Other Do electric showers use electricity when running cold

Been having this debate with my lad.

I moan about the amount of time he uses the shower for but he tells me when he is shaving he turns the shower to cold and steps out of it, shaves then turns the heat dial back up and rinses off, same for washing.

This sounds like a great idea as turning the shower off completely means it takes a lot longer to get back to temp once turning back on.

I've googled it and cant really get an answer.

In my head all the dial does is push more water through the boiler when you set it too cold, not giving it time to heat up as much.

Any plumbers out there (or anyone else who knows ) that could give me the answer.

Our electric shower has to be the biggest user of kWh's in the house next to the washing machine and then probably the pc's which we limit our time on now.

 

It's the shower's heating element that heats the water not the boiler AFAIK.

You'll be wasting water mind.

 

I turn the shower off, then back on to rinse. The warming-up delay is too short to worry about.

 

Go up with your smart meter and test it?

Bloody teenagers eh, my daughter does this also, a throwover from when we were mains fed from combi and had to wait.

If it's a mains fed shower for water pressure then it should use very little if it requires a pump for additional power or aeration then you'll probably find something like 200w, heating element is the main thing our shower use 4.5kw in summer/eco mode and 9kw in full power.

 

TBH I'd be more bothered about water wastage.

 

Very valid point on water wastage, we aren't on a meter so lengthy showers cost wise is only relevant to electricity but he shouldn't be chucking water away like that. Still to that level we do try to save water as much as possible, water butt filled via the gutters(need rain for that though obviously), don't flush the loo every time if its just a wee, don't run the water while brushing teeth ect.

I'll get him to try turning it off completely, especially at the moment when its warm anyway, when the winter comes it might not exactly be comfortable having it running cold or off while you are wet.

It is a mains water powered shower so i don't think there's a pump involved.

 

This seems odd, how does constant cold water take less time to heat than stopping the cold water flow and restarting it?

 

Are some people not on meters? Seems bizarre.

School day.

 

Of course.....when he is shaving he turns it off.....really .... after all that heat and steam from a shower, who can see in the mirror and shave, what else could a lad possibly be using the noise of the shower to mask ......

 

My understanding of electric showers is the same as yours, it always runs the element 100% and the flow of water is used to regulate the temperature.

Disregarding this, you have to consider that if leaving it running has it heat up faster, that must be because it's generating heat. I reckon a two minute shave is going to be costing you about twenty pence in electricity under the new price cap.

 

I'll be growing my beard for extra warmth

 

This was the logic I was going by.

 

Yeah, we didn't have a water meter back in Doncaster. We just paid a fixed amount water rate annually.

 

Thought that was a thing of the past. Huh, well that makes no sense at all.

 

In Scotland water isn't metered and isn't billed, it's just part of your council tax.

Down here I have to pay for water and then pay to soften the stuff because it's full of manky limescale

Oh, and I have to pay for sewerage too to get rid of the stuff? Sheesh!

 

“Shaving” sure!

 

There are two types. One has the heating element in it. Then there is the type that takes the water from the hot water tank, and mixes it. Thermostatic, IIRC. It's what my mother has, and they are much more expensive, as I found out a few years ago when her original one packed in. Water got into the bearing and eventually it totally seized.

Either way he is wasting water. Which is well, wasteful. Especially when we're struggling because of it. And kids these days are supposed to want to save the planet........

Wait until the little bugger gets his own place. I am sure he will become much greener then.

Getting rid of my water costs me more than the water itself. About 40% more. They take the piss, quite literally.

 

We're still not either. Thinking of setting up a water wheel to generate electricity

*actually pretty careful with it for the reasons of waste-bad, even if it doesn't affect how much we pay.

 

No meter here, great for filling my swimming pool