Repalce a electric shower or go for power shower??

manny2003

Hi all,

We have got a Mira Sport electric shower which is about 18 or more years old. It has been in the house when we bought it and has been used very often. So it has served us really well especially with the kids.

Now when we put the shower on it trips out the electrics and we don't know why.

We are thinking of having a new shower as this one is old now and wondered if we should go for a power shower or another electric shower? What are the pro and cons?

We had a new boiler installed in October and the boiler would be ok to have a power shower added to it.

Can anyone advise us and what could be the cause of the shower tripping the electrics?
Is it easy to replace the existing shower and do the elecrics ourselves or do we need the electrians?#

Any advise be very helpful. Thanks

muckybutt

More likely than not the element in the shower has gone kaput, is it just tripping the rcd or is it blowing the mcb ( fuse ) ? however having said that it could be other things so I would air on the cautious side and get a sparky in to check the wiring and shower.

Scoobs72

Loads of posts (on this forum and others) already about electric shower versus non-electric (pros/cons), so just do a search.

You don't say what sort of boiler you have had fitted. If you have a combi then you can't run a power shower off it, but you can run a mixer shower.

Any electrical work in the bathroom needs to be done by a suitably qualified electrician as it is notifiable to building control.

macman

Bear in mind that if the old shower was 18 years old then it will probably require the circuit cable upgrading for a modern shower, which is likely to be of a higher rating. Also the circuit will not originally have had any RCD protection, which would now be strongly recommended.
So it's probably not just a matter of changing the shower unit alone.
Or you could just replace the element.

googler

OP, look at the forums on this site for advice about opening up the existing shower and replacing element, other parts, etc.

www.showerdoctor.co.uk

I got a replacement solenoid for our 15-year old Mira a few months ago, took the shower off the wall, worked on it on a workbench and replaced it.

They're simple units, not complex machines. It could be a simple part replacement, but most plumbers and electricians, I'll wager, won't even go near opening them up, merely recommend full replacement. As long as you follow basic safety, switching off the electric supply and mains water feed.....

If you go down the replacement route, your simplest option is replacing like-with-like electric shower. Any other kind of shower WILL involve extra plumbing work, as the other types don't work off a mains cold supply in the way that an electric does.