Help - re electric showers please

[vw-stuff]

I am replacing my broken redring shower with a new Redring Active 350 electric shower. The shower is being fitted in a main bathroom, with the water tank being in the loft about 6 feet above and 8 feet away from the shower. I have just downloaded the installation guide and that says the water tank must be 23 feet ABOVE the shower!!!! So, does that mean that this shower is only suitable to people living in a tower, with the shower on the ground floor and the water tank in the top!

I know this is due to pressure, but my previous shower (Redring Super 8) worked fine.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated as I was just about to purchase the new shower.

Thank you in advance.

[Vass]

If it will take mains pressure, then substitute the tank with the mains piping.

[vw-stuff]

I thought having an electric shower fed from the mains is a definate no no????

[gilbert]

Er, no. The whole point of an electric shower is to utilise a cold main (minimum of say 1.0bar) and so avoid the need for a hot water supply. Thermostatic mixers and/or power showers run off a head of water, both hot and cold (although I have seen a mains fed electric shower with an integral pump in the unit - designed for low mains pressure maybe?). Many people install gravity fed mixer systems in an upstairs shower room with the loft tank only a few feet above their heads and wonder why the shower pressure is useless - they need a power shower. Much better to install a gravity fed system in a downstairs room, or as far below the head of water as possible. Cheers Gilbert

[BigWallop]

A 23 feet head of water is usually got from the mains supply, so take a tapping off the feed pipe for the tank and divert it to the position of the shower.

Instant showers do need a good pressure to make them any use, so it's best to have it done properly.

Also check the cable to the shower to make sure it can handle the loading of the new larger power rating.

[vw-stuff]

The pipe work is already there as all I am doing is replacing my broken shower (Redring Super 8) Was going to replace it with an 8.5kw shower, presume the old one is an 8kw given it is called a "Super 8", so think the existing cables (put in by the house builder) should cope with an extra 0.5kw?

[BigWallop]

Did the old shower have an integrated pump? Are you sure the old shower is fed from the tank, and not from the mains pipework that also supplies the tank?

What sort of pressure do, or did, you get from the old shower?

[vw-stuff]

There is NO pump in the old shower.

I am not sure, will have a look. I just presumed it was tank fed.

[BigWallop]

It may look like a pipe directly from the tank itself, but you should find on appliances, especially on instant heating types, that mains water pressure is used.

[vw-stuff]

Thanks BigWallop

[Stickems.]

Can you quote the actual wording of the sentence referred to in the installation guide.