Please talk to me about ELECTRIC SHOWERS

[TheClitterati]

I've just bought a house which has an electric shower - never had one before but it suits us in this house.

However it seems to be broken and I need to replace it. I think its better to replace with another electric shower but I know very little about them - I have used many rubbish ones over the years (in other places). But surely you can buy really good ones? What sets a good one apart from a mediocre one?

Would love some advice before I buy one.

You can buy really good ones but your electricity system has to be up to it afaik.

When our electric shower broke last year we replaced it with the newer version that had multiple entry points so we could replace it ourselves. We got a Triton enrich at either 9.5kw or 10.5kw.

possibly a silly question, but are these showers installed by an electrician or a plumber? Or do I need a specialist?

I always found electric showers to be a nightmare when they broke down or needed replacing, for that exact reason - neither plumbers nor electricians wanted to touch it. I found I had to call up several people/firms and specifically ask whether they could do electric showers until I eventually found someone that did.

Also, Ofthread is correct - you need to be very careful not to buy a replacement until you are sure what wattage your electricity system can support.

I've got an Aqualisa Aquastyle. Very happy with it, though I have changed the showerhead. The safety function is a little too overeager, so I've had to do ad-hoc 'repairs' (resetting it) but it meant that I ended up finding out how great the customer support at the company was, and how long they keep parts in stock.
I echo - do NOT buy the shower before speaking to the plumber. Not only do you need to check the wattage, but the showers sometimes come with different entry spots for the pipe. We learnt the hard way and spent £200 on a shower unit that we couldn't use.
I like having a separate electric shower as we have gas central heating, and this way, there's always a way of getting hot water. However, I believe they're not super powerful and mine is slightly affected by the weather outside - the hotter I want it, the slower it comes through if the weather is cold outside. Winter showers are more of a hot spitty rain, rather than a lovely waterfall.

I have an electric shower. They are a PITA. I can't wait to have my bathroom done so that I can put in a shower that feeds from the boiler. It's stupid having a cheap, energy efficient gas boiler and then running a shower off more expensive electricity. They are a pain when they go wrong too.

I agree with you all :)

I really don't know what to do - not sure if I can run one off the gas./water mains and that will involve new titling, taps, shower, screen etc so a big job. We have combi boiler 2 floors down - no hot water tank.

I'm hoping for now to simply replace the electric shower with an efficient lovely hot (but not scalding) generous electric shower. Not sure they exist though.

If you’ve got a combi, best thing is to check the domestic hot water flow rate of it. I’ve got a combi and shower two floors up & no problem. Could you get a repair or something to cover the gap in tiles? A really great electric shower is going to be pretty £££ I reckon.

We have had central heating and have always had an electric shower.
Unfortunately an electrician told me that the wiring in the house would only take a 8.5kw . We always have Triton when replacing, twice in 15 years,, not bad as they are only usually about hundred quid.
Not the most powerful of showers but we're all fine with it and it has been very useful on the odd occasions that the boiler has broken.
I wouldn't have one from the main boiler just for that reason.

Has central heating

Sorry once more GAS central heating .

We have an Aqualisa digital shower which is pretty good (had 3 years now). Not sure if you can replace the electric with that? It does take water from boiler but passes through thermostat I think. The box sits under the bath. We did have it put in when we had both sparks and plumbers about though. I would possibly talk to a plumber first about it and see if the change is feasible.

I think "replacing the electric shower" is turning into new tiles, taps, shower over bath and bath cover thing.

Best start with the TILES.

we just had an electric shower fitted. We bought a 5 bedroom house with the smallest watertank known to man allowing just 1 person to have a hot shower before the water runs out. The electric shower is far cheaper than a new boiler!

We had a 9.5w fitted and a 10.5w needed different (more expensive) wiring. An electrician did ours. Its a Mira go, was about £100 and the electrician was £220
In time we will have a whole new bathroom so we just capped the old shower and fitted this. Yes we have the old fixtures but its an ideal temporary measure

venys you have a digital MIXER shower, the box under the bath replaces the usual bar mixer in the shower. It probably has an electrical feed as it needs to pump the water from the mixer box to the shower head.

An electric shower takes a cold water feed, heats it inside the box that is mounted to the wall to the temperature selected and then pushes that through the shower head.

What shower have you got at the moment OP?

You can probably do a like for like replacement. We fitted one ourselves (plumbed it in) but the electrician installed the shower cable before our bathroom refurb then hooked everything up after the shower was fitted, so at both the shower box end and the consumer unit end.

Any decent plumber is qualified to do both central heating stuff and therefore electric showers. General plumbing can require some earthing which means there is usually an electrical component to the job and if they can't do it they usually work with an electrician who can.