Power vs Electric Showers
All you need to know about Power and Electric Showers including maintenance and installation costs, suitability, appearance and overall value.
Power versus electric showers... when upgrading the appliances and fixtures in your home's bathroom, this is one of the many questions you might be asking yourself. Which is more efficient? Which produces the best/steady water pressure and flow? Or, for some, its simply about which one looks nicer with the other fixtures and faucets in the bathroom.
Regardless of the factors or reasoning behind your decision-making process, it is important to weigh your options, prior to making the final decision. We'll review a few of the best power showers, electric showers, and help you make the most educated decision when the time comes for you to upgrade your bathroom's showerheads.
Pros & Cons of Power
An electric shower delivers quality, precision, and heating options, you won't find with a traditional showerhead system. Powerful water stream with a pressure balanced valve system creates the perfect conditions for showering.
Integrated digital thermometer ensures simplistic water temperature controls, and makes it simple for you to see exactly what temperature the water is flowing at. The integrated system has a highly-visible LED readout, allowing you to choose from F or C when setting the temperature in your shower.
Power showers have built-in temperature control systems. This helps users regulate the water temperature to prevent the shower from getting too hot. This is perfect if you have kids in the home, and want to ensure safe conditions for them when taking a shower. An adjustment lever gives users control of temperature settings and allows them to instantly modify hot-water conditions, to ensure an enjoyable experience when taking a shower.
The ability to control water pressure settings is also a nice feature which homeowners can appreciate when using their power shower. You can control pressure settings based upon whether you prefer direct jet, or a softer-shower sprinkling system when using your newly installed shower system in the home.
There are of course some cons which should be factored into your decision-making process as well. It is a costly system, so you should budget accordingly. It does have a removable showerhead, and hand-system, however, the pressure is not as high as with some other systems. There are limited water temperature settings as well.
Although it does allow you to lock in temperature settings, this also limits your ability to fully adjust the water temperature, and water pressure, to the most desirable settings, when you are taking a shower, for extended periods of time with your new electric showerhead installed in your bathroom.
- Fully adjustable temperature settings, and temperature lock, allows you to control water temperature settings when showering.
- Many systems come with a fixed set and hand-wand, giving you more usability/freedom when taking a shower.
- These systems are easy to install, and most can easily be fitted with your current plumbing system in the home, especially in newer/upgraded homes.
- The price of a new power shower is typically going to cost more than an electric shower. This obviously depends on your chosen model.
- Controls are easy to use, and easy-to-read temperature gauge/levels, give you full control of water temperature settings.
- Although newer homes can be fitted easily, older homes or plumbing systems might require some upgrading prior to installing a new power shower.
Pros & Cons of Electric
The best electric shower delivers powerful stream and level heating options to choose from. Many come with an adjustable showerhead, as well as a hand-wand, so you can choose between both options when showering. Most electric showers are also going to give you control of the water pressure settings. You can choose from different stream settings, or powerful jet mode, based upon how you adjust the nozzles on the showerhead when taking a shower. You can easily adjust from high to lower pressure settings with the twist of a knob or touch of a button with newer electric showerheads.
The solid construction, stainless-steel material finishes, and integrated hand-wands most systems include, makes the electric showerhead one which is durable, and will easily fit into most shower/bathroom settings. Many also allow you to adjust the temperature settings easily.
Depending on the electric showerhead, you will either have a twist dial to adjust water temperatures, or touch-button system, which allows you to better control the specific settings. Given your budget, the features an electric showerhead offers, and the temperature control settings, are going to vary a bit. Some simply feature high/medium/low, while others give you better control to actually set the temperature levels.
Eco-friendly homeowners will appreciate the auto-shutoff features on most electric showerheads. Not only does this preserve water, but it will also automatically shut off the water and electric, so this can reduce your energy bills in the home as well.
Most bathrooms can be fitted with electric showerheads, and aren't going to require any additional plumbing work prior to being fitted. The drawbacks include the aesthetic appeal, as these showerheads are fairly bland, and don't have any specific features like a power shower, which stands out in the bathroom. They are larger, bulkier in appearance, and may appear dated, if you wanted something a little more modern in the home, the power shower might be a superior choice.
- Simple design. No guess work when changing temperatures, there are simple adjustment knob/levers to adjust water temperatures.
- Typically no upgrades to the plumbing is required, as these showerheads fit most modern bathroom fixtures.
- Simple, straightforward, and easy to use. Perfect for the homeowner who wants something affordable and easy to install in the home.
- They are now considered an "upgrade" whereas the power shower would be considered an upgrade in the bathroom.
- You can adjust the temperature, however, there typically aren't as many adjustment features as you get with a power shower.
- These showerheads aren't fancy, they are bulkier, and they appear "dated" in comparison to newer, power shower systems.
Let's Compare!
Ongoing Costs & Maintenance
When it comes to overall cost and maintenance, the electric showerhead is the superior option. It is 1/3 the price of the power showerhead. Additionally, you won't have to do much maintenance at all, since there is no cartridge, as is the case with the electric showerhead system.
Maintaining your electric showerhead is going to require you to replace the cartridge every so often, in order to preserve it, and prevent water and calcium deposit buildups. Additionally, with features including an electric LED digital readout, these systems are more likely to require maintenance/servicing more often than something simple like an electric shower.
The electric showerhead is similar to any showerhead you could purchase at a home improvement shop. There's nothing fancy about it, and requires little to no maintenance at all. If you are simply after an affordable price, something that is easy to install and easy to use, and aren't too worried about the aesthetics, the electric showerhead is a superior option. And, it is a much lower entry price point as well, which makes it something more homeowners can afford, especially if they are on a budget when updating the bathroom spaces in their home.
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Power
Appearance & Suitability
For the homeowner who wants something that looks good, looks new, and looks fresh the clear winner is the power showerhead. It has a sleek, steel design. It has the LED readout, and bright green digital screen, which makes it extremely easy to read, and offers a futuristic style appearance as well.
With the electric showerhead, you simply have a fixed head, the wand, and a turn-dial lever, which allows you to set one of three different temperature settings. Your power showerhead is going to feature quite a few setting options, power and pressure options, and of course, it also provides you with many options to choose from, as it relates to the actual water temperature. The sleek and elegant design are surely going to stand out, and look far superior to those of the electric showerhead.
If the budget isn't an obstacle, and you are simply looking for something which is going to look good, is going to look modern, and is going to stand apart on its on in the bathroom space, then the option you are going to want to invest in, is going to be the power shower when choosing a new showerhead for your bathrooms.
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Electric
Additional Considerations
If you're still on the fence between electric or power, there are a few other factors you might want to weigh, in order to ensure you make the right decision. First off, consider additional cost of plumbing work. In some cases, you will have to update or upgrade plumbing, install new lines, and with the power system, this is going to end up costing a bit more than with the electric.
It is also important to compare the aesthetic; you of course, want it to look good in the space. So, the detail work, the finishes, design, and overall appeal, are some things you may want to consider, before you decide which of the showerheads you are going to buy for your home.
Ease of use and safety are other factors to be considered. You can't overlook who will be using the showerhead, especially if there are kids in the home. Therefore, before you ultimately decide on which one you are going to buy, rather than simply compare the cost of these items, you should also consider the built-in safety features and settings each showerhead offers, so that you make the best decision when you are ready to buy one.
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Electric
Overall
You have no shortage of options when comparing electric and power showerheads, and ultimately deciding on one to purchase for your home. You want to weigh your options, compare the best products, and consider all relevant purchase factors, in order to ensure you make an informed decision when the time comes to purchase.
If you want to increase your home's resale value, want something that looks great, and if you want to choose a new showerhead which is efficient, and will also help to reduce the cost of electric and conserve water, the power showerhead is the best alternative for you to install in the bathroom.
In addition to greater efficiency and more options for power and temperature settings, the built-in safety features, as well as the overall aesthetic appeal of your new showerhead, are far superior to that of the electric showerhead you can purchase to install in the home's bathrooms.
Power
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- Costs & Maintenance
- Appearance & Suitability
- Additional Considerations
Electric
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- Costs & Maintenance
- Appearance & Suitability
- Additional Considerations
