Are all 9.5W electric showers equal ?

[Dave7]

Daft question maybe but..............
9.5W is the maximum I can have without a re-wire job.
The one we have is a triton and I have never been very impressed with its performance i.e. water flow/heat (not sure how to phrase that).
So..............will all makes of shower perform more or less the same or do some manage to get more hot water for the same wattage ?

 

[Drago]

Large variances in efficiency. A good plumber will guide you.

 

[Cycleops]

Large variances in efficiency. A good plumber will guide you.

.....To the cash machine.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I'm betting that 9.5 watts isn't very good

 

[AndyRM]

How is the water pressure in your house? If it's low you can get ones which boost the flow as well as heat the water. No idea about the electrickery.

 

[vickster]

Get an electric power shower, pump included, can’t use with combi boiler. I’m on my second Aqualisa (not cheap at around £400) but very good pressure. It draws from HW tank

https://www.screwfix.com/p/aqualisa...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COy-s_q0hNgCFYQ54AodBvMJxw

 

[T4tomo]

Your issue is probably the water pressure not the shower wattage.

 

[Beebo]

We have an electric shower, but fitted a bigger cable so we could buy more powerful options.
They are basically just kettles with a water pump and themostat, but in our experience you get what you pay for as the limiting factor is how much water they can heat in a given period.
Mira have served us well, but 5 years is about all we get from a shower before it starts to go wrong.
Our 12.5w one is a bit rubbish, so your 9.5 watts must be awful! The performance always dips in the winter as the ambient water temp is lower so the unit has more work to do to get to temperature.
we have a second shower that runs from the hot water supply and it is twice as good as the electric shower.

 

[User482]

I would've thought that for a given wattage, they will all perform about the same. The electrical output is the same, and it has to be dumped into the water supply.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

The performance will be limited by both the power input and the water flow.
Are you able to increase the water flow? There will be a pressure drop from the incoming supply to the shower especially if it is upstairs. Is someone else drawing water while you are in the shower?

 

[cosmicbike]

They are all equally kind of hopeless at this time of year as they draw off the main which is colder in Winter than Summer.
If you have a cold water tank in the loft and a hot water cylinder then I'd bin it and fit a power shower instead.
Do you know what size the existing cables are? You may be able to get to a 10.5kW...

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I compared the two showers in our house yesterday. My wife's filled a 1 pint jug in 9 seconds but mine took 26 seconds to do the same. I took the shower head off and dumped it in a jug of water with a limescale tablet and 3 hours later I'm getting the same flow rate as the wife.

So try cleaning the shower head of limescale before you spend any money.

 

[ColinJ]

I compared the two showers in our house yesterday. My wife's filled a 1 pint jug in 9 seconds but mine took 26 seconds to do the same. I took the shower head off and dumped it in a jug of water with a limescale tablet and 3 hours later I'm getting the same flow rate as the wife.

So try cleaning the shower head of limescale before you spend any money.

Or move to somewhere with nicer water!

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Or move to somewhere with nicer water!

Or shower with the wife


Edit - your own wife that is , not mine

 

[sight-pin]

The problem your experiencing at the mo is due to the weather being so cold, the mains water flow through the shower has to be slower to compensate in order to maintain the temperature you want, once the outside temperature warms the flow through the shower will increase. That's the bugbear with electric showers.