Power shower or electric shower

This is cheap.

 

and unique!

 

Sorry Dominic I couldn't help myself.
Power showers are better than electric and Mira are a good brand.

 

Dom, what do you mean by 'fairly low pressure'? Do you have a cold storage tank in the loft? What's the water flow from your bath taps like? (And is this where the shower is going?)

My bro recently had a Mira Excel thermostatic shower fitted on a low pressure system. He says it works surprisingly well - more than I'd expected since he has little 'head' - but it looks as tho' the guy who fitted it wasn't as switched on as he should have been. It has flow restrictors on the supply inlet and hose outlet, and you can even remove the non-return valve from the outlet if your pressure is really low. I asked my bro to check the box of bits left over from the install, and these parts weren't there - so it looks as tho' this expensive plumber from a well-known plumbing co didn't read the instructions or carry out the basics.

So the chances are it'll work even better.

Anyhoo - it's a pretty expensive mixer, but can be found well discounted.

By the way, a 'power' shower suggests the use of pumps - so this will be costly if you go that route.

 

Was the plumber from Pimlico?

 

Bet he was.

 

Yep...

After sourcing a couple of booster pumps and reminding my bro where the pipes come down from his storage area, this twit comes out and says "I wouldn't bother fitting the pumps as there's no room under the bath. Anyways, you need a heating engineer for that - I'm just a plumber..."

One pump was meant to go in the f'airing cupboard and t'other in t'f'CWS storage shed up on t'roof!

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Mind you, the guy was good - he fitted the bath mixer in just over two hours... (keeping the existing shower rail which my bro was ok about as it meant no extra holes in his tiles.)

"I'll only charge for the 2 hours..."

 

If you're running a combi you're on mains pressure.

 

You have a bludy combi?

Sheeeesh...

In which case if your mains pressure is that pants, I dunno if a leccy shower will help you either.

Is your cold kitchen tap fast-flowing?

The hot taps will flow less - they are restricted by the heating limitations of the boiler. What make and model is it.

I assumed too much from your 'power shower' heading. You cannot (normally) add a pump to a combi (although nowadays you can, within a limit).

Can you try a litres-per-minute test on your cold kitchen tap? Bucket under, run full-on for 10 seconds, count the litres and 'times' by 6. Report back.

 

It often looks as tho' the bath taps release less water chust 'cos they are bigger! The water 'shoots' out the smaller bore of a basin tap, but the same amount of water looks as tho' it's casually spluttering out the larger bath taps - that's how it is in my hoosie anyways...

 

Hmm, that's certainly 'adequate' but hardly 'impressive'.

However, a combi-powered shower will still be miles better than a leccy one.

The only way a leccy shower is 'better' is that it wouldn't be as badly affected by other taps being turned on - 'cos it passes less water in the first place. But a thermostatic mixer should prevent extreme temp variations.

As for the shower unit itself, will it be a wall mounted mixer or a bath/shower deck mixer?

 

We are clearly speaking different languages...

'Power' showers usually refer to those that are pumped for extra gushiness.

A combi-powered shower is effectively mains powered, so its effectiveness is dependent on both the mains pressure and the power of the boiler. Usually, tho', they give a decent shower. In fact a great shower with a decent boiler/pressure.

Leccy showers are carp. The pits. Nasty, horrible, hateful things.

Because they tend to give a weak thin spray, especially in winter. A leccy shower is the last type I would have.

But they have their uses.