Pumped Electric Shower - are they a big improvement? All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[LowPressure]

Hi

We recently moved into an older house. There is an electric shower fitted, as far as I can tell it is coming off the cold water tank in the attic.

The pressure coming out of the shower isn't great, it is okay at best.

I would like to change to a pumped, my wife likes the convience of an electric shower.

I was looking at a pumped electric shower as an option.

1. Anyone have any idea if it is worth it? Does the pressure coming out of the shower increase significantly or only a little bit?

2. Is it just a rip and replace if I swap the electric shower for a pumped electric shower? (E.g. is the pump integrated in the body of the unit?)

Any help or thoughts gratefully received!!

[stoneyboy]

Hi lowpressure
Electric showers must be connected to mains cold so if yours is tank fed it needs correcting.
The amount of flow from a mains fed electric shower is dependent on the power of the shower and how hot it is set at.
You may find that the cables feeding your shower may not be large enough to upgrade even for a pumped model with integral pump.
You will probably have to engage a trades person who has both electrical and plumbing skills.
Regards S

[LowPressure]

Thanks for reply. Oh my. Just goes to show how bad I am at tracking pipes. As its an older house there are lots of pipes that have been cut off and are left in place.

Just as a general rule, as I know nobody with one - does a pumped electric shower give much better pressure? Or is it designed for really low pressure houses and just gives out the same pressure as a "normal" electric shower?


Thanks for any guidance!!

[aethelwulf]

I have a electric shower with integral pump but it is fed from the HW and CW tanks of course and only needs minimal electric current. These are very good if you have a system boiler, as I do ,but purely electric showers need good water pressure and the mains is sometimes not enough. Also massive cables nowadays as these showers tend to be 10amp. You set up seems a bit of a bodge personally.