mixer shower or electric????

[mauk]

hello all,

I currently have a pumped mixer shower on a conventional central heating system (cold tank & hot cyllinder) but am fed up with running out of hot water, turning on the hot water, listening to the noisy shower pump and replacing unreliable shower pumps. I am thinking of changing to a combi boiler therefore getting rid of all these problems (and also freeing up space in a bedroom). instead of all this expense i am thinking about installing an electric shower (with supply back to dis board) but am concerned about the pressure of an electric shower as my experience of them is they trickle hot water especially in the winter!!! my mains pressure is quite good (dont know a rating though) but am i likely to get a powerful shower from an electric shower (compared to a 2 bar pump) ? If so is the higher KW rating the more powerful the shower??? A powerful shower is really important to me and if i can get this from an electric shower i wont go to all the expense of changing my boiler???

any help would be appreciated...

thanks

 

[lufcmark]

If you are used to a gravity fed mixer via a 2 bar shower pump then no electric shower I am aware of will come close...To get comprehensive advice on this you will need to provide the flow rate (pressure too if possible would help) of your mains water supply...Flow rate can be measured by timing how long it takes to fill a 10litre bucket from your outside tap.

 

[xr4x4]

pumped showers are the best...

get a better/bigger hot water cyl?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

As said you wont get anything like the performance from an electric shower compared with a power shower. You are correct about the higher the kW the better the shower. A higher kW shower can heat the water faster so therefore will allow more water through and maintain the temperature.

A highflow combi may give you a decent shower, but this is totally dependant on your incoming mains supply. However, with any combi, if it breaks down you have no hot water so an electric shower can be a bonus til the boiler is repaired.

Depending on your existing boiler/system, as suggested maybe an upgrade of the hot water cylinder and system would be enough to give you the extra HW capacity for your existing shower.