Electric shower - poor water pressure.

[andye30m3]

I have a rental property which had an electric shower installed when I bought it.

The tenant has mentioned that the water pressure is poor, so I went round to have a look, it appears to have a simple cold feed into the unit.

When the shower is set to cold the pressure is quite reasonable, but as you move it to hot the pressure drops of significantly.

I assume this is due to the heater within the shower not being up to the job, does anyone know if this is likely to be the case?

Also any recommendations for a decent reasonably priced replacement

[Spare tyre]

Limescale buildup?

[TwistingMyMelon]

If hard water could be limescale, I live in hard water areas and find showers have around a 5-10 year lifespan, usually around 5

What are the taps like, whats the pipes that feed it, could be a variety of factors

[andye30m3]

Cheer for the replies.

It is I believe an area with hard water, would this effect the heating part of the shower?

Either way I think it's going to be a case of replacing the unit, just didn't want to spend money on something that's no better if the issue is likely to be elsewhere.

[Olas]

the answer is in the question - cold water pressure is good but hot water pressure is bad - look at the heater.

[speedyman]

What's the KW rating, I suspect the cold pressure is to high for a hot shower with decent flow rate. By turning down the flow (pressure) the elements in the small tank have time to heat the water up, but you loose the flow rate. Fix is to replace the shower with increased KW one so you don't have to adjust the flow rate much. Check the supply cable and circuit breaker before you buy as these may need upgrading to.

[brman]

Olas said:

the answer is in the question - cold water pressure is good but hot water pressure is bad - look at the heater.

hmm... the question states that it is an electric shower. No hot water feed.....

[Olas]

brman said:

hmm... the question states that it is an electric shower. No hot water feed.....

You are correct, and if you re-read the comment you will see that i use the term 'hot water feed' absolutely nowhere. If you're going to try to put words in my mouth please try harder to make your attempt less obvious.

Given that i talk about cold water pressure and hot water pressure, it can be assumed that I am talking about the pressures of waters at different temperatures.
Again, my reference to a 'hot water feed' exists absolutely nowhere. Assumptions will get you in trouble.

Cold pressure is good, hot pressure is bad. Deduction tells us that the heating is the problem, so reference my previous commment of "look at the heater"

[tim0409]

brman said:

Olas said:

the answer is in the question - cold water pressure is good but hot water pressure is bad - look at the heater.

hmm... the question states that it is an electric shower. No hot water feed.....

I am sure what Olas meant was that that the hot water flow from the shower is poor, hence the suggestion to look at the shower unit?

[DocJock]

With an instant, electric shower you can have good temperature or good pressure, not both.

Even a 10.5Kw will not heat sufficient water quickly enough to provide high pressure, hot water.

[Aerate]

+ 1 for higher kW shower. But also worth looking at the shower head as modern ones ‘aerate’ the water and makes the flow feel greater for the same water pressure. We have a 5 year-old 10kW Mira sport which came with quite a big head and it works really well.

[HannsG]

We have a Miro Sport Max Boost Pro (mouthful i know)

You press the boost button and it becomes more powerful.

Good Electric shower

[Mr Pointy]

Olas said:

brman said:

hmm... the question states that it is an electric shower. No hot water feed.....

You are correct, and if you re-read the comment you will see that i use the term 'hot water feed' absolutely nowhere. If you're going to try to put words in my mouth please try harder to make your attempt less obvious.

Given that i talk about cold water pressure and hot water pressure, it can be assumed that I am talking about the pressures of waters at different temperatures.
Again, my reference to a 'hot water feed' exists absolutely nowhere. Assumptions will get you in trouble.

Cold pressure is good, hot pressure is bad. Deduction tells us that the heating is the problem, so reference my previous commment of "look at the heater"

You're wrong. the wording you used is unclear & it's unsurprising you got the reply you did. It's not self-evident that when you use the phrases "cold water pressure" & "hot water pressure" that you mean the outlet flow rate from the shower with the temperature knob in the cold & hot positions respectively.

Learn to write more precisely before getting pissy with other posters.

[austinsmirk]

I fit hundreds of showers- of all types each year. broadly speaking, what were yr tnts used too ? eg if they had a thermostatic one- they'll be used to much higher pressure. no electric shower ever chucks out any comparable water flow, compared to thermo.


but don't know age of shower, condition of fittings, is the hose, shower head full of muck..........

[Davel]

Have a similar problem with a house that we rent out.

The incoming supply from the stop tap, on the pavement, feeds the terrace and so, quite often, the pressure drops when everyone else is filling a kettle / washing, or having a bath / shower.

So there isn't enough pressure to use the shower in our property

I'm looking into either trying to have a holding tank installed above the shower or some other solution.

I doubt a water pump would sort it as there simply would not be enough flowing water.

[jagnet]

Davel said:

Have a similar problem with a house that we rent out.

The incoming supply from the stop tap, on the pavement, feeds the terrace and so, quite often, the pressure drops when everyone else is filling a kettle / washing, or having a bath / shower.

So there isn't enough pressure to use the shower in our property

I'm looking into either trying to have a holding tank installed above the shower or some other solution.

I doubt a water pump would sort it as there simply would not be enough flowing water.

With intermittent pressure issues, or low mains flow problems, if the pressure is good enough under normal circumstances then a cold water accumulator tank will allow you to store water at the max incoming mains pressure. Since it's under pressure it can be located anywhere.

[Davel]

Brilliant thanks for that !

[brman]

Olas said:

brman said:

hmm... the question states that it is an electric shower. No hot water feed.....

You are correct, and if you re-read the comment you will see that i use the term 'hot water feed' absolutely nowhere. If you're going to try to put words in my mouth please try harder to make your attempt less obvious.

Given that i talk about cold water pressure and hot water pressure, it can be assumed that I am talking about the pressures of waters at different temperatures.
Again, my reference to a 'hot water feed' exists absolutely nowhere. Assumptions will get you in trouble.

Cold pressure is good, hot pressure is bad. Deduction tells us that the heating is the problem, so reference my previous commment of "look at the heater"

You are absolutely right, I misunderstood what you meant. I thought there must be more to your post than stating the obvious...

[roadsmash]

Mr Pointy said:

You're wrong. the wording you used is unclear & it's unsurprising you got the reply you did. It's not self-evident that when you use the phrases "cold water pressure" & "hot water pressure" that you mean the outlet flow rate from the shower with the temperature knob in the cold & hot positions respectively.

Learn to write more precisely before getting pissy with other posters.

Using a bit of common sense it is clear what Olas was saying when he said “heater”. Clearly he meant the heater within the shower unit, not the home’s boiler. Most of us understood what he meant, stop being a muppet.

[brman]

roadsmash said:

Mr Pointy said:

You're wrong. the wording you used is unclear & it's unsurprising you got the reply you did. It's not self-evident that when you use the phrases "cold water pressure" & "hot water pressure" that you mean the outlet flow rate from the shower with the temperature knob in the cold & hot positions respectively.

Learn to write more precisely before getting pissy with other posters.

Using a bit of common sense it is clear what Olas was saying when he said “heater”. Clearly he meant the heater within the shower unit, not the home’s boiler. Most of us understood what he meant, stop being a muppet.

Sure, I misinterpreted what Olas was saying but his post was ambiguous so I think my mistake was not unreasonable. So MrPointy pointing out it was unreasonable to get pissy with me because I made a mistake hardly makes him a muppet.....

Anyway, I think we all know what each other meant now so perhaps back to the subject?