Thermostatic electric shower
Discussion
My house has a normal looking shower with a simple twist of a dial and water starts flowing in the ensuite, and a Mira Azora electric shower in the main bathroom. I have a 35kw combi.
The ensuite shower is brilliant. Great pressure and gets as hot as I want it. The Mira though, well it's a bit crap. I'm not sure if this is how they're supposed to be, but on the hottest and most powerful setting, the hot water output is very low pressure, kind of feels like it's gravity fed. Turn it onto cold and it blasts out at high pressure though.
I'm wondering why did the developer install the Mira, if the normal ensuite shower performs so much better? I get that one runs off gas (combi) and the other runs off electric and receives a cold water feed only, but struggling to see the benefit of that, or is the Mira just defective in some way?
The ensuite shower is brilliant. Great pressure and gets as hot as I want it. The Mira though, well it's a bit crap. I'm not sure if this is how they're supposed to be, but on the hottest and most powerful setting, the hot water output is very low pressure, kind of feels like it's gravity fed. Turn it onto cold and it blasts out at high pressure though.
I'm wondering why did the developer install the Mira, if the normal ensuite shower performs so much better? I get that one runs off gas (combi) and the other runs off electric and receives a cold water feed only, but struggling to see the benefit of that, or is the Mira just defective in some way?
They're all crap so don't be tempted to upgrade it with another electric shower - not even close to being powerful enough to give a good flow rate, especially with the incoming cold water supply temperature being low at this time of year. The limitation is in how quickly it can actually heat the water. Compare the shower from your 35kw rated combi to the likely ~10kw rating of the electric shower.
The only benefit I guess is the ability to still have a shower if the main boiler breaks.
The only benefit I guess is the ability to still have a shower if the main boiler breaks.
Edited by Snow and Rocks on Monday 16th February 17:45
Are you in a hard water area? If so, could the hot water feed be slightly blocked somewhere? Even if only in the shower unit itself.
Has the flow always been this bad or has it got worse?
ETA : Maybe the incoming water feed is so cold that the shower has to slow down the flow rate to get to the desired temperature?
Has the flow always been this bad or has it got worse?
ETA : Maybe the incoming water feed is so cold that the shower has to slow down the flow rate to get to the desired temperature?
Edited by eps on Monday 16th February 17:56
eps said:
Are you in a hard water area? If so, could the hot water feed be slightly blocked somewhere? Even if only in the shower unit itself.
Has the flow always been this bad or has it got worse?
ETA : Maybe the incoming water feed is so cold that the shower has to slow down the flow rate to get to the desired temperature?
It's cold water inlet only. With regards to your last sentence, that's how they work. I obviously have no idea how powerful this unit is from brand new but from reading online it is known to be a bit naff in winter and in spring/summer you're supposed to put it on eco mode as it doesn't have to heat the water as much.Has the flow always been this bad or has it got worse?
ETA : Maybe the incoming water feed is so cold that the shower has to slow down the flow rate to get to the desired temperature?
Edited by eps on Monday 16th February 17:56
The shower head is a bit tired so I soaked it in white vinegar for an hour which has helped a bit.
All a bit crap really, i'll stick with the ensuite.
Looks like it's 9.8kW, which is about as powerful as they get and that model ain't cheap, so can only assume the developer did fit it as a back-up, as a mixer shower would have been cheaper. Or perhaps they had complaints from residents using both mixer showers at once and not being happy with the performance.
We've got both types too - ours electric shower is 9.5kW. There's obviously a massive difference between the rainfall pressurised mixer shower - I back it off a bit from full on otherwise the water flow is immense - the electric one isn't exactly goimg to give a massage but I'd say it's adequate, both flow and temp. Incoming water is very cold at the moment though, so it's bound to be somewhat limited in what it can do.
We've got both types too - ours electric shower is 9.5kW. There's obviously a massive difference between the rainfall pressurised mixer shower - I back it off a bit from full on otherwise the water flow is immense - the electric one isn't exactly goimg to give a massage but I'd say it's adequate, both flow and temp. Incoming water is very cold at the moment though, so it's bound to be somewhat limited in what it can do.
My opinion: electric showers are f
king awful compared with mixer showers.
As I understand it, the maximum power rating for an electric shower in the UK is 10.8kW, which is about 45A at 240V.
Domestic consumer units (the mains box for a house) are 100A as standard. If we dedicated the whole supply to a hypothetical mega-power-shower if such a thing existed, 100A@240V is still only 24kW.
It gives some perspective when looked at like through the lens of comparison with a combi. My old house had a 60kW combi boiler, the mixer shower was like a hot firehose, actually uncomfortable to feel at maximum pressure. Compared with a typical-for-uk 9.5kW electric, it makes the electric shower seem crap.
king awful compared with mixer showers.As I understand it, the maximum power rating for an electric shower in the UK is 10.8kW, which is about 45A at 240V.
Domestic consumer units (the mains box for a house) are 100A as standard. If we dedicated the whole supply to a hypothetical mega-power-shower if such a thing existed, 100A@240V is still only 24kW.
It gives some perspective when looked at like through the lens of comparison with a combi. My old house had a 60kW combi boiler, the mixer shower was like a hot firehose, actually uncomfortable to feel at maximum pressure. Compared with a typical-for-uk 9.5kW electric, it makes the electric shower seem crap.
Dog Biscuit said:
Sounds like maybe a thermostat or water pressure sensor fault with the unit....We have a Mira shower and you could brew tea with the water from it's hottest setting.
They're all limited to 48C so I doubt that very much. The heat is OK on it, the pressure is mediocre. Anyway out of curiosity I checked the thermal cutout, elements and solenoid for continuity and take resistance measurements. All came back completely fine. So to conclude, they're just crap and I'll never use it again unless the boiler fails.
Acuity31 said:
They're all limited to 48C so I doubt that very much. The heat is OK on it, the pressure is mediocre.
Anyway out of curiosity I checked the thermal cutout, elements and solenoid for continuity and take resistance measurements. All came back completely fine. So to conclude, they're just crap and I'll never use it again unless the boiler fails.
If I turn ours on without adjusting the flow from its last use, and without doing something to flush the less cold water from our pressurised water system (such as flushing a toilet), then it drops one of the elements as it gets too hot.Anyway out of curiosity I checked the thermal cutout, elements and solenoid for continuity and take resistance measurements. All came back completely fine. So to conclude, they're just crap and I'll never use it again unless the boiler fails.
Sounds like you want something akin to Niagara Falls which is always going to be a big ask, but it'll be a better when the incoming cold water warms up a bit.
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