Saving a few pence - instant heat showers

WestonDave

Most people with instant heat electric showers are probably like us - stick them on the maximum heat setting and leave it there so it runs at 8-10kW. What you then tend to find is that in winter you have it cranked up to max temp(lowest flow) whereas in summer you turn the heat down which increases the flow. (I realise that some have smarter controls than this so ignore if you have one like that!)

However with the run of hot weather I've found that turning it down to the half heat setting and turning the heat setting up to maximum (which in reality is just reducing the flow rate) still results in an acceptably warm shower.

The benefits of this are that you use less water (so cheaper on the water meter) and half the electricity (so cheaper on fuel bills). To be fair the downside is that you lose the once a year ability with these showers to have a decent flow rate on full power as they are usually fairly low flow, but if you aren't needing a high flow rate to rinse long hair out, running them on half setting for a few weeks may save some cash especially as a typical shower costs around 25p for a 10 minute shower.

I'm sure plenty of people have sussed this for themselves but I figured it might be worth posting up as a reminder in case people hadn't thought to switch settings. Even if the weather breaks in a few days time the supply water will stay relatively warm for a while so the potential to save might run on for a while.