I've had an 8kw Gainsborough Sovereign for around 10 years, but I must say showering is not a very pleasant experience in these temperatures. I don't fancy re-wiring for a higher capacity unit, and I'm wondering whether replacing like with like would improve performance. We're in a medium hard water area so I imagine the innards must be well and truly caked up by now. Has anyone done this and can say, "Wow, it certainly made a difference" or something equally encouraging?
time for a new electric shower?
Dec 03, 2010
46 Replies
In article , stuart noble scribeth thus
Plumb up a proper power shower and say goodbye to all those electick shower .. showers;)
We fixed up a couple of MIRA Event units here some 10 years ago still going strong and hot .. and luvverly!..
Sounds unlikely tbh.
NT
Sounds unlikely tbh.
NT
Gainsboroughs aren't that good anyway, I suggest replacing it with a Mira sport much better performance.
What wiring have you got? Depending on the size and how the cable is laid it may be possible to fit a higher rated shower using the existing cable.
How so? It's only a heating element isn't it? I've no complaints about the Sovereign, which has been used daily for the last ten years. It's either lost efficiency because of scale build up or it was underpowered in the first place and the weather has never got cold enough for me to notice.
Combi boiler.....
No idea. I know it was re-wired 25 years ago for a 7kw shower, so I'm guessing it won't stretch to 10kw. It runs between joists below floorboards AFAIK, so not restricted in any way
What is the rating of the MCB?
Having fitted both makes of shower for a living, it's from experience when I say the Mira beats the Gainsborough every time
Just chuck the useless electric shower out and get a power shower in and never look back:)...
Now's the time to find out.
NT
30 amp, and the cable is about 12mm wide if that helps.
I must have just been lucky then. Well, twice actually, as its 7kw predecessor (also a Gainsborough) was still working fine after 15 years service, and was only replaced to get the extra kw.
Well have a look you lazy sod:-) Your cable will not do a 10kW shower, but it might do a 9500kW (at 230V) shower.
It could well be 4mm T&E, in which case your are pretty much stuck with a
8kW shower (even that is bigger than the design limits of a 32A MCB but it is very unlikely the MCB will trip).If the cable is 6mm then depending on any insulation around the cable, any grouping with other cables and the cable length it may be possible to go with a 9.5kW shower.
And get rid of the combi too? Christ, the shower isn't that bad
12.5mm would make it 6mm - nominal rating 32amps.
Harry Bloomfield explained :
Same as ours! We had a 7Kw unit originally on it, but that has since been replaced with a Mira 9.5Kw - which has been fine for the past couple of years. The cable run is short and well ventilated.
No.
4mm is 11.4mm, and 6mm is 13.1mm (approx). As Stuart's cable is between the two I would be more inclined to say it is 4mm with a thicker PVC coating than normal than a 6mm with a thinner coating.
I always take a shower every morning, winter and summer. The old 7Kw unit we had in was 'adequate' - but being rather old, you had to control its temperature by adjusting the flow. I swapped that out for a modern Mira 9.5kw, where you just dial in the temperature you want and it modulates the water flow/heating element to achieve the set temperature. I find that to be more than adequate.
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