Multiple power showers question

Chelon

At the moment the house has 2 x power showers installed. I believe they're approx 8.5 KW each. There is a Siemens 5TT3 806 device fitted at the main board to ensure they don't run at the same time.

Planning to install a third power shower, so my questions are:-

Can the Siemens be upgraded to handle 3 showers?

If not then am I looking at buying a new contactor with 3 way ability? I believe this could be approx €200.

Is there no other solution to this issue?

Hoagy

See this thread.

Chelon

Thanks, that's helpful - but looks like there's no easy solution. I have to either replace the dual unit with a triple or else piggy back a second dual unit onto the first.

I don't know a whole lot about showers but finding the terminology a bit confusing; the other thread refers to a "power shower" as a possible solution - is this not the same thing as a standard electric shower, ie the shower unit pumps and heats the water from a single cold feed?

LeBash

A 3 shower non-priority board is easy enough to pick up.

salmocab

by power shower they mean that the shower has a pump but not a heating element so it needs both a hot and cold supply.

Chelon

LeBash wrote: »

A 3 shower non-priority board is easy enough to pick up.

You mean a first come first served system? Would that unit be any cheaper?

Sleeper12

Chelon wrote: »

Thanks, that's helpful - but looks like there's no easy solution. I have to either replace the dual unit with a triple or else piggy back a second dual unit onto the first.

I don't know a whole lot about showers but finding the terminology a bit confusing; the other thread refers to a "power shower" as a possible solution - is this not the same thing as a standard electric shower, ie the shower unit pumps and heats the water from a single cold feed?

Your showers are called electric showers as they heat the water, they may or may not have pumps . They pump out between 3 & 6 liters per minute depending on the time of year (water is colder in the winter)
A power shower is a shower that puts out minimum 10 liters per minute. (a shower that pumps out even 9 liters per minute is not a power shower)

Sir Arthur Daley

You could get a custom 3 shower unit built very easily, you could have it priority to one if existing cabling suits or easy access to existing setup.

Bruthal

Chelon wrote: »

I don't know a whole lot about showers but finding the terminology a bit confusing; the other thread refers to a "power shower" as a possible solution - is this not the same thing as a standard electric shower, ie the shower unit pumps and heats the water from a single cold feed?

A power shower refers to a pumped mixer shower which has hot and cold supplies to it. The water is already heated in the hot water cylinder, and not rapidly during the actual use of the shower. So they dont have a high electrical load like instant electric showers.

So if you have a decent supply of hot water in the cylinder, that could be an option. They might be high users of water though, for anyone concerned about water charges.

A second priority unit can be fitted, with 1 shower fed from it, and the supply to the existing priority unit as the second output from the new unit. Realistically though, for 3 electric showers, a non priority 3 way unit is likely the best setup.

Chelon

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

You could get a custom 3 shower unit built very easily, you could have it priority to one if existing cabling suits or easy access to existing setup.

Would this be cheaper than just buying a replacement 3 way? For simplicity I'm tempted to go with a new unit, unless it could work out much cheaper.