# Advice needed on shower with combination gas boiler/Mira Advance Shower.



## Kev (24 Apr 2013)

Got an combination gas boiler installed for hot water in kitchen and bathroom a walk in shower installed for disability purposes, and bath was taken out. I was of the understanding that the hot water was going to be taken from the combination boiler,  but instead a Mira Advance shower was installed, will that be a lot more on electricity bill, any help would be grateful appreciated with this please.


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## Leo (24 Apr 2013)

The shower is most likely 9 or 10kW, so will use one unit of elecctricity every 6-7 minutes.

It does defeat some of the purpose of getting the combo boiler installed to then put in an electric power shower. Was it the one person/company installed all these? What were the details of the contract/agreement? Who specified the shower type? Sounds like you were expecting a mixer shower rather than the power shower that was installed.


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## Kev (24 Apr 2013)

Leo said:


> The shower is most likely 9 or 10kW, so will use one unit of elecctricity every 6-7 minutes.
> 
> It does defeat some of the purpose of getting the combo boiler installed to then put in an electric power shower. Was it the one person/company installed all these? What were the details of the contract/agreement? Who specified the shower type? Sounds like you were expecting a mixer shower rather than the power shower that was installed.



It was the landlord that did the shower as it is in a flat, the shower is a manual says it is MIRA Advance ATL 9.0 and 9.8, but it does not work and the water keeps coming out cold. 

I though that the hot water was going to come from the combination boiler but that seems not the be case, also it is a walk in for shower for disabilities and the bath has been removed.  The service charge is quite high that includes gas in it as it is a blanket policy. 

I understand that it was a electric      thermostatically controlled shower unit regulated to cut off at 43 degree      centigrades but I got no more details than that.


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## Leo (24 Apr 2013)

sahd said:


> If the cold supply is coming via the combi boiler and not direct from the mains - then it probably won't be high enough pressure. Those showeres need a minimum water pressure to work.. see http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/mira-advance-atl-thermostatic-3298-17785?utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=GB&utm_campaign=GoogleBase&gclid=CPCQ3tut47YCFVDMtAodrhoADw


 
Combi's don't provide a cold feed! But you may have a point regarding input pressure. This shower needs a mains cold feed only, with a min pressure of 0.5 bar. 




Kev said:


> I though that the hot water was going to come from the combination boiler but that seems not the be case


 
Wrong type of shower for that I'm afraid. It would be unusual to go to the trouble of installing a combi boiler and then not use that to feed a significant hot water demand. Given your situation, only the landlord can answer what should have been done.



Kev said:


> I understand that it was a electric thermostatically controlled shower unit regulated to cut off at 43 degree centigrades but I got no more details than that.


 
Here's a link to the user manual (pdf)


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## Kev (24 Apr 2013)

sahd said:


> If the cold supply is coming via the combi boiler and not direct from the mains - then it probably won't be high enough pressure. Those showeres need a minimum water pressure to work.. see  http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/mira-ad...n=GoogleBase&gclid=CPCQ3tut47YCFVDMtAodrhoADw



The cold water tank is on the roof of the building,  but with the combinations boiler he was using it for hot  water for his baths but since the bath has been remove and it is only sink in there now but he is still getting hot water it there for his sink use but not the shower. 
He though that the hot water for the shower would be coming from the combination boiler as it is situation in the kitchen and the bathroom is running along side of it. 
It would have meant that they would have to take a hot water pipe from the kitchen into the bathroom.  Would that have been possible for them to do ad would it have been a lot of extra work.


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## Leo (24 Apr 2013)

Kev said:


> It would have meant that they would have to take a hot water pipe from the kitchen into the bathroom. Would that have been possible for them to do ad would it have been a lot of extra work.


 
Is it possible, yes. Is it extra work, yes. 

Sounds like they just went with the easiest option of extending the pipework already in the bathroom to feed the shower. So the cold feed going to the shower will almost certainly be coming from the tank in the roof, and the shower installed is designed to work from a mains feed. So even after taking the lazy option, unless there is a significant head (difference in height between the tank and shower, they installed the wrong shower. They should have used something along the lines of the Mira Advance Flex Low Pressure.


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## Kev (24 Apr 2013)

I think the next step will be to the landlord as he will have to pay more now for electricity as the gas is in with his service charges that was operating the combination boiler and he was hoping to get the shower included in that as well.

Thanks Leo and Sahd for help, very much appreciated.


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## Leo (24 Apr 2013)

No problem Kev, good luck with it.


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## Kev (30 Apr 2013)

Been in contact with landlord and he said that electric shower cannot be changed to gas one....He said that he was sorry to say that it’s not possible as all showers are fitted with a small motor which needs to be wired up to be powered by electricity only. 

Can the hot water feed be taken from the combinations boiler situation in the kitchen or is he telling me a load of rubbish. Can you advise me on what I need to tell him so he can see sense and change the plumbing to take the feed from the combinations boiler next to the bathroom. I need to let them see that I know what I am talking about. 

Also the cold water tank is on the roof of the building that is 5 stroy up from where the shower is situated. but they have taken the cold water from the kitchn sink but not the hot water. 

Many thanks again for help


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## Leo (1 May 2013)

Kev said:


> Been in contact with landlord and he said that electric shower cannot be changed to gas one....He said that he was sorry to say that it’s not possible as all showers are fitted with a small motor which needs to be wired up to be powered by electricity only.


 
That's not true. Have a look at what one of the main shower manufaturers has to say . 



Kev said:


> Also the cold water tank is on the roof of the building that is 5 stroy up from where the shower is situated. but they have taken the cold water from the kitchn sink but not the hot water.


 
The kitchen sink is fed directly from the mains, the shower they fitted for you is designed to be fed from the mains, but sounds like your mains pressure isn't great. A header tank 5 storys up should give good pressure, and it might have been better use that.


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## Kev (2 May 2013)

Thanks Leo, there is vaillant combi boiler and should have used that for the shower or dose the boiler have ann bearing on them not fitting a mixer shower.  

Also should I point out that they should have taken the cold water from tank on the roof and the hot water from the combi boiler.  I want them to think that I know what I am talking about when I am discussing this with them


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## Leo (3 May 2013)

The main idea of putting in a combi boiler is that you get all your hot water needs satisfied by an efficient boiler. It makes little sense to then install a less efficient (more expensive to run) electric shower. The only reason for doing so would be to cut down on the plumbing required. 

For the shower they put in, they correctly took the feed from the mains.


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## Kev (3 May 2013)

Leo said:


> The main idea of putting in a combi boiler is that you get all your hot water needs satisfied by an efficient boiler. It makes little sense to then install a less efficient (more expensive to run) electric shower. The only reason for doing so would be to cut down on the plumbing required.
> 
> For the shower they put in, they correctly took the feed from the mains.



Many thanks Leo for your help, I will go for it on Monday that will give me the weekend to get prepared, with a mixer shower would it be better to take the cold from the tank on roof and the hot from the combi boiler, or is it better to levave the cold feed as it is from the main.  Also, would the flow of water be better from the tank on roof to give a better shower.


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## Leo (7 May 2013)

Sorry, only seeing this now, but yes, best feed a mixer with the cold from the tank and the hot from the combi boiler.


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