Shower Choice?

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I know this has probably been rehased to bits- but here's my situation. Any & all suggestions welcome.

when we first moved into this house it had an OLD electric shower. I *think* it was about 8.5kW. That started an electrical fire, and we then installed a 9.5kW cheapo shower (not sure of make) (less than £50 for part). Shower performance very poor.

we will be redooing most of the bathroom in 2 weeks. (keeping suite, except bidet, new tiles, new taps, etc). this is the time to upgrade the shower, no?

my water system info is as follows:
conventional boiler- just put in (boiler died within 4 mts of moving into new house)
good water pressure out of all taps (including bathroom)
cold water tank in loft, approximately 1m above shower
hot water tank in airing cupboard (adjacent to shower)
whirlpool tub so there's a pump in the airing cupboard for that.
do you need to know any more info?

as i see it my choices are as follows:

10.5kW electric shower. may have to upgrade the electric cables, right? no significent replumbing required.

power shower. i worry about the noise. i worry about the overspray (this will be a shower over bath jobby) is the waste pipe big enough. can anyone recommend a good power shower choice?

thermostatic mixer shower. being american, i *love* the idea of not having an insightly box on my lovely new tiled bathroom wall. i love this model:http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1049-15910
how do i know if i will need an extra pump? can we install this (or more rightly have my boyfriend's plumber mate install) and then if not enough pressure, have a plumber put a twin pump in?

we have a quote of £550 for retiling the bathroom, new skirtings, paiting of trim etc.

we have a quote of £100 for removing the bidet, new basin taps, new bath taps, replacing existing electric shower with new electric shower. the handyman (but not the plumber) are coming on wednesday for the final talk b/f commencing the work.

i need to purchase all items- which i have done (towel radiator, taps, tiles). need to purcahse shower.

what do i buy?
 
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but if we're not happy with the 9.5kw water pressure.... will there be a marked difference from the 10.5kW? will we spend the money on the new 10.5kW electric shower & have someone install it (perhaps even putting in new cables) just to have poor performance once again?

there are only two plusses i see to the electric shower-
ease of installation. no need to replumb from hot & cold water tanks
if the boiler ever dies- we still have hot shower (which was very nice when we were without boiler for 4 months)

i also worry b/c the exisitng shower worked okay before, but now it's horrible. i've descaled the head, i've taken the head off & run it hanging down to get rid of an air lock. horrible performance. i have to wash my hair out under the bath taps b/c the pressure from the shower is soo bad.
 
9.5 kw shower needs a 10mm squared electric feed so be careful another fire does not break out.
A handyman is not allowed to replace the electric shower you have to be part p qualified and an Residual current device along with a double pole pull cord switch.
£ 100 would not even cover the shower installation from a competent qualified installer I am afraid.
Do not go cheap where water meets electricity.
Pete
 
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i wish i had looked more throughly at the old shower b/f it was taken out.

the house had been vacent for several months b/f we moved in. i always "assumed" that the seal around the electric shower was faulty and that why it started a fire.

it was a really scary experience. well- sounds horrible to say now- but kind of funny. 2nd shower in the place. me naked (since was going to take the shower). the lights went out when the black smoke started coming out of the shower. no idea where the torches were, no idea where the fuse box was. we ran around, found torches, found fuse box, made sure it was all off, etc...

if we end up going down the electric shower route, i will most def check that the sparkie is putting in the correct wiring.

i must say- i keep going back to the choice of a theromstatic mixer shower. but telling the plumber that we *may* be putting a auxillery pump in at a later date. that way they can do the plumbing with that in mind. if the water pressure isn't sufficient, shouldn't be too big a deal to put extra pump in (and it breaks up the cost of the deal in half...)
 
Go with the thermostatic shower valve fed by your hot water tank this will be more effecient and easier to increase the flow in the future compared to an electric shower.
You do not need to have a high pressure power shower you can limit the volume and rate to your specific needs.
Look at Mira , Aqualisa, Triton and Hans Grohe if you want real quality units.
Pete
 
What type of pump have you already got for the tub?

It might be possible to use this to pump a shower too
 
i had thought about this as well... using the existing pump.

i'll have the plumber look at that. if he can hook the shower up to that pump, why not? we have used the whirlpool twice in 18 months.

as for specific thermostatic mixers... looking at these choices:

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/754-15911
Architeckt Profile Thermostatic Bar Shower & Kit (PWD1264)

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1049-15910
Architeckt Profile Thermostatic Concealed Shower & Kit (PWAU0025)

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1677-15911
Architeckt Profile Thermostatic Bar Shower & Kit (PWD1264)

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/69-743
Triton Tyne Thermostatic Luxury Bar Mixer Shower (PWTT0010)

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1384-15168
Grohe Grohtherm 1000 Exposed Shower & Kit (PWGH0003)
is this worth the extra money??? it's £80 more than the others...

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1407-15244
Mira 88 Gem Manual EV All Chrome (PWMI0126)

none of the cheaper triton models seems to be apprioprate for systems with less than 2m of head pressure. (in case we don't hook up a pump or can't to exisiting)

all of the aqualisa are too expensive. looking to spend under £150

are all of these suitable for my situation?
 
I have a grohe movario shower and i'd say its worth the money. I have tried Aqualisa, trevi and mira and they aren't as good.

I'm no expert but I think the internals of the grohe result in lower pressure drop as the pressure out of my shower is noticeably better than my previous shower. Also we live in a hard water area and the shower head never cakes up, the jets always fire true.
 
ended up buying Triton Thermostatic Mixer, Sema, Bar Shower.

Going to install, instructing plumber to put pipes in such as way as to easily put in a pump at a later date.

I'll let you all know how it goes!
 

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