How to choose shower?

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Percy

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Hi guys,

I've been searching through a load of past threads to see if I can find the answer to my questions regarding shower options and while a lot of the info is very helpful for people slightly in the know, I'm afraid I'm starting off in a state of complete ignorance!

Our bathroom situation is as follows:
We currently have no shower as such. We have a mixer tap on the bath, a hose and shower head coming out of it and that's our shower. The water is heated by the immersion.
The water pressure from our shower is only ok but we would like it a bit stronger for showering. Having said that I have no idea how to measure this in bars?! Any shower specs I look up say that such and such is good if you've got x bars of pressure etc. How do you find out what pressure your system works at?

Basically I'm wondering would it be best to just replace the outdated mixer unit on our bath and then get a shower pump installed by the hot water tank to give us that extra pressure for showering (btw our hot water tank looks really small to me so maybe a pump isn't even an option?), or would it make more sense to get an electric power shower installed?

I know noise is an issue with both options, but which is more economical? An electric shower or pump?

Sorry for all the questions, but any info would be really appreciated.
 
You basically have four options:


1. Use the current hot and cold feeds and just plumb in a fixed shower. Cheap but normally poor pressure if you have a gravity feed.

2. Power shower which uses the existing hot and cold connections and has a high pressure pump inside. Much better pressure but quickly uses a lot of hot water and is noisy.

3. Power shower with remote pump...as above but without the noise and can be even more powerful.

4. Electrically heated shower. This uses cold water direct from the mains which is heated by the unit. The advantages are hot water all the time but the pressure/flow on most models is iffy. also there is a trade off between temperature and flow. the higher you set the temp the less water you get. Its dependent on the mains water temp so the performance is worse in the winter.
 
Thanks a mill for the reply HF. Am sure this question is totally ridiculous but when you say plumb in a fixed shower are you just referring to the shower fixtures ie mixer taps, rail etc??
 
Yes you can get a plumber to put fixed piping from the bath feeder pipes to a shower head through a mixer valve. If you go this way get a thermostatic mixer which maintains a constant temp. It frees up your bath taps and is a permanent installation. If you have good head pressure with your current arrangement it should be ok.
 
Great thanks again HighFlier. One last question (I promise!). If we went with the fixed mixer unit can you also get a pump installed with that to boost the water pressure?
 
If you went with a fixed mixer you could fit a remote pump in the hot press or attic, they make noise so site well. I would rather no shower then an electric one. expensive to run and poor return. the cheapest and best option is a power shower with built in pump, they may be a bit noisy but awesome pressure and less work to install. I have a 35 gallon cylinder and this seems to suit me fine, two showers one after the other without it running cold.
 
You might consider fitting a Mira Event - see Mira website - you will get a thermostatic mixer and pump in one. It takes the hot water from your cylinder. Depending on your wall type installing this may be relatively straight forward.

Your flow rate now - get two one litre milk cartons and open them up. Turn on the tap for 30 seconds and see how many you fill. A half decent shower would need an absolute minimum of 10 litres per minute.
 
Guys thanks very much for all your replies. To be honest I'm veering towards a mixer shower with maybe a remote pump, as I'm thinking an electric shower would be v costly to run and as it is if we switch on our immersion for 20mins we got roasting water. Also from from reading other threads they don't seem to be all too reliable with flow, temperature etc at different times of year. I think my problem is there's too many options and trying to narrow it down is the hard bit!

Here's the Mira spin on mixer showers:

"Mixer showers are easy to install and require no electrical connections*. They work by mixing together your hot and cold water to the desired temperature - ideal for homes with an ample supply of hot water. Mixer showers usually have a higher flow rate than electric showers, and with a host of models from which to choose - from contemporary minimalist to more classic styles - there is sure to be a mixer shower to suit all tastes and bathroom styles.
*Exception of Digital showers"
 
Percy said:
Guys thanks very much for all your replies. To be honest I'm veering towards a mixer shower with maybe a remote pump, as I'm thinking an electric shower would be v costly to run and as it is if we switch on our immersion for 20mins we got roasting water.
Click to expand...

Remember that the electric shower I mentioned the Event is not an electric shower that would be expensive to run (certainly only on a par with a 1.5 bar pump), it does not heat the water, it contains a pump which pulls the water from the tank and blends it.

You mentioned that you had a really small hot water tank. Any pump is going to bleed that dry (cold) in about 8 minutes as I'm guessing it's a 25 or 30 gallon unit (900 mm x 450mm).
 
Yeah David, I tried to find something on our tank last night to see how many gallons it would hold - couldn't see anything, but there were measurements scribbled on top of it by a plumber I'm guessing approximate to what you've said there. So yes it's a v small tank!
Will take a closer look at the Mira Event as you suggest.

Funny, I had a plumber over before about something else and asked him about putting a pump on the hot water tank. Not a bother he said, and never mentioned anything about how small our tank was and the fact that it'd empty out to cold water in no length. Wonder do half the tradesmen out there know what they're doing at all!
 
Percy said:
Funny, I had a plumber over before about something else and asked him about putting a pump on the hot water tank. Not a bother he said, and never mentioned anything about how small our tank was and the fact that it'd empty out to cold water in no length. Wonder do half the tradesmen out there know what they're doing at all!
Click to expand...

The customer is always right! and then when you find that you only get a 10 minute shower at best, he'll get the job of replacing the cylinder.

On the point of having a pure electric shower (one that heats the water as used) consider this. Electric shower 9KW running for 8 minutes will use a similar amount of electricity as a 3KW immersion running for 20 minutes!!!
 
If you go for a pumped shower, remote or built in, the hot water problem will still be the same. I would fit the shower and take it from there. this will give you a better idea of hot water demand. Changing cylinder is expensive and can be done afterwards.
 
Hi new member and as confused as the person who posted original thread. I've bought an Aqulaisa Hydramax HM.IPS.21T thermostatic power shower froma reputable wholesaler (it's still to be fitted) and find the instructions say it can only be used for 15 minutes then off for 45 minutes.

Am I reading this correctly - it seems very limited usage if I am.

Can someone help this dumb brunette please
 
Yep, your reading it right. It's to prolong the life of the internel pump as they may overheat if left running for too long, which is rare. Ass-covering me thinks!
 
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