Remodelling bathroom and conflicted over shower

TheDoc

Hi all,

We are planning to remodel our bathroom and hit a decision today causing us grief as we can't decide. We currently have an Electric shower in the bathroom and its fine. When I was originally scoping out prices for bathrooms some folks in stores had said I would be mad changing away from electric (there is four of us, two young daughters who will be teenagers soon) and this seemed to be the main thing. You'd want showers on demand and not be waiting for water to heat.

Today we had someone out doing measurements and some checks with the company we are going with. Super helpful. And he suggested the idea of going to a mixer shower. Said it would need a new cylinder and pump, and cost around 2,000eur. Seemingly not like my childhood where my Ma would be shouting up at me to turn on the immersion, there is digital timers and stuff now you just set it to and it will get hot water sorted every day. I gather the 'power' of the shower will be much better. Plus mixer showers look much better imo.

Issue we have is the potential of running out of water. Rarely do all four of us need to shower one after another. Most commonly it's my two daughters going one and then another. On occasions then my wife and then me.

Everyone seemed to be moving to electric showers in the 00's and I guess I am wondering why mixer showers seem to be coming back (every showroom its all there is).

Anyone gone from Electric to mixer that can share their thoughts?

Lenar3556

The pumped mixer shower will be a much better showering experience (actually there is no comparison with electric). They use quite a bit more water though and you might also want to consider a second cold water tank in your attic.

Would you consider installing both the mixer shower and keeping the electric also? If the shower cubicle is in a corner it can work well on the opposing wall. Would give the best of both worlds and is often done.

Sleeper12

Power shower is much more enjoyable and much more expensive to use. Power shower uses up to four times the amount of hot water compared to the electric shower. Then there is the issue of the 3rd person looking for shower having to wait an hour for hot water to heat up

The best solution is to have two showers, power and electric. Many of my clients take this route and never regret it

blackbox

If you have a big enough cylinder you can heat the water for the power shower on night rate electricity.

If you have oil or gas you can use that to quickly heat water.

Also, you don't have to run the power shower at max flow. Even at reduced flow they are much better than electric.

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122110757#Comment_122110757

as above plus the issue about the pump may be noisy depending on where it is fitted

With two teens, if you fit the power shower they will never use the elec and will piss through up to 17 litres of water a minute.

You can fit an aerator, but don't tell them

IIRC the split is c 60% hot and 40% cold ( Sleeper will correct me }

You would need something like this

what heating system do you have for water other than the immersion

I have a client who had this issue so he put a valve / timer on the hot to the shower and once the time was up, 17 litres of cold

KildareP

Not gone from one to another, but added a mixer shower with a booster pump alongside an existing electric and would definitely recommend it as the way to go.

No comparison whatsoever, the electric feels like someone dribbling on you in comparison, especially in winter.

However as mentioned the consequence is it consumes a significant amount more water - our hot tank is around 100L and will provide for 15-20 minutes worth of continuous showers at best by which time it's gone stone cold. Immersion will take at least an hour to recover enough for another shower, oil maybe 30-40 minutes but you have the beauty of still having the electric to instantly fall back on if you need it.

Go for as big a hot water tank as you can and use the immersion in night rate hours. We'll be replacing our tank in the coming years and will definitely be going double, if not triple, the size. Also thinking of one with the immersion mounted towards the bottom - the problem with the top mounted immersions are they typically only reach down about halfway into the tank so you only get the top half of the tank actually heated while the bottom half stays stone cold.

TheDoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122110543#Comment_122110543

No wouldn't keep both, looks a bit weird. I know people do it but not for us

TheDoc

Nah wouldn't be putting two showers in

TheDoc

Yeah just don't think I want to put two showers into the one space, just looks a bit weird.

Probably leaning towards just getting a new electric shower. No real issues with the flow or pressure on mine, so I get a mixer would with a pump would be even more pressure and great, as we kept talking about it, sounds like a potential disaster having to wait around for hot water.

So probably just going to get a new electric shower. Notice folks mentioning a power shower, they are a totally different thing again I thought, that also require hot water to be ready in advance?

Flinty997

I'd be looking at the energy use. If you can pre heat with solar and or a battery then it changes which shower you get.

I think most little have two showers bathroom and ensuite. Which is why they have one of each type.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122113069#Comment_122113069

Solar sales reps deliberately confuse people to get them to sign on the bottom line.

PV solar can be sold back to the grid for up to 25c per kw. If you use this energy to heat water instead of back to the grid then the "free" hot water costs 25c per kw. This will actually cost more to run than an electric shower.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122113154#Comment_122113154

What about if someone has a shower at peak time rates that's higher than 25c.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122113351#Comment_122113351

I'm not sure I understand the question?

25c is what you could earn by selling the electricity to the grid. This means that water heated by solar isn't actually free hot water. It has cost up to 25c per unit to heat the water. I pay 30c per unit of electricity. If someone heats water at peak time then it will cost 30c per unit.

Even with pv solar, it is cheaper to use the electric shower, assuming you have the option to sell back to the grid that is

Flinty997

I assume it would be cheaper to use the electric stored from solar at peak than selling to the grid. Depending on your plan as some of those cheap off peak plans are really expensive on peak.

I've a busy large household with lots of showers usually at peak. I assumed past a certain point pre heated water either through gas or solar would be cheaper than electric.

You're saying no.

TheDoc

had someone out to talk me through solar. Think he just barefaced lied. Said they could guarantee solar would cover all my electricity for year. Few friends have got solar and said that’s total bollox.

He was basically overselling the fact I could sell back excess in the summer and left out I’d be using the grid nearly fully in winter

TheDoc

The “storing” the sales rep kept dodging. I was pretty clear I wasn’t interested in batteries and systems costing 14k+.

The house was built in the 50s that we bought tail end of last year so we have a ton of stuff to be doing to it 😂

Flinty997

Just keep the electric. Seems like your mind was made up when the started the thread.

mickdw

Considering the cost of plumbing, I think it would be madness to go to the hassle of redoing your cylinder etc in order to move to a shower valve type setup.

If cost of works is important, stick.with electric.

Sleeper12

"I assume it would be cheaper to use the electric stored from solar at peak than selling to the grid. Depending on your plan as some of those cheap off peak plans are really expensive on peak."

It would but using the electric shower still works out cheaper. Having said that I prefer using a power shower.

Electric shower is cheaper to run & much more convenient. Power shower is a more pleasurable showering experience

TheDoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122114356#Comment_122114356

think it was as we discussed it more between ourselves that night (after I posted here) that we came to the conclusion to stick with what we have.

Cost wise like I said it’s 2k to just have the setup for a mixer shower. My electric shower is fine pressure wise, appreciate mixer will be more but maybe I’m best putting that money into something else. Seems also we have to replace some cast iron stuff the toilet is going into out the back of the house so **** knows what that is going to cost haha

Hippodrome Song Owl

I have both electric and a mixer power shower. The power shower is just such a nicer experience. No comparison.

But even running at half flow it empties a full hot water cylinder in around 17 minutes. It's not always enough when I wash my hair - after 2 hours with the immersion on the bath setting. No way would I rely on it for a house with 3 women!!

TheDoc

Yeah thanks, and that does seem to be a prevailing bit of feedback from folks. While my daughters are young now, it won't be long before its teenage years and got knows how long in the shower :D :D

Think we have decided to stick electric.

Thanks all for the help and input