Hi
Basically my shower is rubbish.Its wall mounted and i stand in the bath.The problem is the amount of water it delivers is rubbish,i have to stand right under it as the power is very low.
I think its one of those that heats the water then delivers it.
It needs replacing......any advice on what to look for,features,KW etc,etc.

Thanks
Paul....

The DIY Forum is really good for this sort of thing.

I never knew it existed:rolleyes:...

Sorry. The only logical reason you could have posted it here is that you didn't.

Just get a shower with a higher wattage, I did (Mira Sport) and it was miles better, Power Showers cost wads and to be honest, hurt !

It'd be interesting to know what you have at present. I've just put a 9.5 kW shower in son's bedroom, and it's lovely.
We also have a power shower in the bathroom, and that's nice too. I gather you can now get a shower pump that does 4bars of pressure........wow.
Alcazar

4 bar = 59 psi

Sounds cool, do you have any skin left?:eek:

:D:D

Do yourself a favour and get down to your local B&Q depot, they should do a 9.5 shower by Essentials, which is in fact a mira shower with a different name, thats what we've got, and it's brilliant, just fitted one in a mates house a few weeks ago, about £90 if I remember rightly, the Mira badged equivelant was at least a £100 more!!

You could just take a bath :rolleyes:;);)





Nice to see the home improvements have moved onto the bathroom Paul :D;)

Btw,apart from power rating are there any other features to bear in mind,or is a shower a shower?.........

If you're able, take a look at the wire, get a mental note of how big it is, then go to a store somewhere and look at what they've got, 9.5kw, is about 25amps, so, the cable should be probably rated at 32amps, and basically, a simple shower's a simple shower, the more expensive ones do do a little more, but at the end of the day, they all put warm/hot water on your head.
Ron.

ps, i'm not an electrician, so my sums might not be 100% right!

if your going to install a 9kw shower then its best to ask a electrician to check the cable size and fuse.you may have to change the wire from the fuse box to the shower if your going from a 7kw to a 9kw because of the draw on the wire.
as for showers get a well know make.Mira are best,these no-namers come and go and spares are a problem.you can still get spares for mira showers that are over 20 years old,that tells you something.i doubt if you could get spares for a 5year old shower of the no-name brands..

there are also power showers which have a pump built into the actual shower unit,seem quite good,but you will need a hot supply from the hw source(cylinder ).

Duncan

Just to Clarify,
We had Mira Sport, years ago, when the time came to change, I looked around and found that the 'Essentials' on e in B&Q, is actually identical inside to the old Mira Sport, just with a different name, in fact, the bits inside say Mira, so, it is made by Mira for B&Q, it's an awful lot cheaper than a Mira though, so I would suspect that parts would be availbale through Mira, cos they make it!

Paulr...If you are thinking of upping the Kw rating on the shower to 9.5Kw then you are going to need a minimuim cable size of 10mm and possibly bigger depending on the length of cable required between the shower and the fuse box.A new RCD and a min 40amp fuseway, obviously a pull switch inside the bathroom or cooker style breaker outside of the room will be needed. All of this should only be done by a electrician (water and electrics not a good mix) and this with the cost of a good branded shower is going to cost in the region of £500.
However once you have tried a power shower you would'nt want to go back to the electric type seeing as they cost about the same. We generally fit the Mira Event thermostatic power shower which uses the hot and cold water from the storage systems and has a booster pump in the unit itself and a 5amp fused supply is all that is needed to power it. To give an example a typical installation supplied and fitted would cost £575. The cost could be lowered by £70 by going for the manual mixer but I would'nt recommend doing so.
As far as replacing a Mira shower with one of the Essentials branded range I had the unfortunate honour of doing this recently when the customer supplied the shower (always a big mistake) and although they are very similar they are different in the key areas, like fixing points, water connections and the electrical terminal block being just a few mm to far away. I'm pretty sure that mira spares would'nt fit either.

Mog

I dont think i want a power shower,uprating to a decent powered normal shower should do the trick.From what you've said i think i might need to get a bit of advice on the wiring front.There's a guy at work who used to be an electrician so i'll see if he can come round and have a look.
As for the shower i'll have to have a look round.The B+Q one does sound pretty good though,i dont really want to spend a lot.

Thanks
Paul.........

I was, of course, assuming that you have a bath, not just a shower cubicle :D:D

I myself wouldn't - haven't taken a bath for years :D:D:rolleyes:;)

I myself wouldn't - haven't taken a bath for years
:rolleyes::D...



[Edited by paulr - 2/12/2003 2:51:17 PM]

on another note just looking into fitting a shower with p20spd...

would like to raise the following..

10.8 kW should be at 230 Volts, i.e. 47 Amps
Equipment should be rated to cope with a voltage range of + 10% to -6%
Your shower will take 51.6 Amps at 253 Volts which is 13.05 kW, however
the same rules should apply to the switch, cable and fuse/circuit
breaker.
If you buy a 45 A switch and fuse or CB, they'll be OK.

I refer you to Engineering Recommendation P28 Addendum 3 - Electrically
heated Instantaneous Shower Units, paragraph 2:-

Each Instantaneous shower unit with a rating in excess of 7.2 kW should
have the following notice incorporated in the installation instructions:

"As this is a high power unit it is essential to contact your
Electricity Board to ensure that the electricity supply is adequate for
the purpose".

David

Now looking at the smaller shower:D

fitting into a shower with p20spd

Euuuuuchhhhhhhh...

Nice of you to change the words around Nick;)

You worry me sometimes:p

paul,

it sounds like the water pressure is too low or the strainer in the shower is clogged.

if the stariner - if it has one, is clean, you may have to get a booster pump fitted to the incoming water main. or do you have a header tank in the loft?

post in DIY and ask for mog - he de man.

ETS - if the water pressure is too low its a waste of time fitting a new shower - IMHO of corse ;)

[Edited by mj - 2/7/2003 10:22:55 PM]

if the shower is quite an old one be careful to check the electric cable is up to the job of supplying the extra wattage as if not it will burn out youre spanking new shower.
should be on a separate circuit with its own fuse on the board/consumer unit.

ps water boards have been playing a nasty trick over the last few years of deliberatley dropping pressure to reduce loss through leaks.
Much cheaper all round than actually fixing the leaks!!! but a complete barsteward if your shower is a bit low on power and v annoying if it has a pressure switch wich turns it off when the pressure drops too low.

if you complain to the water board all they do is say is "oh but the pressure meets the legal minimum (ie not fecking enough)

[Edited by mattstant - 2/7/2003 10:42:50 PM]

Do yourself a favour and get down to your local B&Q depot, they should do a 9.5 shower by Essentials, which is in fact a mira shower with a different name, thats what we've got, and it's brilliant, just fitted one in a mates house a few weeks ago, about £90 if I remember rightly, the Mira badged equivelant was at least a £100 more!!


Ron.i think that may be the answer.I've just looked at the rating and its onlt 7.2 KW.I think the 9.5 is the way to go.Another question ...

If i uprate to a 9.5 how do i know if i need uprated wiring/fuses?.How can i tell the power rating of the existing wiring?

Okay,thanks for all the replies........and yes,i suppose i could just take a bath....i'd never thought of that:rolleyes::rolleyes:;);)...


[Edited by paulr - 2/8/2003 7:52:18 PM]

You may also need to look at the fuse, (or preferably: circuit breaker) in your consumer unit, (fuse box).
An electric shower ought to have an RCCD somewhere in the circuit, either as the main incomer, or a seperate mcb for the shower. Then, if there is an electrical fault, it won't be lethal!
9.5kW= 40Amps. so choose the next highest value ABOVE this.
Alcazar
Edited to say: if you already have an RCCD, (trip, earth leakage trip etc), changing the fuse is easy-peasy: turn off the main switch, and it's 2 screws, and a clip!!
If you don't have an RCCD, and aren't confident,leave it to someone who is. I did next door's with a Screwfix "kit" for £80 all in, new fuse box, 10 fuses etc.

[Edited by alcazar - 2/8/2003 10:11:13 PM]