Swapping an electric for a CH supplied shower

wittynamegoeshere

We moved from a house with a combi-fed mixer shower to one with an electric shower.  The combi-fed shower was much, much better, and is likely to cost less to run.  In fact I put a flow restrictor on the hose connector as it was too generous with the flow rate.

This is a dim and distant memory from the time when it was all installed, I think you need to check that the boiler has a modulating output to use a mixer shower with it.  This means that it can vary its heat level depending on the flow rate, earlier boilers were either on or off, so you could end up with a shower where you have a choice of either freezing cold or boiling hot, as the flow reduction from mixing some cold into the hot could make the difference between on and off as far as the boiler is concerned.

If you look up the make and model of your boiler you should be able to find out.

If you have a hot tap near your boiler you should be able to play with it and check, turn the hot tap on full then gradually turn it down, the boiler will hopefully cut back the gas - the roaring noise will reduce and if it has a window the flames will shrink.  But if it suddenly goes from all to nothing at a specific flow rate then it probably will not work with a shower.

Also, for a combi or any other mixer shower, definitely invest a little more in a thermostatic one, they're vastly superior to and much safer than the cheap rubbish ones.  Our old one was a mixer tap with a handle to select bath or shower.  But instead of hot and cold taps, it had one for flow rate and the other for temperature.  These are much better, you don't normally touch the temperature one once you get it set right, you just turn the flow on or off.  You don't need to do all the juggling of the two taps you have to do with a cheap mixer.

BUFF

wittynamegoeshere said:

Also, for a combi or any other mixer shower, definitely invest a little more in a thermostatic one, they're vastly superior to and much safer than the cheap rubbish ones.  Our old one was a mixer tap with a handle to select bath or shower.  But instead of hot and cold taps, it had one for flow rate and the other for temperature.  These are much better, you don't normally touch the temperature one once you get it set right, you just turn the flow on or off.  You don't need to do all the juggling of the two taps you have to do with a cheap mixer.

e.g. https://www.screwfix.com/p/mira-atom-deck-mounted-thermostatic-bath-shower-mixer/598jp
https://www.screwfix.com/p/ideal-standard-ceratherm-t25-exposed-thermostatic-bath-shower-mixer-valve-fixed-chrome/264jy
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125619331251?

other brands & vendors are available & range from cheaper to much dearer.