Power Showers

[The Medway Handyman]

Gonna need to fit a shower in the new Handyman Towers. We don't want anything trendy, just functional.

Been looking at power showers - the sort with inbuilt pump, connect up using 15mm pipe (according to online instructions), fed from cold & hot tanks.

This seems a cheaper & easier to install option, rather than putting in a pump, a mixer valve & a shower head.

Any gotcha's I should know about? Do they work OK?

Most makes offer 2 types, standard & thermostatically controlled, but both have temperature controls. I'm assuming the thermostatic model adjusts if someone turns a tap on downstairs or summit?

Price difference doesn't make it sensible to go for the standard one.

[tony sayer]

In article , The Medway Handyman scribeth thus

Mira, had them for years no problems at all and they work very well:))..

[jgharston]

If you've got tanks, if you get enough head then gravity is all you need.

JGH

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

PowerShowers proper can empty a hot tank in the blink of an eye.

If you have a curtain around the bath rather than a screen it will attempt to smother you from the legs up.

I disabled the pump I had fitted to my first house when I started taking in lodgers. We needed to get more then 2 showers from the hot tank in very close succession...

More electric, more heat and more water to do the same as a regular shower? Hmmmm

Pete

[Adrian C]

Karcher pressure washer fed from the mixer tap on the bath :-)

[Lobster]

Just make sure your tanks and incoming cold water flow rate have enough capacity to copy with the increased demand. I once fitted one in to a house I was renting out, and was delighted with its performance - a really good, powerful, hot shower - until it became apparent that it took approximately 3 minutes for the hot cylinder to be drained completely!

David

[The Medway Handyman]

Good point. Average HWC seems to hold about 120 litres. @ 14 lpm thats about 8 mins. I think you can reduce the flow rate though?

[chris French]

But it's using cold as well as HW, so it will last longer than that.

We have an Aqualisa Aquastream one. like this:

It has two pumped options, 10 and 18L per min is the spec, plus a gravity one with the pump off (but that's rubbish). We have a 1200x450

162L HW tank. 2 decent showers (normal maximum consecutive load) still leaves HW, and we have had 4 out of it, though tried not be taking to long with each shower.

THe shower is fine, not up there with a good separately pumped shower, but a perfectly decent shower, can't say I ever feel that it's lacking when I am in there.

And a good word for Aqualisa CS, there was one installed in the house when we bought it, probably at least 15yo. It died and I replaced it with a new one. CS were very efficient/helpful in checking that the new one would fit ok and the pipes etc would match up.

[John Rumm]

They are big lumps to bash your elbows against as you turn round...

Probably right... although fed from normal tanks the ordinary type works well enough, even if it does require the occasional tweak on the temp during a long shower.

[John Rumm]

120 L at 60+ degrees though... so when mixed with cold that is longer. If the boiler kicks in to start reheating, then that is longer still.

[Andy Champ]

Got two here (Mira Event). Fitted a couple of years apart - the first was fine, so we put another in the en suite instead of the instant electric .

The only down side is that the pump is fitted to the wall. In the case of the one in our main bathroom that's the partition wall between the bathroom and our bedroom, which wasn't ideal when one of my sons had a 6 o'clock alarm.

Reading on through the thread... we've had them both running at once, off a normal tank, and never run out. As they are thermostatic the tank temp may well have dropped. OTOH I don't have daughters.

Andy

[The Medway Handyman]

The location of said shower will be on the wall dividing the airing cupboard (with tank) and the bathroom. Solid wall, so should be OK - and we don't get up that early :-)

I do, but they have flown the nest. Just me & SWMBO.

[Robin]

I know I shouldn't be I cannot resist - are you *sure* that Adam won't appear and suggest a three........?

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

I've fitted a few of those; they're OK, but not a patch on a proper Stuart Turner 3 bar dual-ended pump feeding a Belsen shower head, like wot I've got in my cupboard.

[Paul R]

Second that. My Mira has been installed about 15 years and I find it perfect. Brushes wore out last year and due to comparitive cost of new brushes (which may not have been the problem) meant I bought a new motor

- now back to running normally.

Paul R

[Fred]

I've got a Mira Event too. I hadn't fitted a power shower before and I chose this type over one with a separate pump because I thought it might be simpler and cheaper. I don't think that it's particularly big or obtrusive; it's only the same size as an electric shower.

I don't know whether they are noisier than one with a separate pump, because presumably you site the pump where it cannot be heard? I suppose a separate pump, being larger, could deliver a greater flow but we have not be disappointed with the performance from this and we have not run the tank dry either.

I did have to buy a new motor because Mira said it wasn't covered under warranty, which seemed a bit mean, but it was fairly simple to get hold of the part and fit it. A lesser known brand might be problematic to get spares for.

I suppose one nice thing about the separate pump type is that there is no electricity in the bathroom. Having taken ours apart, I was surprised how little waterproofing there seemed to be, but there's obviously enough to do the job.

HTH

[chris French]

In message , Fred writes

Our Aqualisa Aquastream is SELV - 12V IIRC, with a 'transformer' mounted out of the way.