Mixer shower or electric

We're getting a new bathroom put in and I really want to take out the already existing electric shower as I believe we would have more pressure with regular mixer taps like we had in our old house. I also heard of a 'power shower' we could have installed. I'm really just hating the electric shower!! Any ideas before the plumber comes tonight to give us a quote on the work?

I'm a huge fan of mixer taps.  We took out our electric shower in the last place and it was so much better.  Our showers here are mixer and fabulous.  We have one of those rain effect shower heads and it's dreamy!

Mixer, mixer, mixer! 

We had a power shower for a few months and during the winter it just sucked.  I love our newish one. 

i researched this TO DEATH back in june.

i had an old electric shower.  sucked.

changed to a mixer tap (thermostatic).  the water pressure is better.
however, we're going to have an auxillery pump put in, between the water tank & the taps.  i think that's the best of both worlds.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=34481.0

you basically have the following options:

electric shower
power shower (electric shower w/ extra pump)
mixer shower
mixer shower w/extra pump. 

all have their pros/cons.  what do you hate about your electric shower?  what do you want in a shower? (looks, power, consistent temp?)

Hi Pebbles, I don't know anything about showers, but I just wanted to say that your avatar is making my mouth water!! I love it! (the avatar, not that my mouth is watering)

Hi Pebbles, I don't know anything about showers, but I just wanted to say that your avatar is making my mouth water!! I love it! (the avatar, not that my mouth is watering)

he he he.. I know! I SO miss Candy Corn!


We're torn what to do about the shower situation. Thing is we don't have a combi boiler in this house and the plumber said without some sort of pump installed we wouldnt get much pressure from a mixer shower however the electric shower we have is about as good as they come (WTF!) We can have a combi boiler installed which I wanted to do immediately but that would mean putting off the new bathroom for a few more years and I might add it's DISGUSTING! The house still has the original bath tub and it's all worn out and like sandpaper. It also has seperate hot and cold taps which is horrible for setting a good bath temp for the kids. I thought we may be able to install the combi boiler and just the bath and shower but my husband says if they rip out that tub all the tiling around it would have to be replaced and we may as well just have the entire job done at once.

can you do a power shower?  it's basically an electric shower (draws from the cold water mains, so no problem with combi) but it has an auxillery pump inside.  the con is that they're a tad noisy & a bit more expensive than standard electric showers.  but then you'd get your power with the existing boiler set up.

Thing is we don't have a combi boiler in this house and the plumber said without some sort of pump installed we wouldnt get much pressure from a mixer shower

That means you probably have the "traditional" British hot-water system where the hot cylinder is gravity fed from a cold storage cistern in the attic. 

To get a mixer shower to work reasonably well, you then have two choices:

1.  Reduce the cold pressure to match that of the hot, either by taking the cold feed from the same cistern or by using a pressure-balancing valve on the supply.    The result will be a relatively force-less shower, of course.

2.  Boost the hot & cold pressure from the storage cistern by using an auxiliary pump.

The "power shower" with an integral pump is effectively option #2 but with the pump located in the unit within the shower cubicle.  You still need to get both hot and cold feeds to it, as with a regular mixer shower.  The instantaneous electric shower only needs a cold feed, since it heats water itself as it passes through.

If you are going to be remodeling the bathroom anyway and have to stay with your existing hot-water system, then I'd say that by far the best option is to use a conventional mixer shower with auxiliary pump located elsewhere.

can you do a power shower?  it's basically an electric shower (draws from the cold water mains, so no problem with combi) but it has an auxillery pump inside.  the con is that they're a tad noisy & a bit more expensive than standard electric showers.  but then you'd get your power with the existing boiler set up.

We have a power shower & it doesn't make any noise at all.     It came pre-installed.

I'd say go with a power shower if you're wanting to get the bathroom replaced now Pebbles.  However, combi boiler & mixer showers are brill!  (My in-laws just had a combi-boiler put in & its awsome!)  Good luck with the new house!

We have the worlds smallest bathroom plus NO water pressure on the hot water.  What we have done is a remote controlled shower head that has a power pump in the ceiling.  The plumber has not come and fit it yet but we have purchased it.  To use this solved the problem.  We have a baxi back boiler and a hot water tank in the loft which currently is gravity fed...hence no pressure for hot water. 

We bought the kit for less than £ 500.00.  It comes with the remote control, the shower head that comes from the ceiling as well as the low pressure water supply pump.  Everything  will be placed in our attic.  This is a wonderful solution for us since in our house even the internal walls are brick. 

http://www.gwsupplies.co.uk/bathrooms/p/5986/satellites+cyrene+ceiling+arm+with+fixed+head.htm


Something to think about. 

Criostin, are you sure you have a POWER shower?  They always make some noise, I'm sure, the pump would have to.  Are you sure you don't have an electric shower that just happens to get reasonably good pressure?

We have a power shower and it can be a little noisy but you get used to it, it's not too bad at all.  If you set it to high pressure you will blow a hole in the wall (ok, exaggerating slightly!)  You have to be careful to run the hot water on the boiler long enough if you have a lot of people in the house using it but between the 2 of us it doesn't require that much (we usually set it on the lower power setting which is still a lot more powerful than MIL's electric shower).  I think I was maybe £50 more than the electric variety, so not too bad and the plumber installed it for a bit more.

Its possible it could be an electric shower DH says its a power shower.     It heats the water up as you use it...so hot water lasts forever.   

It heats the water up as you use it...

That's one of the instantaneous electric types without a pump.  It will just have a single cold feed connected to it. 

There can be some confusion over the terminology.  "Power shower" is most often used to refer to the type which contains a pump but no heating element, while "electric shower" generally refers to the instantaneous type which heats water as it passes through.   Because both types need a source of electrical power though, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably for either type.

i may be wrong here- but i thought an electric shower & power shower were the same- except that the power shower had a booster pump in it. 

i may be wrong here- but i thought an electric shower & power shower were the same- except that the power shower had a booster pump in it. 

No, at least not usually.  Technically, there's no reason why the two could not be combined in a large enough unit, but I don't recall ever seeing such a combination shower, either "in person" or in manufacturer's catalogs. 

The distinction between the two types: 

#1.  Contains a big electrical heating element, anything from 7 to 11kW, and is connected only to a cold supply, which will be direct from the incoming high-pressure "mains" (city water supply).   

#2.  Contains a pump, but does not have an integral heater.  It's connected to both hot and cold from the regular household system, usually gravity fed from the tank in the attic (hence the pump to increase the pressure). 

So this second type is essentially the same arrangement as a conventional mixer shower with a separate auxiliary pump, it just puts the pump and mixer together in one unit.