UKC

If you have an electric shower and have upgraded from an 8.5kw one to a 9.5kw or 10.5kw one, have you noticed a marked increase in the volume of water you get at a set temperature ?

Thanks

Ian

Hi Ian, a bigger electric shower has a bigger element. To increase the temperature the control restricts the flow. On a cool setting the flow is unrestricted.
An 8.5Kw has to restrict the flow more than a 10.5 to get the same temperature. Simple stuff.
I'm an electrician and not a lover of electric showers, they always feel a bit crap compared to a thermostatic one ( hot and cold input). To get a decent shower you need to spend some money. Mira are the best but more expensive. Stay away from Gainsborough. The shower not the artist. Good luck

In reply to IPPurewater:

Mira sport i seem to recall

In reply to whispering nic:
Agreed. Mira sport is the best one I've used/ worked with. Just make sure if you're are upgrading that the cable that serves it is big enough for the power increase.

In reply to IPPurewater:
Yes, that will happen (and yes it is noticeable, provided your water pressure is good or it's a pumped shower).

Though that said, nothing[1] beats a combi boiler (giant gas shower, basically). I've never used any electric shower that had anything like as good a flow.

[1] Unless it breaks, then no hot water. Last time that happened to me, though, I just showered at the gym until it was fixed, though that's not really OK for a family.

Neil

In reply to IPPurewater:

Another vote for Mira.

In reply to IPPurewater:

Don't forget to factor in the upgrade of the wire supplying the power if necessary! cable isn't cheap!

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Indeed. If there's an 8kw shower in place, check that the current supply is suitable for an upgrade to a 10kw shower.
Most older shower supplies were run with a 6mm cable - this will have to be upgraded to a 10mm - and as highclimber states, cable ain't cheap.

In reply to IPPurewater:

We've just had a thermostatic one installed and I wouldn't take an electric one back if someone paid me.

In reply to IPPurewater:

Thanks for all of your replies folks.

In reply to IPPurewater: You will notice an improvement but not that much, not compared to the improvement you'd notice from a combi boiler.

Unless you have all the skills, you will need an electrician to fit the shower, run a 10mm cable and put a new mcb in the consumer unit. As others have said the cable and the electricians time will not be cheap so it might be worth considering the better alternatives, if you have gas going to the property.

In reply to IPPurewater:


Assuming the element is able to transfer all the electrical energy to thermal energy in the water, then the change in flow one might expect is simple to compute:

9.5/8.5 = 1.118, i.e. a 12% increase in flow
10.5/8.5 = 1.235, i.e. a 23.5% increase in flow.

Not much change, realistically speaking.

In reply to Wyddfa:


when we talk of 6mm and 10mm these are the area of the cross section of the wire in mm squared , so 10mm squared does not actually measure 10mm with a rule.
http://www.gainsboroughshowers.co.uk/Site-Information/Cable-Size-Chart/