3 phase installation for power shower

[Mark_Burgess]

oh i see, i dint know the formula...
i shall have a look at the shower heater then, is there any particular maintenance to do ?
thanks very much

Your 10kW shower should be pretty good, does the shower head have large holes in it or a nice fine jet out of each?
As for maintenance, if you are in a hard water area, it may need de-scaling.

 

[Englishsparks]

Hi all,
I describe my plans, but i could be really wrong so please stop and advise me...
i live in a bungalow and got a standard electrical shower which i would love to change to a power shower.

i dont have any gas and got an old vented boiler installed, so i was looking for an instantaneous instant electric water heater as i wouldnt like to heat a full boiler for just a shower/tap, as the heating is electric..
i found very good ones from Stiebel Eltron, but they require a 3 phase 400v. which i am not sure i have.
first question, how to find out ? i got access to my meter and electric box but not 100% sure how to identify it...
if i dont have it, then what could be the cost to buy a single phase to 3 phase inverter? i had a rough idea on ebay, and to deliver up to 27kW to the Stiebel instant boiler...it would cost me ... 2 000 pounds !! ???

i am not looking to spend 200 pounds in total as i know it will be more expensive than that. but am i looking for something out of my league ? should i give up the idea of a power shower with instantaneous heating ?

thanks for your help

STOP dont do a thing!!! go get some proffesional help.

you wouldnt like me a proffesional electrican doing some surgery on your body would you??? NO you would like a Surgeon for that.

We go to college for three years, learn the trade and then get the blame because an electrical fault has started a blaze. "Caused because a so called DIYer has been medling again. DO you really know the danger you are putting yourself and your family in?

 

[Engineer54]

STOP dont do a thing!!! go get some proffesional help.

you wouldnt like me a proffesional electrican doing some surgery on your body would you??? NO you would like a Surgeon for that.

We go to college for three years, learn the trade and then get the blame because an electrical fault has started a blaze. "Caused because a so called DIYer has been medling again. DO you really know the danger you are putting yourself and your family in?

Unfortuately, these day's it's more like 17 days!!! lol!! ....But i agree with your overall point!! :redface: lol!!

 

[ian.settle1]

i got it,
so for the same temp rise of 20 degC, if i buy this Redring 12Kw instantaneous water heater, it should give me about 8.6 liter/minutes ... that should be ok for a power shower ?
i would have thought the heating transfer from the resistive load to the water depended a lot about the conductive surface between those 2 ?

As already said you need to find out what your supply capacity is before you start putting in large kilowatt equipment as if they all kick in together you will be calling out the DNO to replace the supply fuse.

 

[UKMeterman]

Hi,
A better idea, check what FLOW you can get from the cold tap, is it about 18L a minute or more? If so get a plumber to fit an unvented hot water cyliner Ultrasteel Unvented Cylinders this has a normal imerssion heater to heat up the hot water and then it is dellivered at the same pressure and rate as your cold water. NB This MUST be fitted by a profesional pulmber, if it were to explode then you would demolish your house..

 

[Knobhead]

Blaster Bates & Son
Plumbing engineers and demolition contractors.
View attachment 12409

 

[mickbristol]

hi and thanks for your replies,
of course i wouldn't fit a big electric supply on my own. was just an idea but i quickly realised how insane it was.
back to my shower, i have measured twice and i have about 8.5 liters per minute at cold temperature. which is about 16 deg C at this time of the year.
i tried again to measure via the shower and got a small 4.5 liters per minute at 41 degC.
i am waiting to received an instantaneous water heater of 12kW. i know it's a good hight current and need a 50 amps circuit breaker with thick cables...
but i will give it a try. i will disconnect the bathroom taps and supply it via the water heater see what the flow is like before rebuilding the shower...
i hope that will be good enough as i wouldnt like to use a system with storage water (not a lot of space available, energy waste etc...)
so ill updated my progress shortly..
but thanks again for your messages

 

[Engineer54]

A 12KW shower, the mind boggles!!

I'm sure Tel will have to get one of them now!! lol!!! mg_smile: :blush5:

 

[jaresquire]

He probably needs it..

 

[mickbristol]

who is Tel?

 

[Engineer54]

who is Tel?

''telectrix'' He just love's big Shower units, the more/higher the KW rating the better!! lol!!! :sifone:

 

[Rick0rz]

I personally dont think you can compare a electric shower to one off a boiler, big electric shower 11kw.. my shower at home off a 35kw combi along with great water pressure = removes grout from tiles

 

[mickbristol]

hello
i think you are right... i have started by cleaning my 8.5kW shiwer to make sure it wasnt faulty, and i def cant get more than 4.5 L/m so i doubt a 12kW will give me 8 or 9 L/m.
i correct my old thread but i guess everybody guessed. i want a "powerful shower" not a power shower. i know a power shower needs a pump and a water storage to deliver big amounts of water.
back to my plans, im confused about combi boilers... when i read online i see that combi boilers never run iit of hot water as it heats on demand. so how come in the spec it says it can deliver 8 or 9 L/m for 9kW??? did i read it wrong? also why some combi boilers also specify a capacity like 210 litres? i thought it heats on demand?
i dont have gas and dont hqve radiators, so basically the boiler im looking for must be electric and just for a "powerful shower" with 8 or 9 litres per minutes. i dont have 3 phases supply so i guessed 12kW is the max i can get, am i right?
any advices?

thanks

 

[UKMeterman]

Hi,
How do you heat all your water at the moment? Do you have a hot water cylinder? If you do not have a hot water cylinder, do you have space anywhere, even for a small one? How long do you want each shower to last, what temprature and what is the flow rate at your cold tap.

Once we have this information then we can make suggestions.

 

[mickbristol]

hi,
yes i have a vented cylinder, i guess 100 litres, and a water storage in the loft.
as the kitchen tap was a bit far away and very low flow rate, i put a undersink water heater, so my cylinder is now only used for the bathroom tap (bit waste i guess)
i have room for a boiler but i was ideally thinking of having no water storage, and an instant heater to save energy and water. but before that i mainly want a powerful shower so i guess it will be one or the other ? ...
i would like instant heating as i would like to have a shower at any time of the day (without heating the water for the whole day)
my showers are on average 10 minutes, but if i could reach 20 or even unlimited, that's perfect
my cold water can deliver easily 8 litres/minute, i have fitted a valve pressure reduction for my undersink heater, i have limited to 4 bars, so i guess i could have more than 8 litres/minute without it.
thanks