Triton Novel SR Silent Power Shower

martys pants

Hi Sleeper12,

Thanks for all the information you've provided in this thread already, very helpful.

I've just moved into a house and I'm planning on upgrading the electric shower setup to a power shower setup very soon. Going for the Triton Novel SR I think. I have a 30x18inch hot water tank which is heated by gas at the moment. Is this typically a big enough tank for 2 people having daily morning showers using a power shower? Just trying to figure out if I need to upgrade the tank to a larger size while I'm at it or if the one I have is good enough.

In the near future (maybe next year) I plan on getting PV solar panels installed on the house so I want to make sure I am setup for heating the water for the shower from the electricity as well as the gas. Do I need a special hot water tank for that? The current one seems to already have the immersion connections at the top but they're not in use as the water is only heated by the gas now.

Last question, maybe a silly one - is the plumbing for the power shower just a pipe from the hot water tank (in the hot press behind the shower) and a pipe from the tank in the attic or are there other things to consider?

Thanks in advance,

Martin

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121792023#Comment_121792023

Your tank should be big enough for two showers, one after another. The time spent in the shower may effect this. A teen daughter could drain a full tank in one shower :)

A lot of people dont understand that water heated using PV solar isn't free. If you didn't heat this water the electricity could be used to power other things in the home or sold back to the grid for 20-25c (I believe). So at the very least your free water is going to cost what you could sell back to the grid. A five minute shower using the electric shower will still be cheaper than a 5 minute shower using the "Free" hot water from the PV. A power shower uses much more water. This water is cleaned & treated at a cost to the enviroument. An electric shower is knider to the enviroument. Having said that a power shower is a far more pleasurable way to shower compared to an electric shower.

If you go for the Triton Novel (a great little power shower) I would suggest keeping the electric shower too. It is great as backup when teen daughter uses too much free water & you need a shower there & then. Also you wont get much free hot water some dark mid winter days. Again electric shower is very handy when you need a shower there & then but not as much hot water as you thought.

If replacing the electric shower with a Novel then you might be able to use the cold supply from the electric shower so long as it comes from the tank. The hot supply comes from the tank using a flange or from the hot pipe coming from the hot water tank. You need to pay attention to the instructions because you can void the warranty if it's not plumbed correctly. Take the hot from the wrong place & the shower con suck in air. The electrics are the most important part here. The 6mm or 10mm cable is way too big for an electric shower. I would run a new cable from thisolation switch to the shower & change the 40amp RCBO at the fuse box. 40amp RCBO isn't safe for a power shower. You will need a REC for this.

martys pants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121792176#Comment_121792176

Thanks a million for the detailed response. That's good to hear about the tank size - if it turns out to be an issue down the road we'll look at it again.

Agreed on the cost and environmental impact of electric shower vs power shower, but the electric shower pressure isn't really cutting it and I don't know how else to increase the shower pressure other than to upgrade to a power shower - any suggestions on that? I'm getting about 5 L/min at normal shower temp at the moment from the electric shower fed from the cold water tank in the attic (older model Mira Elite ST). I'm getting about 10 L/min from the mains cold tap. Is there an electric shower on the market that can get me close to 10 L/min?

If not, and we do go the power shower route, I'm just thinking it would be nice to not have to burn gas every day at the height of summer to heat the water for the showers and sink, if the cost of heating the water from the solar battery will be comparable to the cost of heating the water with gas. There is also the possibility of cheap overnight rates for charging the PV battery?

Appreciate the pointers on the electrics and the tank feed, will definitely be getting a REC for the electrics and a qualified plumber for the pipework.

Sleeper12

You won't get more than 5 lpm with any electric shower. They can't heat them instantly at high flow rates. Triton novel SR will put out around 14 lpm