Showers

[Cemetery]

Edited down in post 8 with questions - Now likely having a combi boiler instead.


We are looking to get our bathroom & ensuite completely redone and wanted some advice on showers. The current bathroom has a gravity based shower which dribbles the water out slower than stalagtites form, the ensuite has an electric shower that we have never actually turned on due to the state of the shower itself. We don't have a combi boiler & the chap we have had round to give us our first quote suggested if we weren't intending on getting a combi boiler he would recommend installing a pump for the showers & having another gravity based one for the bathroom & either the same for the ensuite or a better electric one. Based on what he said we quite fancy two of the same using the pump.

He recommended a mira atom with 2 heads but I seem to recall people here raving about another brand Aqualisa I think? What do people suggest & what makes one so much better than the other?

 

[Maccapacca]

Aqualisa quartz

You can close the thread now

 

[Participant]

I would definitely recommend two pumped showers as opposed to one pumped and an improved electric one, otherwise you'll never use your ensuite as it'll be so very crap compared to the pumped one.

 

[Cemetery]

Why the Aqualisa quartz though, what makes it so good in comparison?

 

[Maccapacca]

The mira atom is a thermostatic shower mixer. The quartz is a pumped digital system. Two very different systems.

The quartz is easy to install which saves you money on labour and for me is up there with good hotel type showers you wish you had at home.

 

[LizardKing]

We have the aqualisa here. It's quite frankly the best shower outside of hotel rooms! Just don't let your Mrs near the boost button if you value your water/elec bill

 

[Lopéz]

Aqualisa, honestly mate. They do various models - Quartz, Visage, mine is an Axis.

With a gravity system like yours you will never get a decent shower without some sort of assistance - if the cold is mains fed it'll overwhelm the hot and you'll never get a balance or decent pressure or flow. If your cold is tank fed then neither hot or cold will have decent pressure or flow and it will dribble out.

The solution is either to pump both hot and cold feeds from the 2 tanks, or buy an Aqualisa pumped digital which runs off the 2 tanks (you MUST get the pumped version for gravity systems or you will still have a feeble shower)
The Aqualisa is basically a pump and mixing box/thermostat in one, it can go in the loft unlike most pumps and I found it very painless to install. Great flow and pressure, the Mrs can easily do a full tank of hot water on one shower though

Very glad I took the advice from maccapacca and Nightglow.

 

[Cemetery]

Having been pretty set on this, we have now decided we may well convert to a combi boiler instead, so the question now is:

Is the Aqualisa still worth it (the suitable one for a combi that is) over a cheaper type & if not what would you recommend.

As an additional query, anything we would need to ask/ensure the people coming to quote to do the boiler do? I assume there is a minimum pressure needed for a combi to give a decent shower anyway?

 

[1mm3]

Interested in this thread as I'm currently in a similar situation.

I've also decided to go for a combi boiler (currently a Baxi solo he with 1 tank in loft and another in bathroom), recommendations on boilers?

Once you have a combi (did at my old house) we had a Mira mixer shower from B&Q which worked flawlessly for 5 yrs+ with no temperature/ pressure problems.

 

[a1ex2001]

Having been pretty set on this, we have now decided we may well convert to a combi boiler instead, so the question now is:

Is the Aqualisa still worth it (the suitable one for a combi that is) over a cheaper type & if not what would you recommend.

As an additional query, anything we would need to ask/ensure the people coming to quote to do the boiler do? I assume there is a minimum pressure needed for a combi to give a decent shower anyway?

For me this question depends entirely on your mains water pressure, if it is good then a combi fed shower can be great! The real issue is having two showers that can be fun at the same time as having two you can only use independently seems pointless to me and this can pose a few more questions, is your water pressure high enough? Can you combi deliver enough water for two? Is your hot water tank big enough? Can you master fuse cope with multiple electric showers?

We recently installed a second bathroom I struggled for ages with the best shower solution, in the end we went for maintaining the combi fed shower in our main bathroom as this is awesome and will get the most use and in our new bathroom we have installed an electric shower designed for use in lower pressure areas so it is pumped off a 35 gallon cold water storage tank in the roof space directly above it, it is a 9kw model and while nothing like as good as the combi fed main shower it delivers a decent enough kick that I don't mind using it when there is a queue!

 

[Cemetery]

Water pressure isn't bad but we are unlikely to be running two showers at the same time very frequently anyway and having been used to a trickle from the current one I am guessing it wouldn't be that much of a hardship.

Is it still worth going with the suggested aqualisa though or are they suitable cheaper alternatives if we have a combi? Don't fancy electric.

 

[Participant]

while nothing like as good as the combi fed main shower it delivers a decent enough kick that I don't mind using it when there is a queue!

...and therein lies the problem with electric showers. They're a massive compromise. All that money on a new bathroom and you've got a shower that you 'don't mind using when there's a queue'?

Great!

For multiple showers that will be used at the same time, it's either unvented or pumped from tanks. Combi feeding two at the least, though there aren't really any combis that can deliver two decent showers at once, not to mention water / gas pipes that are wide enough to supply them.

 

[Caged]

I lived in a house once that had a combi boiler and a gledhill pressurised heat store thing (probably one of ten left in the country that hadn't broken) and could produce seemingly endless amounts of hot water. The pressure was also decent.

It was the only house where I've ever been able to have two showers on the go with no issues at all. I have never used an electric shower that wasn't disappointing.

Go for the pumped digital.

 

[Trifid]

Go for the pumped digital.

Not pumped with a combi.

Is it still worth going with the suggested aqualisa though or are they suitable cheaper alternatives if we have a combi?

Not sure if cheaper, but I have a Mira Platinum Dual and it is awesome.

 

[Caged]

Sorry, forgot about considering the combi. If your water pressure is terrible then I'm not sure a combi is for you.

 

[a1ex2001]

...and therein lies the problem with electric showers. They're a massive compromise. All that money on a new bathroom and you've got a shower that you 'don't mind using when there's a queue'?

Great!

For multiple showers that will be used at the same time, it's either unvented or pumped from tanks. Combi feeding two at the least, though there aren't really any combis that can deliver two decent showers at once, not to mention water / gas pipes that are wide enough to supply them.

It's a second bathroom it's for when there is a queue for the shower or I can't be bothered walking downstairs from the loft to take a leak lol! No way was I putting a hot water tank back in the house for an occasional use shower!

 

[PDW]

Just a thought...

If you have an electric shower you can still use it when your boiler decides to pack up and you don't fancy a cold shower fed from the cold boiler.

 

[Caged]

I'd rather have a good shower every morning than a crap one because one day my boiler might break.

Anyway, on a system with a hot water tank you still have the immersion if the boiler gives up.