Electric shower or thermostatic - WWYD?

[xandersmom2]

We want to replace our family bathroom as it’s more than a bit jaded and really doesn’t work for our family. It currently has no shower at all (not even a hand-held shower head attached to the taps) and, with two rapidly growing tweens in the house, this is a necessity for us! So we were planning on having a shower bath and over-bath shower installed.

We have a combi-boiler and so had assumed that we should get an electric shower because when I use the (equally jaded but going to have to last a bit longer!) shower in our en-suite, I frequently end up with a very hot/cold shower, or no water pressure, because someone else flushes a loo or turns on a tap.

(Unfortunately, sharing our en-suite shower with the kids doesn’t work because DH works nights and so is usually asleep during the day and early evening, when the kids want to shower).

We’ve had 4 companies round to quote, and they are split 50:50 on whether we should pay the extra £300 for an electric shower, or not. Two have firmly said ‘it’s not worth it, install a thermostatic shower instead’ but I’m not sure whether this just means they can’t be bothered with the extra hassle of fitting it!

Surely having an electric shower in the main bathroom would be a big benefit? As I understand it, a thermostatic shower would help 'smooth out' sudden changes in water temperature but wouldn't help with drops in pressure. What am I missing?!

An electric shower delivers a pitiful dribble of not-very-hot water.

A good thermostatic shower (the best I know is the original round-knob Aqualisa) will react to changes in the supply water temperature.

It's very possible that you have poor water flow in your house, due to a small diameter water supply pipe designed to fill a loft tank.

This can be corrected, but it means digging a trench and installing a new, larger pipe all the way to the meter or stopcock under the pavement.

If you think you might have lead pipes, ask your water company to test your drinking water for lead content. There might be a lead replacement subsidy, or they might connect your new pipe free or at reduced price.

Plumbers are weedy fellows with petal-soft hands so you might find it easier to get a small builder to dig the trench. The water contractors are usually expensive.

Thanks PigletJohn, I guess I'm disappointed that there isn't a magic wand to be waved to solve the problem....

No lead pipes as this is a 10-year old house.

One of the chaps that came to quote was talking about installing something-or-other to reduce the water pressure from the boiler, whereas another one was at pains to talk about us needing a pump to increase the water pressure. It's all so confusing....!

Does sound as though thermostatic is the way to go, though, based on your comments.

A 10 year old house might have an adequate supply pipe but there could be other restrictions easier to correct. Have a look at yours upstream of the indoor stopcock. It might be blue plastic and 20, 25 or 32mm external diameter. The size might be printed on the side. A photo of the stopcock might help.

Are you in a town?

Plumbers are weedy fellows with petal-soft hands so you might find it easier to get a small builder to dig the trench

This made me laugh. Especially as the last plumber we had looked like someone from Made in Chelsea.

Ooooh, totally missed that there were extra replies here, sorry!

We are in a suburb, fairly established neighbourhood. Not out in the sticks.

Had a rummage under the sink, there's a blue plastic tube - no size printed on it but a decent girth (stop sniggering over there) - am I looking in the right place? That's the only stopcock I know of....

We have an electricky shower in our en suite and a power shower in the family bathroom. The power shower delivers a much better shower experience. However, the electric shower isn't too bad, we changed the shower head to one that is more directional and that has helped. It's also.pretty hot. If I turn it up to maximum then it's far too hot to stand under.

We did have a combi boiler and it was fine for pressure, and no other issues, I thought that was the point of them tbh?

However since the bloody thing kept breaking down and leaving us without hot water I vowed I'd never have another! So I'd go for an electric shower at least in one of the bathrooms...it's just soul destroying not to have hot water

We have a 10.5kw something or other, it's not fabulous, but I have been in fancy hotel showers that have been weedier! We will have to sort out something if we ever want to put a bathroom on the top floor though so that's a nuisance!

I've just moved house to a brand new electric shower and it's bloody awful. I loved my thermostatic shower. It was so good. The pressure, the little time it took to rinse conditioner out of your hair.

I hate my electric shower(and it's a good one!)
Don't do it.

Can you run a nice hot bath fairly quickly? That'll be the water pressure of the overbath shower.
We have a combi and the shower in our ensuite is definitely weaker than the overbath shower.
Both DP and PiL have electric showers in their ensuites and the water pressures is crap compared to mains fed ones.
We considered the boiler breakdown = no hot water when putting a mains shower in the ensuite but our boiler is newish and we are on good terms with the neighbours if emergency showers are required and fairly close to a local leisure centre.
Go thermostatic - definitely.