Cheapest type of shower

SAC2334

Apodemus said:

SAC2334 said:

Depends how long you have the electric shower on for. Since beginning of Oct I ve been using the shower on/off technique  Works well and avoids 8000 watts and water being wasted  

The shower is only on for between 40 sec s and 50 secs at the most  .I take as long as I like washing myself properly 
 The shower itself is only used to wet and rinse off instead of it  pointlessly doing nothing but wasting a lot of electricity sending hot water down the plug hole 

I like that technique, and use it whenever I can, but I find that when I switch the electric shower back on, you get a blast of warm water, then a period of freezing water, then scalding hot, before it settles down (the electric shower was new last year and its been like this from new).  Also with the shower being over the bath rather than a cubicle, when you switch the shower off to soap-up, you are exposed to the icy-blast that is our bathroom temperature!  So while I agree with the principle, I find the practice much more tricky!

Yes, mine was doing that..very annoying but I tried switching it off and on quickly at the pull switch just before the final rinse off stopped that happening and now it's ready for final rinse off in just a few secs...Basic £50 Triton 8 kw from Screwfix..My pull switch is very handy to reach just one pace from the shower..

BooJewels

I'd echo what others have said about electric showers not working for the flicking on and off and likewise my switch is outside the bathroom - aren't they supposed to be?

I did an experiment with comparisons a little while ago (want work doing in the bathroom, so was looking forwards - just used a push on shower head on the taps) and the conclusion I drew - FOR ME - is that whilst the boiler fed shower used a bit less energy - it did also use more water, but was by far the nicer shower too - could get a much better flow with higher heat.   So better VFM, rather than saving money.  I might trim more off the boiler cost if I just set the boiler the right temperature to shower under without adding cold, but I like my tap water hot, so can't be bothered to fiddle with the boiler each time I take a shower.

On balance, going forwards, I will go for a boiler fed shower in the bathroom, but it wasn't the great saving I was expecting, when so many people here are evangelical about electric showers being so power hungry.  I also shower for longer than most - and make no apology for it - a hot shower is something I enjoy and is good for me - I have fibromyalgia and the wet heat really helps.  If the push on shower hoses were longer, I'd simply be using that now, but the taps are at the wrong end, so it doesn't quite work.

I am looking at efficiencies where they can be had easily, but this is an area where I don't mind the expense.  I have trimmed my time with the shower running, by putting the plug in the bath and using the rinse water for some tasks and cleaning up.

macman

Assuming a single rate tariff, then an electric shower, of whatever rating, is going to cost about 350% more than one heated by mains gas.
This assumes that the same volume of hot water is being consumed, and at the same temperature.

kroggy

littleteapot said:

I find a cold shower is always the cheapest. I only have a hot shower in middle of winter if/when I'm feeling particularly cold e.g. been outside all day.

Impressive and well done you, one thing I can't do without is really hot showers.  I can do without heating no matter how cold it gets outside, although the rain seems to be the worst at making the building cold.

kroggy

I used to not heat the water tank in old property and use electric shower, I used kettle for hot water needed for other things and had no heating on.  

It seems to me that a Combi is always going to be cheaper than an electric shower, but don't take my word for it do meter readings.

First you need a baseline of usage (unless you want to turn everything off while you test, but make sure nothing else using a lot of energy (kettle, air fryer, oven, tv, fish tank, fridge).

So take a record of how much each meter typically moves per hour at the time of the test.  For electric test and baseline maybe turn off the fridge, TV and any other high energy device.  For the Gas turn off the heating & cooker for the baseline and the test.

Take a meter reading of Electric meter, run the electric shower for 4 minutes, take another reading, deduct the baseline usage for an approximate cost. Multiply the kWh used by the VAT inclusive rate

Take a meter reading of gas meter, run the shower from combi for 4 minutes, take another reading, deduct the baseline usage for an approximate cost. convert the cubic meters to kWh as shown on your energy bill, then Multiply the kWh used by the VAT inclusive rate

chris_n

Too many variables without taking meter readings. For instance if you have a combi with a long pipe run you could have to heat 3 times the water that an electric shower would take so negating any savings due to cheaper fuel and having to pay for more water.

Mstty

The simple answer is the cheapest shower is a cold shower.

Apodemus

SAC2334 said:

Apodemus said:

SAC2334 said:

Depends how long you have the electric shower on for. Since beginning of Oct I ve been using the shower on/off technique  Works well and avoids 8000 watts and water being wasted  

The shower is only on for between 40 sec s and 50 secs at the most  .I take as long as I like washing myself properly 
 The shower itself is only used to wet and rinse off instead of it  pointlessly doing nothing but wasting a lot of electricity sending hot water down the plug hole 

I like that technique, and use it whenever I can, but I find that when I switch the electric shower back on, you get a blast of warm water, then a period of freezing water, then scalding hot, before it settles down (the electric shower was new last year and its been like this from new).  Also with the shower being over the bath rather than a cubicle, when you switch the shower off to soap-up, you are exposed to the icy-blast that is our bathroom temperature!  So while I agree with the principle, I find the practice much more tricky!

Yes, mine was doing that..very annoying but I tried switching it off and on quickly at the pull switch just before the final rinse off stopped that happening and now it's ready for final rinse off in just a few secs...Basic £50 Triton 8 kw from Screwfix..My pull switch is very handy to reach just one pace from the shower..

Thanks, I'll give that a try.  Ours was the "upmarket" version of yours, bought from Wickes, 9kw and with a bigger internal vessel which Triton (falsely) claim prevents temp fluctuations.  Crap design changes to fit in the bigger vessel, which means that the emergency water by-pass exits into the casing (rather than out throught the bottom) and higher than the electrical connection!

SAC2334

Apodemus said:

SAC2334 said:

Apodemus said:

SAC2334 said:

Depends how long you have the electric shower on for. Since beginning of Oct I ve been using the shower on/off technique  Works well and avoids 8000 watts and water being wasted  

The shower is only on for between 40 sec s and 50 secs at the most  .I take as long as I like washing myself properly 
 The shower itself is only used to wet and rinse off instead of it  pointlessly doing nothing but wasting a lot of electricity sending hot water down the plug hole 

I like that technique, and use it whenever I can, but I find that when I switch the electric shower back on, you get a blast of warm water, then a period of freezing water, then scalding hot, before it settles down (the electric shower was new last year and its been like this from new).  Also with the shower being over the bath rather than a cubicle, when you switch the shower off to soap-up, you are exposed to the icy-blast that is our bathroom temperature!  So while I agree with the principle, I find the practice much more tricky!

Yes, mine was doing that..very annoying but I tried switching it off and on quickly at the pull switch just before the final rinse off stopped that happening and now it's ready for final rinse off in just a few secs...Basic £50 Triton 8 kw from Screwfix..My pull switch is very handy to reach just one pace from the shower..

Thanks, I'll give that a try.  Ours was the "upmarket" version of yours, bought from Wickes, 9kw and with a bigger internal vessel which Triton (falsely) claim prevents temp fluctuations.  Crap design changes to fit in the bigger vessel, which means that the emergency water by-pass exits into the casing (rather than out throught the bottom) and higher than the electrical connection!

Thanks for explaining why my switch off and on at the pull switch prior to the final rinse off works . It works every time too and that very annoying longish wait of scalding hot then cold then warms up has been banished if I just use the shower controls only and makes the electric shower used like this the cheapest way to shower .

 I ve timed it as low as under 30 seconds use with the shower actually heating but now have treated myself to around 50 sec s use which makes the cost as low as 3.5 p .
Need a properly heated bathroom though IMO .
Absolutely NOT possible for me to stand a cold shower even in the heat of midsummer . I d end up in the cardiac ward trying that silly game 

horsewithnoname

Mstty said:

The simple answer is the cheapest shower is a cold shower.

Thankfully I’m not that bad financially that I need to be that drastic, just wondering if in general one type was cheaper than the other 
Not sure I could do a cold shower 🥶🥶