in. We wanted to take it out and attach the shower system to the mains water supply. The plumber said no as the water tank is tiny (about a 1/3 of the size of our last one). He said that one long shower would clear out all the hot water. We have since discovered that two showers clears out all the hot water and I have had to extend the times on the boiler that heats up the hot water.

It's all very boring.

Ours is. Absolutely fine and has come in very handy when the boiler packs up.

Oh, and I suggested that we pull out the tiny hot water tank and replace it with a larger one and both SH and the plumber said it would be cheaper just to run the gas for longer each day. Given that we spent £10k remodelling the hot water system in our last house, they're probably right. neverbloodyranoutofhotwatertherethough

As far as boilers breaking down.... isn’t that what immersion heaters are for?

You do know not every property has one, don't you? They are not compulsory! The OP has said she does not have a tank.

I'd be getting rid of that and putting in a normal shower.

I have replaced our boiler recently.
We had to rip out our power shower and install an electric one as the new combi boiler could not support the required flow for the power shower.
So nothing to do with mains pressure, simply the heating capacity of the boiler.
And yes our other shower ( electric en suite) was a godsend when we had no boiler for 2 weeks.

I had no idea this kind of electric showers exist till today's evening, yes.

I also had no idea electric showers existed before moving to the UK, and freaked out, after growing up in a place where you weren't allowed anything electric in the bathroom for the (real or imagined, I don't know) risk of electrocution. So I don't find your confusion confusing. But they can be perfectly okay, and I assume they're safe since people aren't electrocuting themselves left and right! We've had great ones and lousy ones, same as mains showers.

SofiaAmes

You are half right. You are right for the south of England, where you sometimes get a third tap in a kitchen and this is for drinking water.

In the north of England traditionally all cold taps are from the rising main so you can drink the water. This is also why we still have separate taps, if you use a mixer tap you have to run the water before you drink it to ensure it is not stored water from the hot tank.

Oh and my information may also be 20 years out of date.