Gas Shower

Cordie

Does anyone here have a gas shower. I've googled about them but was wondering how efficient, or otherwise, they are in real life.

flaneurs_lobster

Gas shower? You mean a shower (and the rest of the hot water) being fed by a standard combi boiler?

Got to be very common, no?

marcia_

my shower is just a hose off the taps hence powered by the gas combi boiler. Cheaper than electric.

QrizB

Does anyone here have a gas shower.

Do you mean those tankless gas water heaters? This sort of thing?

https://www.gasproducts.co.uk/rinnai-11i-low-nox-24kw-multi-point-internal-natural-gas-water-heater-vertical-flue-kit.html

Or are you looking at the dodgy "not for use in enclosed spaces" ones like this, which mostly run on LPG?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/287447255075

Cordie

I think I mean a proper sized shower in the bathroom run by a combi boiler as opposed to electricity. At least that was the impression I got from the builder.

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125593#Comment_82125593

OK, in that case yes, they're extremely common, and yes, they're generally cheaper to run than an instantaneous electric shower. They also can potentially give a much more pleasant showering experience. Most people think they're better in almost every way than an electric shower, the only downside being that they do tend to use more water.

victor2

We switched from an electric shower to one run off our combi boiler. It is a nicer shower with full mains pressure (after going through the combi of course). Because of the length of the pipe run, it takes about 30 seconds to get up to temperature, where an electric one is pretty much instant.

In terms of running costs, when I compared showers for the same length of time, the "gas" shower used 2.7 times the kWh that the electric one used. Add into that, the extra time the gas one is running to get the water temperature up and on my 2024 rates, our typical electric shower cost 16.2p and gas 11.7p.

So definitely a saving, but not a huge amount unless you have a large number of showers every day.

Of course, it's also much more noticeable in a gas shower if somebody switches on a hot tap while you're in it! 😊

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125593#Comment_82125593

What is your current system. Do you not have a gas boiler already ( and a hot water tank maybe)?

ic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125593#Comment_82125593

In my current house we had two showers run off a single large 40kW combi. It was only when we ran them at the same time the pressure would dip a little - but still perfectly fine for showering. My only complaint would be the wait for hot water to arrive from the boiler - but even that wasn't much. Getting your hot water from the boiler will be far cheaper than an electric shower. We've now got a heat pump, so our water is supplied from an unvented tank - now both showers can run at the same time with no pressure dips.

Cordie

I don't have a shower at the moment but do have a combi boiler. I believe it was suggested because of the extra cost of running the cable from the meter downstairs.

As victor2 mentioned, the temperature varying depending on whether someone is using hot water elsewhere is the reason I am hesitant of going forward with this option even though installation would be cheaper.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125653#Comment_82125653

Whether you have a combi or an unvented hot water tank, a lot depends on your mains water pressure.

Although the legal minimum is a ( weak) 0.7 bar - even with double that you will see drop offs in flow at one outlet, if another outlet is opened. I think you ideally need a minimum of 2 bar mains pressure for both systems.