How much would it roughly cost to fit an electric shower in Greater London

Monkey_Joe

Can someone offer some advise on electric showers?

Im thinking of buying the Triton Cara Electric Shower White (10.5kw) from B&Q.

- how much would it cost to istall in a upstairs bathroom. The electric meter is downstairs. Property is all electric with storage heaters and a boiler for hot water (boiler located in converted actic room)

- DOes the 10.5kw represent the power of the water that comes out of the shower or something else?

Thanks

screwedagain

The 10.5 kW is the electrical power consumption of the heating element inside the shower. Think of the shower as basically a very powerful electric kettle with cold water coming in and hot water coming out.

As for the price it depends on a number of things e.g. the distance between the shower and your fuseboard/consumer unit, the ease of access beneath floorboards or within the attic etc. for running a new cable, and the condition of your existing fuseboard/consumer unit (whether or not there is RCD protection there already, and whether there is space for a new circuit breaker in the existing board).

For the price we can only speculate but I would guesstimate somewhere in the region of £200-£300 depending on what's required.

Monkey_Joe

So the 10kw consumes more power. So what advantage does it have over the 9.5kw and 8.5kw electric showers?

The main thing I want is increased water pressure and a hot shower whenever I please.

I live in a mid terraced house. No gas and central heating, instead we have storage heaters and a boiler (on a timer) for hotwater. The pressure from our current mixer shower is not very good. I was hoping an electric shower would solve this.

Do I have other options?

keystone

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

No gas and central heating, instead we have storage heaters and a boiler (on a timer) for hotwater.

By "boiler" do you mean an imersion heater in your hot water cylinder?

The pressure from our current mixer shower is not very good. I was hoping an electric shower would solve this.

An electric shower requires mains pressure cold water so its not just the cabling requirements that need to be considered. Inevitably such will give you better pressure (prolly iro 3 bar) because I suspect your existing shower relies on the pressure differential between a cold water tank in the loft and your hot water cylinder (around 0.25bar) which is then reduced substantially when you lift you shower head up to a level where you can stand under it.

Do I have other options?

Yes pump the existing shower.

Cheers

Monkey_Joe

keystone wrote: »

By "boiler" do you mean an imersion heater in your hot water cylinder?

An electric shower requires mains pressure cold water so its not just the cabling requirements that need to be considered. Inevitably such will give you better pressure (prolly iro 3 bar) because I suspect your existing shower relies on the pressure differential between a cold water tank in the loft and your hot water cylinder (around 0.25bar) which is then reduced substantially when you lift you shower head up to a level where you can stand under it.

Yes pump the existing shower.

Cheers

yes I have an immersian heater which I heat up overnight via Eco7

BaldPlumber

As the previous poster suggested, a pumped shower should give a far better perforance than any electric shower.

sunshinetours

Monkey_Joe wrote: »

So the 10kw consumes more power. So what advantage does it have over the 9.5kw and 8.5kw electric showers?

The main thing I want is increased water pressure and a hot shower whenever I please.

It heats water up quicker and so in general the flow rate coming out of teh shower head will be better than a lower rated shower. We have a 10.5kw triton downstairs and water flow rate is fine. the thing with most electric showers is they have very small pin head shower heads which focuses the shower spray far more and gives the impression of more power. you will not achieve a kind of effect that you would get with a power shower or large rain shower type heads

They are also liable to last less than a decent mixer as more to go wrong insde the box (especially in a very hard water area)

Do I have other options?

As others have said ask a plumber about putting in a pump for your existing shower as far more eccomincal to heat up your hot water cylinder with Eco 7 electricity than to use a 10.5kw heater during the day

Monkey_Joe

I have considered a pump but are they economical?

I have one immersion boiler in the attic, which I heat up overnight for 3 hours on Eco7 - this hot water is meant for showers and washing dishes in the kitchen. If I install a pump will it not rapidly use up all the hot water? I have a standard size boiler.

Can someone recommend a good value for money water pump and what is the best value for money electric shower in the market?

sunshinetours

Get a plunber to see theys system and recommend best solution

Generally a powerful electric shower will have the highest running costs if you have the option of a cylinder fed shower. the plus side is electric showeres are relatively cheap to buy and replace when they do go wrong generally