bath or shower?

BobProperty

I would hope you don't need the "whole bathroom" retiling just to replace a shower. If you are lucky you might be able to do a straight swap for a modern electric shower. It is likely though, that some re-tiling would be necessary. Showers have crept up in power usage over the years and your old one will be something like say a Triton, Redring or Gainsborough drawing no more than 7.2kw. The problem is usually the electric wiring and fuses etc, not the plumbing side. You are unlikely to find a modern shower less than 7.5kw and 8.5-9.5 are common, going on up to 10.5kw. Without knowing what your existing cable size and fuse is, it is impossible to say how easy it would be to upgrade your shower.
Could you tell us what make and model of shower you have and what size fuse / breaker it runs through, and we'll start from there?

Jake'sGran

Thank you Bob. Will get the info and come back tomorrow.

Jake'sGran

Hello Bob, amazingly, I finally got my OH to look at the fuse box etc. He says there are two fuses, 1 of 20AMPS and the other 5 and the cable is .5" wide.
Is this useful info when considering a new electric shower?. Looks like I am at least moving forward a bit with my attempt to have a shower fitted that I can actually use.

BobProperty

Jake'sGran wrote:

.....He says there are two fuses, 1 of 20AMPS and the other 5 and the cable is .5" wide......

I hope not - the 20 amp and 5 amp. Are you sure there isn't a separate single fuse for the shower. 20amp will only do about 4.5kw which might be possible for an old shower, but there's not chance even the smallest modern shower will go on that. If it is 4.5kw, you can bet it's on 4mm cable, and again, no modern shower will go on that cable either.

Eagle_1

Id be inclined to see if you could accomodate both. We have a bath and a seperate shower enclosure and its great. If I want a nice soak I can or quick shower I can, well I would be able to but at the moment our shower is poorly, it wont work :cool:
Must ask hubby why it wont work then come here for some help

emilyt

I always have a shower in the morning to wake me up and a bath a night to help me relax. My DH and 2 DD'S always have showers unless they feel poorly and like to have a hot bath. All the people i know that have bought houses with no bath have regretted it and had one put in if possible. Please keep both especially if you are planning to move.