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I want to put an electric shower in one of the loft conversion bathrooms to be independent of the combi. Are the the 10+ kW ones any good? Going from one bathroom to three and dont want a huge combi or additional cylinder ideally.
There are two types of electric shower:
- A heater... the electric takes the existing water pressure and heats the water.
- A pump... the electric pumps the water to add pressure.
It's going to depend on your water setup already... if you have a tank and hot water storage in the loft already, then you probably are going to need the pump. But... it sounds like you do not have a tank as you have a combi boiler downstairs... and if you add a pump to the combi then you're going to be pulling water faster than you can heat it. Adding the first of these no longer makes sense... because you've got hot water but probably don't have water pressure (if you're sending water up to the loft and no tanks were up there).
To me... this doesn't sound like a cheap shower fixes it. It sounds like you're either investigating both pump and heater (more expensive to install and more expensive to run and more fragile as set ups go) or you're investigating water storage tanks in the loft to give you higher pressure and then a cheap heating shower to turn the water stored at that level into something you'd want to shower in.
For my money... a storage tank as high as possible with the mains cold water would be the way to go, with a power shower (heater) next to it. It's not going to feel like a fancy hotel (you typically want a negative head 3 bar pump for that)... but it will be warm, weak/adequate pressure, and will be good for 2-3 showers per day and the cost is reasonable.
If you were going for "give me hotel dream shower"... then 2 large water storage one for hot and one cold, the hot would be something like a Worcester GreenStore so it works with your boiler... then a twin negative head 3 bar pump to feed the shower. Your water would be kept hot giving an instant high pressure heated shower... but ugh, the space required and the cost is prohibitive.
Realise you're probably spending a fair amount to achieve a meh experience... so ask yourself how much you want the bathroom in the conversion and make sure whomever is doing your conversion has worked closely with a plumber to ensure it works.
- A heater... the electric takes the existing water pressure and heats the water.
Velocio-
And I thought I retained a lot of niche knowledge
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This is very useful, thanks!
We are right at the bottom of a hill and the reservoir is at the top so our pressure is currently very good (1st floor flat). So I was considering using a heated electric shower for an ensuite upstaris. Just a small combi and single shower at the mo. There should be space in the loft conversion for a small tank however.
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A power shower would fix the problem, because they have a built in pump. So even if your water pressure isn't great, they will pump the water up and heat it.
You don't need a storage tank with a power shower, because it has a built in pump to raise the water pressure.
Also the water tank doesn't have to go in the loft or up high, ours went in the cellar, we still had decent water pressure (without a pump). The pressure is balanced by the pressure from the mains supply.
Apart from this your advice is fine :P
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For my money... a storage tank as high as possible with the mains cold water would be the way to go, with a power shower (heater) next to it. It's not going to feel like a fancy hotel (you typically want a negative head 3 bar pump for that)... but it will be warm, weak/adequate pressure, and will be good for 2-3 showers per day and the cost is reasonable.
That's pretty much what I got with a combi boiler and a normal shower in my loft.
Sumo
leggy_blonde
Fox
aggi
I want to put an electric shower in one of the loft conversion bathrooms to be independent of the combi. Are the the 10+ kW ones any good? Going from one bathroom to three and dont want a huge combi or additional cylinder ideally.