Looking for a bit of advice before I swap out the rather dated Hotpoint electric shower in my new home. The flow when cold is fine but as soon as you ask it to heat the water the flow drops to a point where it just about flows out of the shower head. Now I know the flow should drop a little as the cold water has to be heated by the internal heater prior to reaching the shower head, I cannot find anywhere on the unit it's rated Kwh so I am going to assume it's at the lower end of around 8.5kwh. The shower is fed via an RCD which states 63A 30mA 230V.

What I would like to know is can I fit a higher capacity kwh shower unit such as a 9.5kwh or even a 10.5kwh and would this improve the flow rate as the water would be heated quicker?

I have tried searching for the shower details in the usual way but all I seem to end up with is a list of old washing machines, this is the first Hotpoint shower I've ever seen

Mira have a good name.

https://www.mirashowers.co.uk/showers/elec...eplacement MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

pretty sure I changed my old 8.5kw shower for a 9.5kw with no issues.

but best to get a response from somebody who is good at the electrical maths


https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/bathro...-or-10-5kw

Last edited by RogB on 11th Jul 2017 7:44 am. Edited 1 time in total

Thanks for the replies so far guys, just found a sticker that indicates it's just 7.2kwh which may explain the poor performance. Reading the usual brochure stuff would seem to indicate that I'm good to go for anything up to 10.5kwh but as you say RogB best to get advice from someone who is qualified in such things.

just added a useful link to my response

It depends...(and honestly, without seeing the setup, thats as helpful as someone on the internet can really be...) - it may well be a 7kW at the moment

There are a number of variables, including:

Cable - it may have been installed on 4mm, 6mm, 10mm or 16mm cable, which depending upon how its installed (buried in the wall/through insulation etc) and how long it is, may be at its limit already, or may have the capacity to support a bigger unit

Breaker - there should be more than just the RCD protecting the cable - I would expect a 32 or 40a breaker protecting the cable

Overall load on the house - its possible that upping the shower could put you close to blowing the main fuse (although unlikely with diversity)..

Bonding - may or may not be present, always worth checking

Also, for those who like to follow the rules, under Part P, work in a special location (ie shower room), it would be notifiable !

Best bet is to talk to an electrician (not a plumber!)
have a go at measuring your cold water flow rate at the tap too to get a rate in litres/minute as this will help in your choice... 2000 Xei 1.8 gone
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Tricky one, my advice would be check cable size and work from there.
Believe it or not Hotpoint were known for putting the sticker on the back which ended up against the wall !!!!

Electric + Water If you're not sure get someone in mate.

Sorrry missed your last post bit out of touch now but don't think you can jump that high unless RCD and cabling was put in at higher spec. originally which begs the question 'why wasn't a higher rate shower put in then ' ? If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

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Last edited by JulesK on 11th Jul 2017 8:06 am. Edited 1 time in total

Cable size is something I can't check so I think I will err on the side of caution and go for the electrician, may as well have the electrics checked at the same time just to be safe.

Thanks for all the replies

No chance of getting a feed from the normal hot water system and getting rid ?

Still do a lot of my own plumbing but for insurance reasons I don't mix plumbing and electrics although in the past I have changed out an electric shower on like or like basis.

Always found any shower rose from an electric shower soon clogs, used to take out the rose / filter and soak in vinegar. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I did think about getting rid and turning the bath round so the taps were at the wall end but I also need to change the heating we have, currently it's solid fuel as we have no mains gas so it looks like we will have to have an oil system fitted and that's expensive. Replacing the electric shower would see us through until we could get the oil heating fitted

Oh, solid fuel is fine in winter with a back boiler, immersion heater in tank would still be quite normal even with most oil heating.

Expensive game doing all that so best of. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I've not used the solid fuel before, seems to be a black art to it, managed to get a tepid feel to the existing radiators but that took over 2 hours so I'm doing something wrong that's for sure. I was told to use anthracite and not coal so bought a bag of the stuff and lit the fire and closed the fire door. Good heat on the glass so turned the pump on to circulate water in the system but it never really made much difference. I can only assume I need lots more anthracite burning to get heat up, may as well start my own smelting business if that's the case

You really do need to have the electric supply checked otherwise you will have huge problems with overloading

You can use a 63A RCD however that won't protect the cable you need a
50A breaker for a 10.5KW shower and a10mm cable. The amount of hot water you get from a shower depends on the shower head hole diameters, so smaller holes more heat and more powerful jet my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

I think I have the 50A breaker in the circuit, the shower has it's own mini consumer unit housed in the airing cupboard, this has the 63A RCD (Volex RCD VR63) and next to that is a Volex VB50 B50 which I take it is the circuit breaker.

Just looking at the replies here shows why it is always best to check and get advice prior to jumping in gung ho