I'm building an en-suite in our bedroom and am looking for a good quality, nice looking electric shower, any recommendations? Also if it is supplied from a dedicated cold water tank in the loft, with a head of approx 1m, will I need a pump to get a good pressure wash?

Been a while since I had an elecrtic shower but IIRC, Redline make quite good showers.
Think it was an 850W model we had and it gave a good blast :)
You shouldn't need any extra pumps if the tank is in your loft.

"Aqualisa" are good

one thing to consider is that you will most likely need a separate breaker and power supply from your fuse box because at the top end they come in at about 9kW, which is 36 amps.

850 w is a cold shower Mr Blue!

I would suggest a power shower driven from your hot water cylinder - much better pressure than from a 1m head. AFAIK you cant have electric heated power showers - you'd need your own power station to heat the water for that flow!

Q do you need an electric shower if you already have a hot water cylinder? The water in the cylinder goes cold whilst you pay loads for heating water for the shower?

The power supply isn't a problem. I've got a 10mm spur off the fuse box (soon to be replaced with an MCB type consumer unit) into a DP isolator pull switch.

Another thought that has just occured to me; I'm thinking off running the water pipes in 15mm plastic, what do I do with respect to earth bonding?

You bond anything metal exposed... should be ok as the shower itself will be earthed via the 10mm2 cable..

David

wire it up properly, or you will be a crispy duck...LOL

;)BB

MIRA
We use them and in our opinion are the best:)
You can still get spares for mira showers that are over 20years old no problem.Some of the unknown makes only stock spares for about 2 years,then its a new unit!!
Out of 100's of miras weve installed we have only had 1 duff one.

Mira sport 8.5kw
mira elite 8.5 with built in pump
mira advance 9.8kw.

Quote:Q do you need an electric shower if you already have a hot water cylinder? The water in the cylinder goes cold whilst you pay loads for heating water for the shower?

Yes but you need to heat the water first in the cylinder!!!
anytime day or night you can have a shower if its electric,you only heat the water that you need .No heat losses like there is with a cylinder full of hot water that you have spent 20mins warming up for a conventional shower.




Duncan

[Edited by scooby nutter - 11/15/2002 12:12:57 PM]

Connect it up to the soil stack for a perfect golden shower.

Ahh yes Mr Scooby Nutter, but if you want to wash a dish or maybe wash your hands after a visit to the bog, do you then use the electric shower too as you havent heated up the water in your cylinder? I just dont get them!

Did you say you could have an electric shower with a pump in it? Does it compare with a pukka power shower or a decent mains pressure combi boiler driven shower?

(I'm interested in this as I am moving to a house soon that already has a hot water cylinder but the shower is a dribbly electric shower, and that will be my first fix - I sweat a lot see ;) )

You can apparently get electric showers with pumps built in.

Greg (also having ensuite fitted and already have one pump for the bathroom shower)

Don't forget to fit an RCD, also known as a RCCB, since an electric shower has electricity and water in rather close proximity!!
Also, afaIk, electric showers, UNLESS fitted with a pump, have to be fed from the cold water main?? We have one in each kid's bedroom, and both are mains connected.
Alcazar

:D @ BB & Olly, once a Muppet always a Muppet:)

No I don't have a hot water storage tank, I have a combi boiler, but I don't fancy paralysing the entire household whilst one person has a shower. Cheers scooby nutter I was thinking of a Mira as Iv'e heard good things about them.

agree that mira are the best bet - also get a "Daryl" screen fitted, they are top.
weava

MW:) Have already got my eye on a nice Daryl screen

If youre going to fit an electric shower,youre better off feeding it directly from the cold water mains-no need for a tank,its also better to fit the highest wattage unit that you can get,due to it heating the water as it goes through it.If you get a low wattage unit,in the winter when the water entering the property is alot colder you will find that you will have to have the water flow at a "trickle" to get any decent heat into it ,even with a high wattage unit the flow rates will be fairly low.If youve got a fairly new combi then the water flow rates should be able to cope with another tap running at the same time if it set up properly + it will have better flow rates than the electric unit(even a high wattage unit).I personally would stick with using the combi and make sure that it is commissioned to have the correct flowrates/burner pressure and you shouldnt have any probs + it'll be alot cheaper to fit a conventional shower mixer then--hope this helps.

easy

Easy, the combi isn't new, it was in the house when I bought it and to be honest I'm not over impressed, It is not capable of running more than one tap at a time at any time of year. That's why I've got the tank, the main shower is already connected to it and runs OK, but it is only a cheap 7.5kW B&Q job, I wan't something decent for our en-suite:)