Electric Shower Installation

[StevePil]

Hi All
I have a bad shoulder so want to install a shower in my home as getting in and out the bath is getting a real problem. The issue I have is we have no gas in our property, it is an all electric property, our hot water is stored in an additional tank where it heats over night to save on electric costs and stays hot all day and we normally have enough hot water to last us the day.
How does an electric shower work? as we have very low water pressure aswell, as ive brought one of the showers that fit on the taps and the water treacles out. Can an electric shower connect to the immersion tank therefore just using the hot water that we woul dnormally use, or does it have to connect to the cold tap and heat as used as that concerns me over additional electric costs as we still ned hot water from the immersion for washing up etc. I am going to get a professional in to do the job but just want to weigh up the costs etc at this time and difference in electric consumpton
Many thanks
Steve

[deggers316]

they are connected to the mains cold inlet pipe
and depends on what power your shower is, mine's 10kw so roughly a 5 min shower at my electric cost is around 8.5p
and yes a qualified person to fit it is a must

[StevePil]

Thanks, thats not bad actually, I had horrible fears it would be a lot more, my electric is 16p per unit, what is 10kw in units per hour, sorry dont really know electric? Is it also powerful? Thanks

[buildersmate]

An appliance of 10kW uses 10 Units of electricity in one hour. So that is going to cost you �1.60, or 13p for a 5 minute shower.
The force of the shower is controlled by the output temperature that select for yourself - the lower the temperature, the more water comes out per second, and vice versa.
10kW showers seem to be adequate for most people.

[tezestwing]

Hi Steve you could use the hot water from the storage cylinder but you would need to run a cold supply from the loft tank to the shower unit (that ensures you have the same pressure as the hot) that could be in the form of a thermo controlled pumped low voltage (12v) unit , basically a power mixer, I would opt for one as the other post have described at least you can have a shower even though there is no hot water left after tea, and if you have to over ride the economy 7 to get some it comes at a higher tarrif as BM suggest a 10 kW from the mains would be an easier installation but possibly more cost if you have to run the heavy duty cable a long way from a suitably fused way
The 12v transformer (not in the same room ) could possibly be run from the existing ring main via a fused spur /rcd with 2.5 T/E all above would have to be building regs or self certified controlled though hth Tez