Electric showers - are they awful?

[Twoshoesnewshoes]

I’m trying to find ways to use less heating oil, to cut carbon emissions.
thinking of getting an electric shower in one of our two bathrooms so we can use this in the summer and mostly turn the boiler off.
but my experience of electric showers has been of standing under some pleasantly warm rain.
does anyone have a powerful electric shower?

I think I’ve worked out that
10 minute electric shower with 10kw shower
= 45p, and 0.4 kg of co2
10 minute shower from oil heated tank
= 61p and 1.3kg of CO2

does that sound about right?

Thank you very much.
I've only ever lived in houses with Triton showers and I'm 55!

I have a Mira Azure and everyone comments on how good it is for an electric shower.

"Aqualisa are pumped with hot water, Mira and Triton are electric only showers"

Don't think this is right. Triton are very common brand of electric showers but I think the other two make both electric and mixer / thermostatic showers ( which use the hot water from the hot water system ).

We’ve got one that we put in last year and it’s fine. Get a decent kw one so it heats the water quickly.

Oil should be about 1/3 the cost of electric for equivalent energy.

But it depends on a lot of things like how much you pay for oil, how efficient your boiler is, whether you use all the water up that you heat for other stuff etc.

I'd be surprised if the oil cost much more than 1/2 the electric.

@GasPanic but with oil I need to heat the whole tank (height of me, twice as wide) whereas with electric I just heat the water used for one shower.

That's what gas showers do not electric ,how odd.

"That's what gas showers do not electric ,how odd."

It's not odd at all. The same
can happen with electric showers ; especially cheaper ones. If the flow rate of water through the shower drops too low the heating element turns off to avoid it overheating.

My electric shower is good!

@dizzydizzydizzy what make is it please?

Mira, with a digital temperature device to de the tte temp of water

Thank you!

But don't you need hot water for your taps? Kitchen? Bathroom? So you would need to heat the water tank anyway?

Look, I don't know the first thing about oil heating as we have gas but can you not have a smaller water tank fitted so you heat up less water? The tank sounds huge unless you are indeed, tiny. My water tank is for a 4 bed house and I believe 180 litres to feed a bathroom and en-suite. It is about 1.3m tall and 54 cm wide/deep according to Mr Google.

My Mira is good, especially in summer, adequate in winter. You must buy the best available.

The issue KievLoverTwo descibes happened once when I'd had my shower for many years. I think it was the thermostat and a simple repair fixed it so no need to worry about that.

I’m not sure- its possible we could get a smaller tank I guess, or some kind of way to adapt the existing one.
its just standard for an oil water heater.

I don’t know sorry. I’m away from home.

I have a great electric shower

depending on the time you use the shower you may be no better off carbon wise than using gas

https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/live

work out when it’s best to do everything form showers to laundry

the higher the kw rating on the shower the more power you are likely to get behind the flow

Thanks @childofthe607080s
I’m on oil not gas, trying to cut carbon, not too worried about cost though of course don’t want massively bigger costs!

Do you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater?

Assuming that your current showers are in good working order, then you need to take into account the carbon emissions involved in manufacturing and installing a new electric shower. Worth considering that only about 50% of UK electricity is supplied by renewables, so it's not completely emission-free. Also, a tank of hot water should do more than one shower.

The amount of oil used for heating will be a drop in the ocean compared to heating your house. If you're concerned about carbon emissions then changing your boiler for an ASHP would have a far greater impact. And/or get solar panels.

You don’t need to heat the whole tank, just enough of it to provide the hot water you need. It heats from the top down.

You can do that with the electric immersion heater or the oil boiler.

@MotherofPufflings @GasPanic lots to think about, thank you!
I had a quote for ashp when I thought the boiler was unsalvageable , but we are probably moving in the next couple of years so it doesn’t make sense to replace now.
or does it??

But you're not using a whole tank each time you shower, so you're not reheating a whole tank - just the amount you've used.
A few years ago, we had no power for 4 days after a storm. Oil boiler and power shower didn't work, obviously, but we had hot water in the taps for 2 days (well, warm by the end of day 2). We were using the water to strip wash and wash dishes.
I know nothing about CO2 calculations but like a PP, I can't believe your cost of shower using oil heated water is correct. Definitely more expensive to shower by electric shower. I used to watch the red light on the smart meter in our kitchen whenever DS was in the shower, and wince at the cost! I may also have resorted to banging on the bathroom door occasionally and shouting "time's up"

@ohtowinthelottery yes i think this is the bit I didn’t know and take into account, I thought the whole tank had to get hot.
big carbon guilt here, but perhaps this is not the way to make a change.