Lifesigns Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 Hi All, The property has a shower cubicle with electric shower and a large hot water tank in the loft with a combi boiler. I want to redo the bathroom and remove the shower adding a bath with a thermostatic shower. What I'm not sure on is what happens to the hot water tank, it's large and presently has a single output to the shower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 Electric shower with a hot tank? Odd arrangement. Is the tap water pressure ok or quite low? As long as you have sufficient water flow coming in and a big enough combi to give you enough hot water for the shower then no problem losing the shower tank. If pressure is low but incoming flow rate is ok then a shower pump would sort the low pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) Do you mean a pumped shower, rather than using electricity to heat the cold mains water? A combi boiler usually directly heats the cold incoming mains water, which then comes out the tap, a system boiler usually heats a cylinder. (a combi can be set up to heat a cylinder, but that is a special case) Edited February 16 by SteamyTea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) As said Electric showers work directly off the incoming cold water mains supply to heat the incoming cold water and do not have/or need a hot water tank in the loft if plumbed correctly. Likewise a Combi boiler also heats the water directly off the cold water mains supply and does not have/or need a hot water tank in the loft. (some combi boilers have a small pre-heated tank within the boiler I believe). Often when a house is converted from an old system boiler to a new combi boiler the old cold water tank in the loft gets left in place even though disused because it won't fit through the loft hatch to remove it. Same could apply to the old hot water tank/cylinder although they are less often located in the loft space. An easy test is does your hot water tank feeding your shower actually get hot at any time! Are you sure you have a combi boiler or could it be the description is being confused with a condensing boiler? Edited February 16 by MAB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifesigns Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 On 16/02/2024 at 07:47, Lifesigns said: Hi All, The property has a shower cubicle with electric shower and a large hot water tank in the loft with a combi boiler. I want to redo the bathroom and remove the shower adding a bath with a thermostatic shower. What I'm not sure on is what happens to the hot water tank, it's large and presently has a single output to the shower. I had a look in the loft today and took some pictures, the shower is definitely feeding from the hot water tank via the white pipe. Pressure wise cold water at a tap is pretty good and hot water acceptable. In past properties the shower was fed from cold water so I found this a bit strange but it is an older property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 (edited) Triton Alicante Electric shower - Specification. Installation - Plumbing System = Cold Mains - see link below:- https://www.tritonshowers.co.uk/alicante-electric-shower#product.group.attributes The tank in your loft looks like a cold water tank to me (sat on a raised platform to improve the head and increase pressure to whatever it feeds) that has been left in the loft when the Combi boiler was installed. Have you ever confirmed the water in it is actually getting hot? Is the tank metal or plastic? Hot water tanks are normally metal (copper/stainless steel) and a cylinder shape. I would think the cold water tank still fed by the mains supply has been wrongly plumbed to feed cold water to the electric shower which heats it.....assuming that white pipe to the shower does not go direct to the mains supply that is/was feeding that tank? Not clear in photo. Simple diagram of how a combi boiler feeds a thermostatic shower valve and hot/cold taps. Edited February 17 by MAB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 1 hour ago, Lifesigns said: That just looked like a lagged cold water tank, AKA F&E. 1 hour ago, Lifesigns said: Pressure wise cold water at a tap is pretty good and hot water acceptable. A simple test, but not always 100% accurate, is that if you can put your thumb over the tap/shower pipe outlet, and stop the flow, the water is gravity fed. If you can't, it is mains pressure. Obviously if it is pumped and the pump is running, it will squirt everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamonHD Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 That sounds like an actual rule of thumb... %-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Ferroli Boiler is at leat 20years old! Bin the electric shower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifesigns Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 14 hours ago, MAB said: Triton Alicante Electric shower - Specification. Installation - Plumbing System = Cold Mains - see link below:- https://www.tritonshowers.co.uk/alicante-electric-shower#product.group.attributes The tank in your loft looks like a cold water tank to me (sat on a raised platform to improve the head and increase pressure to whatever it feeds) that has been left in the loft when the Combi boiler was installed. Have you ever confirmed the water in it is actually getting hot? Is the tank metal or plastic? Hot water tanks are normally metal (copper/stainless steel) and a cylinder shape. I would think the cold water tank still fed by the mains supply has been wrongly plumbed to feed cold water to the electric shower which heats it.....assuming that white pipe to the shower does not go direct to the mains supply that is/was feeding that tank? Not clear in photo. Simple diagram of how a combi boiler feeds a thermostatic shower valve and hot/cold taps. Very helpful thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 (edited) I would have the tank in the loft and the Triton electric shower removed and have a new thermostatic shower valve plumbed in and fed by your combi boiler. Also as stated above your Ferroli Modena 102 Combi is at least 20 years old so it might be worth having it replaced with a newer and more efficient combi to provide your heating and hot water. Combi boilers have improved a lot in the last 20 years! Also make sure the electric supply cable to the existing shower is safely disconnected and isolated by an Electrician if/when the Triton shower unit is removed...water and electricity is not a good combination! Edited February 18 by MAB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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