Electric or gas shower?

[plasticpigeon]

Hello, what do people think is better. An electric shower, or one run off he boiler (I have a combio boiler)? The fittings for a boiler heated shower are much nicer, but an electric shower is easy and works when the boiler breaks.

 

[LadyArowana]

Showers should be water, and anyway bathing should be done in a bath, with bubbles, surrounded by scented candles, and with a glass of something chilled. :lol:

 

[Feltwell]

A decent, high wattage - 10.5kw - electric shower I'd say.

With a combi boiler I'm not sure you'll ever get enough hot flow to have anything more than a fairly weedy shower. In a previous house with a "normal" boiler and a hot water cylinder, we had a power shower - great flow but it emptied the hot water cylinder at an alarming rate.

Here, we've a 10.5kw and a 8.5kw electric shower, fitted by previous owners. We daren't run them at the same time! (60 amp fuse on incoming supply). However, the 10.5kw unit does give a respectable, even if not Niagara-like, flow even in the depths of winter when the incoming water is very cold. The 8.5kw unit does struggle a bit in cold weather, the flow is quite low unless you want a very lukewarm shower. Both are fine outside of the very cold weather.

 

[Lime]

I have two showers, gas and electric, in the same cubicle.
The electric one is rated @ 10.5KW and is hardly ever used.
I installed it in case of a gas breakdown.
It is fiddle to get just right and uses a lot of electricity and does not have a very fast flow at high temperatures.

The gas thermostatically controlled shower works off a multipoint water heater (directly off the mains) and is rated @ 28KW.
It produces a very powerful shower, runs continuously, keeps a perfect temperature (no matter what other people do to other water taps) and is a easy and simple to control.
I would not want a more powerful shower.
Other people who have used it remark it is as powerful as or more powerful than their power shower but has the benefit of being able to run continuously.
It doesn't cost much to run either, which surprised me.
My average shower is about 15-25 minutes and the water used is about the same as with my old bath.
For most showers the multipoint is not full on but running at about 3/4 power on normal water pressure.

My advice is see how much flow you can get from your combi boiler.
If you can get a decent flow you should be alright for a gas shower.

I have had many discussions about multipoint water heaters with engineers and builders over the last 25 years.
Most have no experience of them and are very prejudiced against them. Only one, who had lived in a temporary caravan (while house being built) thought they were good.
He had had an outhouse fitted up as a temporary bathroom and used a gas multipoint to heat water.
Personally I would not have anything else other than a gas multipoint water heater because they are simple, quick and not reliant on electricity.
....that assumes you have gas of course.

 

[tobydog]

My average shower is about 15-25 minutes and the water used is about the same as with my old bath.

15-25 minutes? What am I missing out on? :shock:

 

[LadyArowana]

My average shower is about 15-25 minutes and the water used is about the same as with my old bath.

15-25 minutes? What am I missing out on? :shock:

A multipoint water heater with lots of Kw?

I would still rather have a nice bath with bubbles

 

[Lime]

My average shower is about 15-25 minutes and the water used is about the same as with my old bath.

15-25 minutes? What am I missing out on? :shock:

A multipoint water heater with lots of Kw?

I would still rather have a nice bath with bubbles

A 15 minute shower is normal for me.
Prior to fitting this shower I never liked showers.
My experience of them in the past had often been that they were too cold, too hot, difficult to manage, unreliable and often totally inadequate.
Taking a shower in them was not nice.
My experience of many small showers I liken to standing in the rain waiting to get wet/rinsed etc.
They were often manky too with grubby areas that were almost impossible to keep clean and were a test of endurance rather than a pleasure.
Truly, I was a bath person who liked a big bath and would lie in them for far too long!
My gas shower changed all that.
The shower is always spot on the temperature that is selected.
There is plenty of hot water.
In fact if I take a shower late at night when water pressure is high the shower pressure almost hurts my skin!
As important if not more so, I built the shower area/cubicle to be a pleasure to wash and dry in rather than something to escape from as soon as possible.

 

[discobarry]

Gas, even though I'm on lpg. I have perfected the 3minute shower though.

 

[Zebra]

My sister had a brand new combi boiler fitted in her bungalow, and she refitted her bathroom, connecting a shower to the new boiler. However, because the incoming cold water pressure is good, she struggles to get a hot enough shower, and wishes she had gone for an electric one after all, where you can have the temperature that you want, albeit with a loss in pressure sometimes. On which basis, I intend to have an electric one, as I have just had a new water main fitted, and my incoming cold water pressure is good.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the principle of electric shower heaters, but my limited experience of them is that they can provide a dribble of wonderfully hot water or a gushing torrent of cold, though sadly little in between. I presume it's just a matter of how many kilowatts can be crammed into the heating device but my chosen solution is a well insulated over-sized hot water tank that can provide a torrent of hot water for at least 25 minutes.

Anything longer really warrants a bath, though I confess to not being keen on account of my tendency to fall asleep when warm and comfortable - especially if partaking of Milady's advice. :wink:

 

[Feltwell]

So there you go PlasticPigeon, the overwhelming evidence is that an electric shower is clearly superior to running your shower off your combi boiler. But don't forget that electric showers are hopeless and running the shower off your gas boiler is clearly a far better idea.

You couldn't pay for advice like this you know. :wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

Shhh!!! We were getting away with it before you posted that.

 

[Zebra]

No, it does seem that is the gist. The gas boiler which Lime is referring to is not a combi. Lime is talking about a boiler used only for hot water, not for central heating, have I got that right? I'm following this discussion with interest (although we've had it before!...) because I still have yet to make up my own mind about the same issue.
To be honest, this discussion is making me wonder whether it would be possible to have two gas boilers side by side!

 

[LadyArowana]

I'm following this discussion with interest (although we've had it before!...) because I still have yet to make up my own mind about the same issue.
To be honest, this discussion is making me wonder whether it would be possible to have two gas boilers side by side!

Have you decided to go with a shower for the bathroom rather than the more traditional mud bath then?

 

[Lime]

No, it does seem that is the gist. The gas boiler which Lime is referring to is not a combi. Lime is talking about a boiler used only for hot water, not for central heating, have I got that right? I'm following this discussion with interest (although we've had it before!...) because I still have yet to make up my own mind about the same issue.
To be honest, this discussion is making me wonder whether it would be possible to have two gas boilers side by side!

Absolutely correct.
I've never had a combi boiler.
I'm rather surprised combis, that are able to supply hot water to baths etc., cannot cope with a little shower.
How long does it take to fill a bath with these things?!!
Surely they have a better flow rate than electric showers?
Mind you, I'd never use an ordinary mixer shower without thermostatic control.
(Perhaps that is why some people have had such poor results?)
Mine seems able to cope with all sorts of water pressures. i.e. when wife decides to fill a bucket with cold water downstairs I'm left in the shower with a trickle...of water... but it is still at the right temperature.

 

[tobydog]

Yes, it took a few posts to realise that we weren't talking combis. Having said this, our combi is more than capable of blasting out consistently hot water and filling a bath quickly. The shower attachment in the bath can get like a firemans hose if you're not careful. Probably something to do with the boiler being the size of a washine machine - Maximum Heat Output in BTU/h: 88,737 (26 kW).

 

[DJH]

Unvented is the way to go for equal pressures throughout the system.

Doug

 

[Flyfisher]

I'd second that. We went that route when replumbing in order to eliminate header tanks in the attic and the result has been very good - and no need for a shower pump!

 

[plasticpigeon]

Well that is all very clear!!!! Seems that if I had a cistern (or is it system) boiler the gas shower would be better, but with a combi not so obvious. I chose a combi as I was trying to maximise space in my small 3 bed terraced house (our back bedroom is 9 x 8 and was previously reduced to half that size with water tanks!!!!) The boiler (Vaillant) can apparently supply 31kW for water and 24kW for heating. I'm not sure about our water flow, it doesn't seem too bad, and the hot water comes out the tap at quite a rate so it might be worth a risk. I can always leave the cable terminating at a junction box for a retrofit if the worst comes to the worst!!!!!!

 

[DJH]

I remember in a former life before the New Model By-Laws (back syphonage) were brought out that unvented systems (like Johnny foreigner used on the Continent!) would not be possible in the UK as mains pressures and reservoirs would not be able to sustain the volume of water, and hence the pressure, to run these systems. It was preferable they said to leave the low pressure storage cistern systems in place as, although the same amount of water would be used, roof tanks would be replenished by trickle flows if pressure s dropped in the mains...

Doug

Combi boilers are quite capable of delivering good pressuer to showers (always use a thermostatic model!) providing of course that the system is sized and designed correctly and some sort of water conditioning is used on the cold mains into the boiler to help reduce scale and the boiler is serviced and adjusted, if necessary, regularly. Well, that;'s my experience anyway...

Doug