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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.
leggy_blonde-
We are right at the bottom of a hill and the reservoir is at the top so our pressure is currently very good
This sounds very promising.
In fact this is the case for my property... so yup, a power shower (the heater kind) is probably all you need. But if the pressure isn't sufficient then a cold water storage tank in the loft is going to be necessary... and if you add a cold water storage tank you want the head of the shower to be below the base of the tank... hence my "put the storage as high as you can".
If you don't need a storage tank it's because the outlet of the reservoir (the base of it) is higher than your loft. If that's not the case, introducing a storage tank eradicates the standard pressure, and now pressure is measured by the difference in heigh from the storage tank to the shower head.
If you can get away without a storage tank you're going to be great.
A plumber should be able to measure pressure and give you a good idea whether this will work based on the PSI of the pressure (they can calculate how high that will lift water and how much pressure will exist at that new height and the flow rate achieved... a typical shower head will still want 1.5bar pressure to feel adequately powered, 2bar is ideal... I suggested a 3bar negative head pump to push the water a single story high and retain over 2bar pressure at the shower head).
Time to speak to a plumber.
Velocio
There are two types of electric shower:
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.