Purpose of shower switch

[Rod Speed]

Wrong, as always.

[Rod Speed]

Even sillier and more pig ignorant than you usually manage.

And the original claim that you are more likely to die if you get electrocuted if you have a heart condition is just plain wrong too.

[micky]

What is an electric shower?

In our home built about 1952, we had a light in the shower stall, but it was in the ceiling. It didn't seem dangerous. The switch was outside, unreachable if you were inside the shower.

Are those still legal in the US?

But what is an electric shower? Like an electric storm?

[micky]

You could probably find one of those on ebay but I haven't seen any for

30 years.

In the USA there are showers and in most bathtubs one has the choice between a bath and a shower. There used to be two sets of handles but now everyplace has one set, hot and cold, and a diverter valve to choose between the bath tap and the shower. Everything else is in the wall.

What's an electric shower?

[Rod Speed]

It heats the water. Probably not practical there given the 115V system you lot have. You need a pretty powerful heater to heat it quickly enough so the hot water is hot enough. Easier to do storage heaters instead.

Yes as long as the bulb is high enough and doesn't get wet.

Nothing like and not really feasible on a 115V system.

[micky]

Fair enough. Thanx

[Richard]

Not to be confused with an eclectic shower, which is what this group is. :)

[Steven Watkins]

Something more advanced than just diverting some plumbing.

[Rod Speed]

More primitive, actually.

[Steven Watkins]

No, we used to have those things in the UK. Then we got electric showers for more pressure.

[ARW]

That is why you are supposed to use a lock off kit.

[Rod Speed]

Yep.

You still do with anyone with even half a clue.

Even sillier and more pig ignorant than you usually manage with mains pressure storage hot water services.

[NY]

I've never understood why people have electric showers if they have a hot water system at mains pressure (as opposed to a header tank in the loft). Surely hot water at mains pressure heated in a tank or on demand in a combi boiler is just the same pressure and possibly better flow rate than an electric shower which heats the same cold water as a combi but electrically rather than by gas or oil.

Our old house had a fantastic oil-fired combi boiler which could supply hot bath water for ages, and yet the shower was electric and had a piddly flow rate because the wiring to it was only rated for an 8 kW shower. If you turned the temp up a bit, you could see the flow rate reduce :-(

[NY]

What is that? A device that fits over the MCB switch to prevent it being turned back on? I presume it allows just one circuit to be turned off, rather than requiring the whole house to be turned off.

[Steven Watkins]

Or just hang a note on it saying "electrician at work, please leave off".

[Steven Watkins]

Neither do I, but mains pressure hot water is a new thing.

Just how hot do you have a shower? 8kW is plentiful to heat a showerful of water.

[Rod Speed]

NY wrote

Me neither, abortion of a system, particularly now its so cheap to insulate the tank so it doesn't lose much heat.

Even then, that worked fine in the last flat I rented before I built the house. And the flat was on the top floor with the tank in the roof space just above the shower room/laundry. Worked fine.

Yep.

[Stephen Watkin]

Because a lot of folk only switch on the tank when they know they're going to need it, which means planning your shower.

But with a combi boiler there's no reason for an electric shower.

[Stephen Watkin]

I was talking about before combis were invented.

[Rod Speed]

Like hell it is.