by ericmark »
Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:31 pm
The Mira has better right up but as an Electrician I only fit them I don’t use them and even if I did I would but unlikely to use both. Why you would want to spend so much money on an electric shower I don’t know? The amount of water a 9.8Kw heater can heat to a nice temperature especially in winter is limited and a shower which either uses stored water or water from a 27Kw gas combi boiler is going to be far better.
Because you can only use one shower at a time both with gas combi and electric I can see why a second shower would use the other system but that’s only reason I would use electric heated shower.
If your lucky and have stored water then you can go whole hog and have side jets the lot with a thermostat valve type.
I think the £297.37 price tag is OTT for an electric shower even with
• SMA technology™ - Achieve Temperature Stability of +/- 1.5°c
What ever SMA technology is as internet shows it as something to do with solar panels feeding power back into the grid or baby milk. I am wary when manufactures use odd names. I remember a motor bike with torque induction seems it was a reed valve like used in chain saws with fancy name. Screwfix lists showers from £62 to £320 with thermostat at around the £207 and on the Screwfix site most of the instructions are available in PDF format so you can read all about what each one does. It is unlikely any shower will do anything more than turn the element on and off so although the tank in the shower will damp any temp changes plus rate of flow that is about the limit to control and the item called “Stabilising valve” seems to be included from £73.25 right to top of range. So I would expect every shower to work about the same but some look better than others.
So three types of shower
1) Electric direct heated these do have different powers do be aware some need heaver cables then others and more supply of power.
2) Electric pumped or the power shower these are very good, but do need some protection devices not a DIY job.
3) Thermostat valve shower these although not as good as power showers will work from combi boiler where a power shower will not and are far better than electric direct heating types.
The latter two also can have side jets. The reason I say direct heating is with a immersion heater you can still have a thermostat valve type shower even though electric heated. And of course should you ever go green and use solar panels you can’t really use these with direct heated electric showers.
But you can read the adds as easy as me. And I have no intention of ever down grading to an electric heated shower so not the best to ask but see no replies from any of the others!
