Shower upgrade to 10.5kW

[wundaboy]

As I recently wrote above, I am a great believer in that sort of redundancy/'backup' - which is why I have an electric shower which is virtually never used.

However, as I also said to the OP, if the electric shower is only for that back-up purpose, it doesn't remotely need to be 'the best one can get". I would advise someone wanting such a backup to go for the cheapest one that could be easily installed - and, in the OP's case, that probably means sticking with a 7.5 kW one, so that absolutely no changes to his electrical installation would be required.

Kind Regards, John

Well quite, but from how you've described your house on here John, you have something approximating to (a very nice sounding) old pile with a plumbing system to fit, whereas the OP sounds to have something more modest where the electric shower is intended to be the main shower?

 

[JohnW2]

... whereas the OP sounds to have something more modest where the electric shower is intended to be the main shower?

That seemed to be his original intention but I think we probably persuaded him that to change from a combi-powered to electric shower "because of rises in gas prices" was not really sensible (since, regardless of rises, electricity was certainly not going to get cheaper than gas any time soon, if ever - coupled with the fact that electric showers are invariably inferior in performance), so that an electric shower would only be a 'backup' - and I thought he was confirming that when he wrote:

I'm undecided/paranoid on the possibility of DHW failure and having an alternative electric source of hot water..

... but maybe I misunderstood him?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Vicario]

I would worry that 10.8kw might be too hot. This morning I had to turn my 9kw down a long way before it was comfortable. The water output was very strong as a result. Obviously, on a freezing morning in a long spell of cold weather it needs to be higher with less power but it has never ever needed to be on maximum heat or remotely near.

 

[JohnW2]

I would worry that 10.8kw might be too hot. This morning I had to turn my 9kw down a long way before it was comfortable. The water output was very strong as a result.

I must say that I've never heard that one, and I don't recall having seen any electric show whose temperature could not be turned down to 'cold', under any circumstances. As for water output being "very strong" when the temp is turned down, by far the most common complaint about electric showers is that the water flow is 'not strong enough', so I doubt that very many people would be concerned about it 'being too strong'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[fiskrond]

That seemed to be his original intention but I think we probably persuaded him that to change from a combi-powered to electric shower "because of rises in gas prices" was not really sensible (since, regardless of rises, electricity was certainly not going to get cheaper than gas any time soon, if ever - coupled with the fact that electric showers are invariably inferior in performance), so that an electric shower would only be a 'backup' - and I thought he was confirming that when he wrote:
... but maybe I misunderstood him?

Kind Regards, John

Wundaboy is quite correct.. my house is most definitely in the modest (ie. hovel) category.. there was little time, expense, nor expertise afforded during construction..

In the combi/electric decision I was thinking that even if the gas boiler went down I could still have a wash with electrically heated water... but then again.. as a single bloke I can get by with boiling a kettle every few days and making do.

I'm probably going to stick with original plan... run the shower/bath off the combi.. but leave the shower electrics in place (with a blanking socket) to leave my options open for any eventualities...

Does this sound sensible-ish?

 

[JohnW2]

Wundaboy is quite correct.. my house is most definitely in the modest (ie. hovel) category.. there was little time, expense, nor expertise afforded during construction.. In the combi/electric decision I was thinking that even if the gas boiler went down I could still have a wash with electrically heated water... but then again.. as a single bloke I can get by with boiling a kettle every few days and making do.

Fair enough. It seems as if Wundaboy was only really correct in assuming that you had an ordinary/'modest' house (which I had also assumed), but it also sounds as if he was wrong in thinking that you were considering have an electrical shower as your 'main' one, rather than (as I had understood) just as a 'reserve' in case the combi became ill. Is that correct?

I'm probably going to stick with original plan... run the shower/bath off the combi.. but leave the shower electrics in place (with a blanking socket) to leave my options open for any eventualities... Does this sound sensible-ish?

That sounds very sensible to me - it would probably be daft to rip out the shower electrics, since you-know-who's Law being what it is, you would probably, for some reason, 'tomorrow' come to regret that you had!

Kind Regards, John