A better shower

Jake'sGran

I've posted about this before but it's driving me crazy. Our electric shower is ancient but it works. Trouble is, it only has three settings Warm, medium and hot. But it is too hot for me on the warm setting. My OH insists that getting a new one would mean smashing the tiles off the wall and having the bathroom redone completely. I don't agree. Aren't I right in saying that the lead pipe that emerges from the wall (bathroom is downstairs and water tank upstairs) can stay where it is and we can just get a new shower that has easier controls, like a tap that I can actually move with my stiff hands and which has better controls?

Nile

Hello Jake'sGran

I think that your thread will be better placed in the 'In my home' board, so I'll move it across for you.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

Mecoconuts

Jake'sGran wrote:

I've posted about this before but it's driving me crazy. Our electric shower is ancient but it works. Trouble is, it only has three settings Warm, medium and hot. But it is too hot for me on the warm setting. My OH insists that getting a new one would mean smashing the tiles off the wall and having the bathroom redone completely. I don't agree. Aren't I right in saying that the lead pipe that emerges from the wall (bathroom is downstairs and water tank upstairs) can stay where it is and we can just get a new shower that has easier controls, like a tap that I can actually move with my stiff hands and which has better controls?

Sounds like the thermostat is bust in your old shower.

The lead pipe is a cold water supply. You'll probably find it's actually direct from the mains supply and NOT from the water tank which usually means turning the water off in the kitchen.

A new shower is fairly easy to replace as its only 1 pipe and one mains power cable. There should be an independant Circuit Breaker in your fuse box for it. Make sure you turn this off before even undoing any screws on your old shower.

Depending on your budget there's a huge range of electric showers to choose from. When i replaced my old shower i went for the most powerful in the MIRA range which was the Mira Sport MAX which i bought from Plumbworld.com here :

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/search/3008?SearchString=mira&ModPage=Go&eid=0001-0056

WestonDave

You can probably replace like for like in terms of just fitting another shower - although you'd be best off finding one that has a similar shaped "box" to avoid any issues with seeing old screw holes etc from the old one.

To me the water pipe is the least of your problems - I would hazard a guess that if your current shower is that ancient, the cable to it, is not up to current standards. If that is the case you certainly won't be able to fit one with a higher power rating - e.g. 8kw instead of the old 7kw, and you may even find that a contractor refuses to put an equivalent one on the old cable if the cable is too small as it would breach building regs.

I suggest this is an issue on which you might need an trusted contractor to come and advise you. If he is happy to quote for doing the work without having to rerun the cable then you can proceed to change the shower yourself if you want!

Jake'sGran

Thank you Dave. Your response made a lot of sense and I had thought about modern boxes being much bigger than the existing one. I did get a man to come and advise about a power shower but he just didn't want to know - said it would be a very big job. I have an idea about someone else used by a friend. I don't really understand what you mean by the cable, but nevermind, I will see what the man says.

brazilianwax

Jake'sGran wrote:

I did get a man to come and advise about a power shower but he just didn't want to know - said it would be a very big job.

A power shower is not the same thing. The shower you have takes cold water and heats it inside the unit. The power of the water coming out therefore depends how much water the unit can heat as it flows through the unit.

A power shower comes of your hot water tank and is pushed through a pump - your central heating heats this water. To have one of these fitted is a big job as you need to run pipes and the wires for the pump in the wall.

You would have to remove tiles to have a power shower fitted - this is a very big job.

As for the cable stuff Dave was talking about, if you think of it in terms of what i said above - your current shower heats a certain amount of water as it flows through. If you want a more powerful shower you'll need more electricity to heat more water. The cable you have might not be feeding enough electricity through to enable you to have a more powerful shower than the one you already have.

Hope this helps!

Claire

espresso

Jake'sGran wrote:

I've posted about this before but it's driving me crazy. Our electric shower is ancient but it works. Trouble is, it only has three settings Warm, medium and hot. But it is too hot for me on the warm setting.....................

If it is too hot when on the warm (lowest) setting, it sounds like you have not got enough flow of water. Can you increase the flow? Is the shower head partially blocked? Is your main stop c0ck fully open?

WestonDave

The cable thing is to do with how thick the cable is - thicker cables can cope with higher power without overheating and risking fire. Time was that a 6mm cable was thought fine for a shower, now they want a 10mm cable. If the shower is old enough the cable might not even be 6mm. An electrician will be able to spot the difference by sight.

If you can get to the space above the point at which you want the shower, you could have a power shower (although it would leave a question as to what you do with the space where the old electric one was) AquaLisa do a shower which has the pump hidden (normally in the loft) which mixes the hot and cold water, and then sends it down a tube from the ceiling. The tube holds the shower head and is a nice chrome finish so it looks just like a normal shower riser, it also carries the command wire back up. We had one in our last house and its the one thing I really miss!

Aqualisa website

I realise this may not be an option for you or that cost may be too much, but I thought given its low disruption instal and its safety features on the temperature you might be interested.

NB I have no connection to them - just loved their shower.

jfdi

I have to second WestonDave on that - we've got an Aqualisa shower just as he describes his old one & it's brilliant! Pricey - but well worth it.

Jake'sGran

Thank you Claire, I could see your earlier post so it must be one that was moved. I did know that the power shower would have meant a very big job, retiling etc. I had settled on the idea of a new electric shower but the difficult person I live with makes such a fuss about these things that I tend to back off for a quiet life.

ESPRESSO - I will check on the flow strength, see if it canbe changed.

WESTON DAVE. I will look into the Aqualisa. The cost is not an issue. In fact
I need ideas for things to spend my money on.