Shower type recommendations

[jh]

Hope you can help me,
I live in the top floor (3rd) of a flat roofed ex-council house, I have
decent central heating and hot water with a standard potterton gas
boiler. However, my shower is a basic 11kw electric shower supplied by
mains cold water. For some reason in the winter the water pressure
fluctuates a bit and the shower often complains of low pressure and
switches off its element, hence a cold shower which is none too amusing
when you are covered head to toe in suds!

The shower head is at a similar height to the the base of the hot water
tank feeder tank if that make sense. I would like to run a shower from
the hot water generated by the boiler instead of the electric one, but i
have little experience in this area.

What are the groups recommendations and how much would various solutions
cost?

Thanks

 

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hope you can help me,
I live in the top floor (3rd) of a flat roofed ex-council house, I have
decent central heating and hot water with a standard potterton gas
boiler. However, my shower is a basic 11kw electric shower supplied by
mains cold water. For some reason in the winter the water pressure
fluctuates a bit and the shower often complains of low pressure and
switches off its element, hence a cold shower which is none too amusing
when you are covered head to toe in suds!

The shower head is at a similar height to the the base of the hot water
tank feeder tank if that make sense. I would like to run a shower from
the hot water generated by the boiler instead of the electric one, but i
have little experience in this area.

What are the groups recommendations and how much would various solutions
cost?

Thanks

You need a pumped shower if the mains pressure is crap.

However its surprising to get massive short-term pressure
fluctuations..does the cold tap flow rate vary?

If the actual mains flow rate is good and its just the shower that is
crap, a Combi system might actually suit you. Heaven forfend I should
actually recommend a combi..

in the end a cheap new boiler may not be much more expesnive than
sorting out a pump.

And you could ditch all the tanks..scarpo value of copper is not
insignificant..

 

[Jim Alexander]

Hope you can help me,
I live in the top floor (3rd) of a flat roofed ex-council house, I have
decent central heating and hot water with a standard potterton gas
boiler. However, my shower is a basic 11kw electric shower supplied by
mains cold water. For some reason in the winter the water pressure
fluctuates a bit and the shower often complains of low pressure and
switches off its element, hence a cold shower which is none too amusing
when you are covered head to toe in suds!

You are implying there is not 11kWs worth of cold water at certain times in
winter in which case an approx 28kW combi fed shower might disappoint,
though the real problem is using a "basic" 11kW shower which may or may not
even be working properly. Put in a better 9.5kW electric shower with
decent temperature regulation that doesn't dump cold water when it cuts out,
then think about a total DHW solution at boiler replacement time.

Jim A

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

Hope you can help me,
I live in the top floor (3rd) of a flat roofed ex-council house, I have
decent central heating and hot water with a standard potterton gas
boiler. However, my shower is a basic 11kw electric shower supplied by
mains cold water. For some reason in the winter the water pressure
fluctuates a bit and the shower often complains of low pressure and
switches off its element, hence a cold shower which is none too amusing
when you are covered head to toe in suds!

The shower head is at a similar height to the the base of the hot water
tank feeder tank if that make sense. I would like to run a shower from
the hot water generated by the boiler instead of the electric one, but i
have little experience in this area.

What are the groups recommendations and how much would various solutions
cost?

Has it always done this? I'm wondering if it's some part of
the shower which is deteriorating and would benefit from a
clean or a simple replacement like-for-like shower, e.g. if
it's scalled up.
Have you got any other mains taps nearby and do they give
a good flow?

Otherwise it will be a shower pump. I wouldn't entertain a
combi if you're already low on mains pressure or flow rate.

 

[The Natural Philosopher]

Has it always done this? I'm wondering if it's some part of
the shower which is deteriorating and would benefit from a
clean or a simple replacement like-for-like shower, e.g. if
it's scalled up.
Have you got any other mains taps nearby and do they give
a good flow?

Otherwise it will be a shower pump. I wouldn't entertain a
combi if you're already low on mains pressure or flow rate.

Totally agree, but it seems odd that this pressure drop 'suddenly' happens.

That is usually symptomatic of a very localised problem indeed..in the
shower, the flat itself or at worst the block of flats.

 

[jh]

Totally agree, but it seems odd that this pressure drop 'suddenly' happens.

That is usually symptomatic of a very localised problem indeed..in the
shower, the flat itself or at worst the block of flats.

The varying cold water pressure is a symptom of my block of flats as far
as I know and only seems to happen between 7:45 and 9am each morning.
However, when i use the cold tap at the same time there is no noticable
difference in pressure, so im thinking it must be only a slight problem.
I've told my managing agents and they said said yes some people with
electric showers are having problems but didn't suggest that they were
going to fix it.

Regarding the shower itself, it was fine for the first 10 months or so
(fitted in March 2006), then the problem surfaced that following winter
but we put up with it. Now I would rather get it fixed, than put up with
it again.

As suggested I think the best solution so far would be to replace it
with a 9.5kw shower and see how that goes. If it happens again very soon
I probably should entertain other solutions.

 

[jh]

You are implying there is not 11kWs worth of cold water at certain times in
winter in which case an approx 28kW combi fed shower might disappoint,
though the real problem is using a "basic" 11kW shower which may or may not
even be working properly. Put in a better 9.5kW electric shower with
decent temperature regulation that doesn't dump cold water when it cuts out,
then think about a total DHW solution at boiler replacement time.

Jim A

Thanks Jim, this sounds like a good option. Can you recommend any decent
shower brands to look at?

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

The varying cold water pressure is a symptom of my block of flats as far
as I know and only seems to happen between 7:45 and 9am each morning.
However, when i use the cold tap at the same time there is no noticable
difference in pressure, so im thinking it must be only a slight problem.
I've told my managing agents and they said said yes some people with
electric showers are having problems but didn't suggest that they were
going to fix it.

If you are in a Thames Water area (London in particular), Thames
issued a warning a year or two ago that they were going to reduce
pressure in some areas to reduce loss by leaks. This was particularly
aimed at anyone intending on installing a combi, who might find that
it would no longer work. In many respects your shower is similar to
a combi, in requiring a minimum flow and pressure to operate. In some
blocks of flats, the pressure became insufficient to reach the top
floors. There were legal cases brought against Thames who said it was
the blocks' management responsibility to fix -- Thames only legal
obligation was to supply water at a minimum of 1 bar.

See: http://www.londonhousing.gov.uk/doc.asp?doc=12797

 

[Jim Alexander]

Thanks Jim, this sounds like a good option. Can you recommend any decent
shower brands to look at?

Haven't a recommendation as its years since I had an electric shower
installed but Mira and Triton are commonly available. Look at Screwfix or
the individual websites to get an idea what is available. Looks like you
need to get a measure of available pressure and flow before you chose but
some of the 9kW ish models are spec'd down to 0.7 bar.

Jim A

 

[jh]

John,

I don't suppose your shower has different heat settings? If it does,
the cheapest solution might be to switch to the other one!

Interesting point actually...
It has two heat settings, one is full power and the other is half power
(or 2/3rds power) and the problem happens on both settings. I think the
low pressure cutoff detector has only one setting for both power modes.
So maybe a less demanding shower would have a lower pressure setting.
Well I hope so anyway!

 

[Adam Aglionby]

The varying cold water pressure is a symptom of my block of flats as far
as I know and only seems to happen between 7:45 and 9am each morning.
However, when i use the cold tap at the same time there is no noticable
difference in pressure, so im thinking it must be only a slight problem.
I've told my managing agents and they said said yes some people with
electric showers are having problems but didn't suggest that they were
going to fix it.

Regarding the shower itself, it was fine for the first 10 months or so
(fitted in March 2006), then the problem surfaced that following winter
but we put up with it. Now I would rather get it fixed, than put up with
it again.

As suggested I think the best solution so far would be to replace it
with a 9.5kw shower and see how that goes. If it happens again very soon
I probably should entertain other solutions.

Had similar problem with top floor flat,low pressure in mornings when
everyone has a shower....sodding thing was installed and tested in the
afternoon....
Solution settled for was Triton pumped electric shower with its own
header tank, hot water storage and header having been already ditched
for under counter unit. Much smaller tank put in old hw header void
soley for shower, thing sounds like a hoover but has been in rented
flat for a few years now.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Showers_Index/Pumped_Showers/index.html

HTH
Adam

 

[A.Clews]

Thus spake jh ([email protected]) unto the assembled multitudes:

I live in the top floor (3rd) of a flat roofed ex-council house, I have
decent central heating and hot water with a standard potterton gas
boiler. However, my shower is a basic 11kw electric shower supplied by
mains cold water. For some reason in the winter the water pressure
fluctuates a bit and the shower often complains of low pressure and
switches off its element, hence a cold shower which is none too amusing
when you are covered head to toe in suds!

The shower head is at a similar height to the the base of the hot water
tank feeder tank if that make sense. I would like to run a shower from
the hot water generated by the boiler instead of the electric one, but i
have little experience in this area.

What are the groups recommendations and how much would various solutions
cost?

I'd definitely recommend a power shower (pumped type) to feed from your hot
and cold water storage tanks. I had an Aqualisa Quartz installed early
this year and I'm delighted with it, though it wasn't cheap (equipment plus
plumber and electrician costs took it to not far short of a grand).
Cheaper showers are of course available