Am having a shower room built in an outbuilding not connected to the main central heating system. Hence want an electric shower.
The electrical supply will be upgraded so that I am able to install the highest power models, commonly 10.5kW I think. Am I right in thinking that going for the highest power is the best option, from the point of view of speed of response/control?
There is a quite a range of prices. Does anyone have a good view of what technical advantages you might expect by paying more. Or any reliability issues?
Electric showers are pretty feeble. A feeble shower taken in an unheated or barely heated room can be a miserable experience, I recall from some bedsits I lived in lots of years ago.
If on the other hand you can heat the room up a bit before using the shower it won't be so unpleasant. If you've not already thought about this, there are downflow fan heaters available (eg from TLC) which can be mounted high on a bathroom wall (obviously not to be mounted too close to the shower and not somewhere where an incautiously directed water jet could get into the heater) to push hot air into the space where you'd likely be standing just before you get into the shower and when, wet, you get out of the shower... A fan heater is good for a sudden blast of heat, rather than a long slow build-up.
Yes. Remember that cold water coming into the shower in winter will be very cold if it's not had a chance to sit in warmer pipes inside a house first. So even with the flow rate reduced to a minimum (to get the max temperature change) the result won't feel very hot.
Not really relevant compared with today. There is a world of difference between a poor quality shower in a bedsit probably twenty years ago and a modern 10.5 KW shower. You can get a decent hot shower from one albeit not as good a pumped pwer shower.
Possibly, but I've also experience (in mum's house) of a modern 10.5 kW one, in a centrally-heated room, and at best it can really only be described as adequate (in summer) and barely adequate in winter. In essence, if you're warm enough when naked before getting into the shower the shower won't make things any worse, but if you're thinking the room feels nippy, I find the shower doesn't warm you up.
Also in mum's house, there's a pumped shower that pumps stored hot water up from a hot tank that's a good bit lower in the house. It's not as good as the combi-heated shower in my house, but it's a lot better than the instant electric shower also in her house. Both shower areas in her house have fan heaters to try to warm the rooms up a bit, and in both cases that helps a lot.
Because the OP made the point that the shower-room wasn't going to be in the centrally-heated part of their house, I think the cooling effect of warm water falling through (perhaps) cold air is still going to be a problem.
The bedsit shower I remember least fondly was in a separate room (not the vast bedsit itself) that rather oddly opened off a mid-stair landing in what I think was probably a Victorian house, in Glasgow. I think the room had originally been meant to be a small conservatory, and it had one wall that was made of opaque/coloured glass. In summer that room was stiflingly hot and in winter freezing cold. The shower was something to endure not enjoy. I do take the point though that it was probably only a 7 or 8 kW one.
The output temperature will, of course, depend on how warm (or cold) the incoming water is. I imagine that it would be a few degrees colder in Glasgow than in the south.
I can only offer general advice and that is to keep it simple and avoid all the bullshit pseudo features. Electric showers are fundamentally lacklustre in comparison with stored water showering so the expensive add ons can't really make that experience very much better. Not that they don't have their place, they serve a purpose and I would still install one if I thought it was the best solution.
Aside from 10.5kw power, the only feature that I would look for (perhaps) would be pressure stabilisation on the input in case you have mains pressure fluctuations in your home, that feature will reduce temperature fluctuations arising from pressure changes.
I'd second the benefit of adding some kind of heating to the room and a lightweight wall mounted fan heater could fit that role (only low power required as the room will be small by comparison with say a bedroom or lounge).
Your overall showering experience will be based on your comfort level and you may be able to accept a slightly lower shower temperature (and hence greater flow) in a warm room.
I've had reasonable experiences with Triton but wouldn't rule out other makes.
Ah yes, mains pressure fluctuations - otherwise known as somebody flushing a bog or turning a tap on while you're in the shower :-)
I'd consider thermostatic for that, and definitely get one with delayed stop again (much easier on the kettle bit). Current Mira Sport seems good enough to me (not thermostatic).
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