Electric Shower or Power Shower - What to Consider and Why?

First of all I would like to explain the 

difference between an electric shower and a power shower

 as some people can find it confusing.

An electric shower heats the water instantly at the touch of a button. Usually a cold water pipe comes from the tank in the attic to supply the shower. The cold water is pumped through the shower unit and a high power heater element heats the water in a split second giving an unlimited supply of hot water.

A power shower does not heat the water, the water is heated from another source (eg) your immersion or gas boiler. It consists of a cold pipe plumbed directly from the tank in the attic and a hot pipe plumbed directly from the hot cylinder (or hotpress). And gives out much better water pressure as the water is already heated. 

These days it's all about cost.

What is cheaper to run? Electric Shower or Power Shower

Unless you have solar panels supplying free hot water to your shower, I would say an electric shower would be cheaper to run. Although the electric shower uses a lot of electricity when switched on, as soon as you finish your shower, it stops costing you money. Whereas with a power shower, you may have to turn on your immersion or gas boiler for an hour even if you want a quick shower because the entire hot cylinder has to be heated to approx 60 degrees. Or what if you forget to turn off the immersion switch! If you have a power shower, a good tip is to install a timer on your immersion and have it timed to heat the water at 6am (as this is an off-peak time therefore cheaper) for an hour. If your hot cylinder is insulated well the water should stay hot for hours. Another thing to consider when choosing which shower to get is the dreaded water meters. The better the pressure of your shower the more its going to cost.

Electric Shower Drawback

In my opinion the only drawback of the electric shower is the pressure. The water can only be heated so quick therefore giving fairly low pressure. This can noticed even more when the water supply to the shower is so cold it has to be kept inside the unit for longer, giving less pressure. The average flow of an electric shower is 7 litres of water per minute compared to a power shower giving 14-18 litres per minute. You can't beat the feeling of having a shower with the water blasting out from the shower head.

But these days it doesn't come cheap.

You can have the best of both worlds with a power shower if you use a meter and your tank is well insulated. If not, then maybe an Electric Shower is the way to go.

Good luck with your choice. I hope we've helped. If you need any more help then please give us a call.