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Original poster

How easy would it be to fit a power shower?

47 replies

katymac · 02/10/2017 16:23

Here - taken a pic as I don't understand this stuff

The boiler is behind the wall so I assume electric is fairly close

Any ideas?

How easy would it be to fit a power shower?
OP posts:
PigletJohn · 03/10/2017 00:41

when you say boiler, do you mean boiler, or do you mean hot water cylinder?

where is the cold tank?

SquidgeyMidgey · 03/10/2017 07:41

I've pm-d you Alwayscheerful, realised it sounded a bit gushy Blush he's not a mate or anything, we found him on a list of tilers that we got from a tile shop but he actually does the whole shebang and he really is brilliant.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 10:07

No Boiler - gas Worcester - my dad would have called it a mulitpoint? Instant (ish) hot water & central heating - it's quite old (2003) but seems OK

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 03/10/2017 10:37

then you can't have a pump.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 10:41

OK that sorts that

What can I have? & would be different if I changed the boiler (not sure I want to, but i guess it's old & inefficient)

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 03/10/2017 10:56

if your boiler runs radiators, then it can be made to heat a hot-water cylinder.

Depending on the flow of your incoming water supply, you could have either an unvented (high pressure) cylinder; or a cylinder fed from a cold tank in the loft, which you could use with a pump.

Your multipoint boiler is like a combi, it can only deliver as much hot water as it can deliver.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 11:00

Is there a shower that heats it's own water?

Or is a tank the only way?

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 03/10/2017 11:08

electric showers heat the water as they run, but they have very poor flow. Pretty certain to be worse than your current boiler.

A combi boiler also heats the tapwater as you use it, and might be about three times as powerful as an electric shower, provided that you have an incoming water supply that can deliver, say, 12 litres of water a minute. Fill a bucket at the kitchen cold tap, time it, calculate how many litres per minute you get.

the point of a cylinder is that it heats the water in advance, so you can deliver in ten minutes the volume of water that might take an hour to heat.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 11:29

So the HW cylinder has been taken out - I thought they were inefficient and wasted energy

I wonder if there is a better place to put it than the airing cupboard - how big does it need to be?

OP posts:
SoPassRemarkable · 03/10/2017 11:36

If you did end up having to remove the tiles how about not retiling the shower cubicle but instead getting those clear perspex boards fitted. So would look different to the rest of the room but purposefully so.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 11:43

That's a good idea SoPass

it's 9l a minute.....that sounds like a problem

You know when we moved in there was a chip in the sink - so I thought we needed a new basin, then when we got in the bath neither of us fit with our arms down by our sides, the shower doesn't work and the loo has been raised by about 4 inches from the floor

This is looking a bit crap

OP posts:
SquidgeyMidgey · 03/10/2017 11:48

Our water cylinder is about 6' tall and 2' diameter, does a family of 4 very well.

We run the shower off it but before we had the tank/system boiler we had an ancient crap combi and an electric shower. The shower water flow wasn't bad actually (not as good as with a tank but enough to very easily wash out thick, soapy hair) but it was about 13kW so span the electric meter fairly rapidly!

PigletJohn · 03/10/2017 14:24

"So the HW cylinder has been taken out - I thought they were inefficient and wasted energy"

Quite the reverse.

They do need to be insulated, but for 25 years or so they have left the factory with insulating foam bonded to the shell. Red jackets are still available, though there are not many uninsulated cylinders left.

Hot pipes should also be lagged.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 14:51

So do I need to replace the boiler too?

I was hoping to leave that for a year or two

OP posts:
SquidgeyMidgey · 03/10/2017 14:57

I don't know how you would get on filling a big tank from a combi. Ours couldn't have done it but it was utterly knackered and actually fell to bits when they took it out!

SquidgeyMidgey · 03/10/2017 15:00

As an aside we didn't have the electrics connected to the tank for the immersion element. The boiler fills it with hot water and the insulation keeps it well above hot bath temperature. Since changing the boiler our oil bill has dropped by about 30% despite the price going up but it wasn't cheap, it's a Worcester Greenstar and lives in the garden Grin so the tank stands where the old boiler sat.

PigletJohn · 03/10/2017 15:11

"So do I need to replace the boiler too?"

No.

A boiler that can heat radiators can heat a cylinder.

The boiler does not know or care what it is heating.

Original poster
katymac · 03/10/2017 18:11

I made a very clever thought the laughed because it was pants!!

I could use the boiler to heat up the water in the tank using economy 7 elec at night....then remembered it was a gas boiler!!

OP posts:
Original poster
katymac · 05/10/2017 07:04

I have found a switch for an extrator fan I hadn't seen before - when the household is awake & up I will tur it on & see if it makes a difference to the shower.....someone may have already addressed my problem!

OP posts:
seasidesally · 05/10/2017 09:45

the extractor will just pull moisture out the room (if its any good) it wont effect the performance of the shower

PigletJohn · 05/10/2017 10:19

You said you get 9lpm from the cold tap. What do you get from the hot tap?

9 is fine for a shower but a bit slow to fill a bath.

Original poster
katymac · 05/10/2017 20:58

I'll check over the weekend - Show day approaches and as I'm wardrobe mistress my problems go on hold until Monday

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