Thermostatic or Electric Shower?

NH2004

I'm in the process of buying a new house, and need to specify what options I want.
One of them is whether to have an electric or thermostatic shower installed in the bathroom above the bath.
What are people's opinions on which one is best?


We will have a thermostatic shower already installed in the ensuite.
The electric option is £100 more than the thermostatic.

MX5huggy

Is the hot water from a combi or a tank heated by a boiler?

If you have a tank then you have hot water back with an immersion in the tank.

If you have a combi you might want an elec shower as a backup when the boiler fails. But the thermostatic shower should give a better shower, so if you will use the ensuite mainly then have the electric as a back up. But using electric to heat water costs 3 or so more than gas so you don't want to be using electric every day.

tired_dad

Generally thermostatic but if there were several bathrooms I would spec one electric shower as they are great for backup purposes.

jamski07

I'm sure from a plumbing/technical point of view there may be reasons for electric, but shower wise, thermostatic all the way!

macman

They're both thermostatic...the advantage of an electric shower is that if the boiler fails (and if it's a combi, you have no stored hot water), then you can still have a shower.
It also depends what boiler you are getting-a combi won't adequately supply the bathroom and ensuite showers simultaneously, so if this is a factor and you have a combi, I'd go for electric. With a conventional boiler and a vented or unvented cylinder, go for a tank-fed shower.