Which Make Of Electric Shower & Power Output To Choose?

[holdyerplums]

I need a new electric shower to replace my 8.5 kw one. The market seems to be split between Triton, Mira and Redring.

The Redrings seem to offer good value, and have a 3 year guarantee. Do the pros who fit these for a living have any brand/model preferences in terms of performance and reliability?

Also, will I be better of with a 9.5 kw model?

Many thanks.

 

[seco services]

mira or triton but i don't rate redring, creda, Gainsborough.

as for uprating your shower depends on if your electrical side ie cable etc is up to taking a larger kw shower.

 

[loughneagh]

HI HYP

I can't advise on the shower but first check what size of cable and trip/fuse you have. A lot of the earlier electric showers, (possibly before you had the 8.5kW) were lower wattage and have smaller cables/trips.

Might be worth having an electrician mate check it for you. Probably if you were OK at 8.5kW it will be OK for 9.5 but it may trip or overheat the cable or indeed not have sufficient disconnection time to keep you safe. Depends on the distance from the supply and type of protection etc but you're probably looking at needing 10mm cable.

Cheers

 

[holdyerplums]

Thanks for your help. The cable is 6 mm. A 3 or 4 metre run. Is this sufficient?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I would suggest you ask on the Sparks forum. Mira would be my choice for the shower, but the electricians would be better placed to advise what kW shower you could put on the end of the existing cable safely.

9.5kW would likely give better performance, (assuming your incoming water pressure and flow are up to it!), but for safety's sake you need to be certain the electrical side can handle the extra kW.

 

[Goldberg]

Thanks for your help. The cable is 6 mm. A 3 or 4 metre run. Is this sufficient?

If the conditions are favourable then 6mm² T&E cable can safely carry 46A, which would support a 10.5kW shower, but in the least favourable conditions a 7.0kW shower could be unsafe.

Is the cable in conduit at any point? Or covered by thermal insulation at any point? Or is it clipped direct to a wall or buried in plaster? Is the circuit protected by an MCB/RCBO, or by a rewireable fuse?

 

[kevplumb]

complete and utter rubbish goldberk

whoever the idiot mod is

leave my posts alone

i can disagree with your "friend" if i want to

 

[loughneagh]

Hi HYP

I see you've posted this on the sparks forum too and as you can see there is a lot of discussion and disagreement, this is because 6mm is marginal at best and depends on many factors, some of which are listed directly from BS7671 by Goldberg above. However there is no substitute for an experienced electrician looking at your entire installation and making sure the protection is right, bonding inplace etc. My best advice to you is to get a competent, trusted, 17 edition reg trained electrician. As it is such a short run why not put in 10mm cable? I would advise also that there is a 30mA RCD protecting the circuit.

Electricity and water don't mix mate, like with the gas guys, get a pro in, probably only a couple of hours work, a new trip at a fiver and a tenner for cable, he can check and test the whole installation then.

Cheers