Mira Vie Electric Shower - Pressurised water supply v mains ?

ifconfig

I've been meaning to contact our plumbing contractor for a while.

They are good and I've never had issues with them.

This nagging question that I keep meaning to resolve is something our electrician noticed last time he was at the house.

House was built in 2007. Our domestic water within the house is all pressurised with the exception of kitchen tap fed directly from the mains supply.

The cold tank has a submersible pump + controller set to about 2.3 bar, if I recall. We have 2 showers upstairs and a single electric shower in the annex on the ground floor. The original electric shower malfunctioned over time and was replaced around 2018/19. The original plumber put in a Mira play shower. I changed plumbers around 2011/12 and very happy with the new guys. Anyhow, when the original shower bit the dust they recommended I buy a Mira Vie shower, which I understand is designed to be mains fed. The original shower wasn't helped by the fact that our group water scheme had very high lime/mineral content - I had an undersized water softener which I eventually upgraded around the time of replacing the electric shower and our water hardness issues are a thing of the past.

So , that is the backstory - the question I have is : Will I have issues using a Mira Vie fed by a pressurised water supply (attic/submersible).

The shower has been in close on 3 years so far and it was only when I got chatting to electrician he was puzzled that we had such a shower model not fed by mains pressure.

I will definitely give the plumber a shout just to allay any concerns, but just wondering what folks on here think relation to that setup ?

John.G

No issues because you are supplying the mains pressure from your pressurised water supply, in fact, every mains shower is "legally" supposed to be done this way, of course none are, where the mains pressure is adequate (like my own Mira Sport), if mains pressure isn't sufficient a tank fed shower with its own integral pump is used and is known as a pumped electric shower.

standardg60

Your electrician should stick to being an electrician, your plumber is correct, showers with their own pump need a gravity supply, they're not designed for a pressurised feed.

John.G

Could me mistaken but pretty sure the Mira Via is a mains fed shower and does not have its own pump so perfectly suitable.

Its Mains fed so grand.

ifconfig

Many thanks for feedback.

I was a way for a while and just back to reply on this.

I think I must have introduced some confusion in my initial post. Basically it was the plumber not the electrician who advised me to get this model of electric shower (Mira Vie).

• According to spec I see for this electric shower , listed as cold mains fed :
• https://deluxebathrooms.ie/products/mira-vie-electric-mains-fed-shower-9-5kw
• A feature clearly listed on this model is :
• An integrated pump provides a strong and consistent flow, whatever the temperature

(not sure what happened with bulleting here .. a while since I posted replies here !)

So, basically the situation is that the electrician was around the house for something else and we got chatting about the shower for some reason or other. I think I was just shooting the breeze about teenagers taking long showers and I mentioned that the pressure on the elec shower didn't seem as powerful as the upstairs gravity fed (non electric) showers. I saw that as a merit because it wouldn't use up as much water.

However, it got me thinking. The Mira is definitely fed from the upstairs pressurized pump because I hear it come on as soon as the Mira Vie is switched on after a few seconds. I think there are mixed views here as to whether it is ill advised to feed such a shower (with integral pump) from an already pressurised water source ?

Again, all of this may be overthinking on my part but just to clarify , the plumber (who knows the pump is fed from upstairs pressurised cold tank) did advise this model and I just want to know if there are any risks or reduction of lifetime wear and tear if we operate a shower which is designed to run from mains pressure with a 2+ bar pressurised water supply ?

-ifc

John.G

Very confusing info, it states mai d fed a d as you pointed out has a integral pump but then also states max/min pressure 0.7/0.5 bar well you can't have a min pressure from a tank e xceptits on the ground floor. If you/ can hear a integral pump in the shower starting up then it's tank fed, period.

Just rereadyour post, it's your own pump you are hearing, so if no sound from shower on stRt up then no integral pump and if the shower is performing OK then motor on.⁹

standardg60

Info in that link must be incorrect in relation to the integral pump imo

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119400571#Comment_119400571

The position is quite clear - The shower you have is the correct shower for the pumped installation that you have. To put it another way the submersible pump in your cold water storage tank, delivers 2+ bar and this is equivalent to mains pressure. A gravity fed/non mains shower would be unsuitable.

The product description in the link you provided is poorly constructed and misleading - there is in fact no integrated pump in that particular shower.

You will tend to get more reliable information directly from the manufacturers website.

Sleeper12

The Vie definitely doesn't have its own pump. Mira only ever have one pumped electric shower. It's always a Mira Elite of some kind. Current one is a mira Elite SE.