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??

I've never heard of a third tap, but I've not been in houses in large parts of the UK so couldn't comment.

I do know that the tap water in hard water areas is nowhere near as nice as the soft water we have here in water so it could be a filtered supply?

It's strange what you assume is universal, at least in developed countries. I had no idea that large parts of Spain do not have mains gas despite there being Butano lorries all over the place until I couldn't get hot water at the house of a friend who lived there. He said 'oh, the bottle must have run out' and went off to change it.

@VanillaSugar

If your son is quite small, you can shorten the cord on the new switch so it is out of reach.

If you look at a pull-cord switch, you will usually find the cord has a small plastic "egg" near the top. It usually unscrews into two halves, each holds one end of a cord with a knot. You pull the string through, cut it to length, retie the knot, and screw the egg back together.

If the cord gets unpleasantly dirty, you can replace it with new nylon cord. Don't cut the upper part that goes into the switch, just the lower part beneath the egg. I have known people replace the lower part with braided wool or other ornament pulls, tying it in below the egg. The cord must be shock-proof, so not metal.

I don't understand the idea that the electricity will get mixed up with the water! It's the same in a dishwasher or a washing machine or an immersion heater, it's just an electric element heating the water.

People are definitely more concerned about appliances like these where I come from, too. You always have to turn the water off from the appliances when they're not in use (everyone has a switch by their taps for this), and at least my own mother would into a fit about any sign of potential malfunctioning, in fear of electrocution (I'm not saying that's reasonable or unreasonable). Although I guess the main difference would be that a person doesn't go into a washing machine or a dishwasher, so if something did happen to go wrong, you're less likely to personally be electrocuted. I've never heard of anyone getting electrocuted by their malfunctioning electric shower, though, so I at least assume there are safety features against this happening.

60 years ago it was common for most of the taps in the house to be fed from the cold water tank rather than direct from the mains.So while you would drink water from the kitchen tap which was direct from the mains, you certainly wouldn't drink water from the bath tap. I don't know when the change over happened - nowadays it seems standard that all cold taps are fed from the mains.

ZispinAndTurmericLatte I googled (curiosity) and found out that those kind of cases are documented. Very rare and usually there's beed "DIY" involved at some point (or poor quality work), but yes.. not saying electric showers are dangerous thought. Guess cars killed more people.

There are billions (I think billions, at least hundreds of millions) of people in the world who live in houses without "boilers". My house has no central heating system. If I didn't have an electric shower, I would have a cold shower (or lukewarm on a hot day)!

The same is true for every house here. And most people take multiple showers a day with no problem whatsoever!

Even if the shower is not faulty the presence of high kilowatt electricity to water does ionize it slightly and if you're particularly sensitive you can notice with more static in your hair, raised hair on arms, etc. People with fine hair are more affected.

Many hotels have hairdriers and shaving points in bathrooms.
Many homes throughout Europe have washing machines in the bathroom. I always thought that our stringent regulations were because we us 240v for mains supply while other countries use the safer 110v - but I see Europe uses 220v so that makes no sense.

Our regs are designed around the principle that you shouldn't be able to stand in shower or by sink, basin etc with wet hands and reach a 240v socket. So lower voltage shaver sockets are OK, as are switches for something where the socket connection is outside the bathroom, but mains sockets have to be the other side of the room.

standards differ in various countries.
www.thelocal.se/20110404/32990

In the UK, if a shower is correctly installed according to current electrical regulations, it is very safe.

When we bought our house it had a shower powered from the boiler. We hated it, so we had an electric power shower installed instead. Two new bathrooms later (we've lived here forever) and a new boiler, and we have replaced with electric power showers each time. As others have said, it's been a life saver when we've had boiler problems. We also like not having to faff around with the mixer taps to keep the temperature right - you know where you are with electric as you just remember the setting number! It's one of the things we hate when we're on holiday as hotels and even holiday cottages usually have mixer taps from the central hot water supply, so you're forever faffing around to the get the temperature right - even worse if it's a tank rather than instant hot water boiler as it soon runs out and goes cold.

specialsubject We have a separate tap in the kitchen for drinking water. We live in the SE and have very hard water, so we have a water softener unit which softens all the tap water except the drinking tap, which is straight off the mains. It's not 'classic mn cluelessness' to have this, or to have seen it, it's just something you haven't experienced.

OMG an electric shower in the en suite?! How vulgar.

Is this the correct response? I'm very confused. I have an electric shower. In the one bathroom we have. I even have to share a bathroom with the children would you believe? The horror.

Love mumsnet.

I've been looking at photos of "suicide showers"
journals.worldnomads.com/will/story/1533/Argentina/The-Latin-American-Suicide-Shower

johnnyvagabond.com/travel-tips/survive-suicide-shower/

(I think the Swedish couple were killed by something similar)

and I think that if they were installed to UK standards (bonded pipework; RCD protection, no accessible parts, switches or connections); zoning, they would be safe. It's the terrible, unthinking fitting that makes them fatal.

Third water tap in Kitchen - is either "filtered water" or "boiling water".

@PigletJohn now THAT is terrifying....

Had a problem once not with the boiler but with water storage in the house and had to have a lot of pipe work replaced, plus we had to wait a few months for the work to be done. We were fine with mains-fed appliances - so could use the dishwasher, the washing machine . . . and the electric shower. It's an excellent one and DC3's shower of choice over the power shower fed by the hot water tank.

My ensuite has an electric shower. The main bathroom has a boiler shower. It has several advantages. We can use both showers at the same time (two boiler showers would have low pressure if used at the same time). We can have a freezing cold shower in the summer (the boiler shower doesn't go cold, it runs off the hot water). If the boiler breaks we can still have a shower. If we just want a quick rinse we can use the electric shower (you have to run the boiler shower for a while before it heats up). And the electric shower is more economical.

we have one of each in our house

I'm in rented and I have no gas. Whole flat is electric. When the hot water went over the cold spell we had in January the shower still worked which was great.

My bill is quite low. About £60 a month.

My house has no central heating system. If I didn't have an electric shower, I would have a cold shower (or lukewarm on a hot day)!

Another alternative to a boiler is a hot water tank heated by an electric element, like a giant kettle. This would have been normal where I'm from. I think it's simpler than an electric shower, as it doesn't have to draw the amount of electrical power required to heat the water instantaneously.. However it does require more space, I'm not sure how hot water was handled in flats, the vast majority of properties were single story houses with roof space to contain the hot water tank.

Errr, not read the whole thread but if you bought the house I'm assuming you viewed it first!!! How would you not look in the en suite?!

Sorry but how could you not know that there are electric showers? Very bizzare. Loads of people have them and when young these were really the only type of shower you could have (or those plastic things that you stuck on the bath taps). Maybe you are younger than me but they are still very common now.

Our boiler went during the snow, along with every other fuckers in the UK. No electric shower, it was impossibly grim. Took a week to get anyone around to fix it.

Our boiler, (not a combi thankfully) also stopped during the snow, minus 12 at night, one huge icicle from top to bottom on the condensation pipe, I have a ank and emersion heater, so at least could wash up, do washing, have shower, oh joy. I wouldnt have a combi boiler, OK if you are a small damily, but no stored water, if you want to use numerous types of hot water in one, go. We had an electric power shower in a house, 20 years ago, yes, expensive to run, and not terribly high pressure in spite of pump. I now, have an electric manual shower, which has electricity to feed the water from the tank, variable speed and pressure, that costs a few hundred quid but it brilliant, I dont think you could get an electric shower in this country for £50.

Because two of you can have a shower at the same time. Also if your boiler breaks you can still have a shower