3 x Powershowers - is that practical?

Called to a showroom for bathrooms yesterday to spec out suites etc. This is for a fairly large extension so I was looking for material for a total of 3 showers. I mentioned about having 2 electric showers (with an override so that both courln't be turned on at the same time) and 1 x powershower.

The person in the showroom said that I would be better off having 3 x powershowers as the electic showers are "pretty useless anyway". When I said that my daughter would probably use up all the hot water with 1 shower I was told that you can install a "rapid recovery unit which heats up the wate again in 10 minutes".

just wondering if anyone is familar with these and if the overall suggestion of no electric shower makes sense?

thanks in advance
Roy

PS. I am also installing solar panels in case that makes a difference.

Re: 3 x Powershowers??? Is that practical?

We have 3 "power showers" in our house - built 2 years ago. Just Mira Gem mixer showers run off a pump . We have one electric shower too - but it is never used. I don't know why we bothered with it - and if starting again I would not waste the money on it.
We got a powerful pump - good enough to have 4 showers on at the same time - but again that was a waste of money too because it would be very rare that 3 would be on at the same time. We try to avoid - if possible - having 2 power showers can on together - because the hot water tank could get emptied - but it has only been a problem once in a house with 5 people who use the showers. I am not sure of the size of the hot water tank - but the plumber said it was one of the bigger sizes ? We get 2 or 3 showers on the trot out of it - and with 3 teenagers - they tend to linger..
The tank is a rapid recovery one and if it is cold it might take less than half an hour to get hot again.
In my opinion - don't bother with the electric one - it would only be useful if you ran out of oil (assuming it is oil fired system) - which is not really very likely.

Re: 3 x Powershowers??? Is that practical?

Thanks for that IL - much appreciate the information.

Anyone got suggestions as to the minimum tank size that would be required for 3 of these pressure showers?

Roy

The plumber should be able to work that our for you based on the output/type of "power" showers you have. You could also go to a plumbing shop, they would be able to tell you also. If you are going for a larger bath, you will need to take this into account aswell.
We have one electric installed and find it handy when water is cold or if the other showers /bath are busy but since you have solar panels i presume the water is always being topped up

We replaced the electric shower when we moved in with a power shower + 3 bar pump.

Just remember to factor in the possibility that water may be metered in future so whilst a single shower with a 3 barpump may not be result in an overly sensational monsoon type experience it may end up being a lot more satisfying further down the road.

Size of tank - bigger the better especially with Solar panels - We have solar panels, 2 power showers, 1 electric shower (never used) and a 300 litre tank.

We have three power showers and one electric shower. The electric shower only gets used in the summer months when we wouldn't have the oil fired heating on. If we want to use the power showers in the summer we would have to turn on the immersion and wait twenty minutes for the water to heat up or turn on the oil burner and just have it heat the water tank, without heating the rads, which would probably take longer than the immersion heater. We wouldn't be without our one electric shower but we don't have the rapid recovery system as mentioned earlier.

Solar panels should help to provide plenty hot water during the summer months!

PaddyH said:

Solar panels should help to provide plenty hot water during the summer months!

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Well with 300% of normal rainfall in the south east this July I'm not sure about that . Seriously though I take your point and if we do build again which we are thinking about, I would do things an awful lot differently than to what we did nine years ago.