Before you invest in a shower it is absolutely vital to know which is best for your home because not all showers will suit your home. This is a simple guide to the types of shower available and what is right for you. It is an absolute MUST to make sure that the shower you are ready to buy is appropriate for your water system.
Electric Showers
These run cold water direct from your mains supply and heat it with a heating element. So you don’t need a cold water storage system or a hot water cylinder for this type of shower. For the more powerful electric showers, you will need a high supply of electricity (10.5W) and for this a qualified plumber is necessary. Not only necessary but safe, don’t mix water and electricity if you’re a novice.
Mixer Showers
Think of this first shower as a rather clever tap. If you visit Europe (especially france) you will come across the most basic type of mixer shower everywhere. It is called the manual mixer tap. No fancy pumps or thermostats here, just two taps, hot and cold. You manually adjust the taps to your desired temperature and voila! More complicated versions of this mixer shower involve a special unit that sits on the wall and has a fancy knob on it that regulates the temperature my opening and closing the cold and hot valves just as in the manual version. It also adjusts automatically if the water pressure is reduced by someone using a tap elsewhere in the house, which a manual won’t.
Mixer showers take hot water from your hot water cylinder and cold water from the cold water tank so you need to make sure that your water supply has these two things if you want a mixer shower. You also want to know that you have enough natural water pressure in your home for it to work properly. (In France the standard water pressure is very high which is why they are so common there.)
If you have an unvented system or a combi boiler, a mixer shower can work off of these as well.
Power Showers
Originally designed for areas with a low water pressure, power showers work from a gravity fed system which requires a cold water tank in the loft, like the mixer shower. Whereas electric showers use electricity to heat the water in your shower, power showers use electricity to pump higher volumes of water through the shower head to give you that great showering experience. To have a power shower you will need the cold water tank in the loft and the hot water cylinder as well.
NOTE: Unlike a plain mixer shower, power showers will not work on unvented or combi boiler systems.
Just like buying kitchen or bedroom furniture, getting the right information before you shop for your shower will help you enormously. If you are still unsure as to what you need, make sure you have a look for a water tank in the loft and a hot water tank. If not check what system you’ve got by talking to a plumber and get some expert advice from a good bathroom supplier before you buy.