Plumbing and Electrics of DIY Electric Shower Installation

There is nothing better than a steamy shower on a chilly damp day. And to enjoy that you need an electric shower installed. This version of shower units draws water from the mains cold water supply. This is ideal for almost every household as there can be a shortage of hot water. As you switch the shower on, water passes through the heating element placed inside the shower and gets heated up. This is how and why it does not use up your stored hot water pool. 

In the following section of the blog post let us explore the aspect of DIY electric shower installation at homes in simple and easy steps. Here we go!

Making preparations

Installing an electric shower is by and large a straightforward procedure. However, there are several factors that you have to take into consideration right from the word go.

Let us sum up those factors in easy and simple words below.

• This range of shower units requires a minimum water pressure to perform their task on one hand while on the other there is also a minimum flow rate requirement. It is vital to consult the manufacturer’s booklet on this in the first place.
• Run a thorough check on your measurements to be double sure that the shower handset caters to everybody’s needs at home.
• Clear out all clutter from the area before starting your DIY electric shower installation drive. This is crucial because you will require a lot of space to carry out the task comfortably.

Tools that you need

Installing an electric shower is just not possible without the right tools. The tools that you will need are as follows:

• Double pole pull-switch
• Half-inch copper branch pipe
• Masonry bit
• Pipe cutter
• Power drill
• Yellow and green wire sleeving
• Stopcock

The core installation procedure

Installation of a DIY electric shower involves two distinct aspects – plumbing and electrics. We are obviously going to cover both aspects to provide you with a comprehensive idea about how the task is to be done.

Let us start with the plumbing aspect first.

Plumbing part

• Start with zero-in upon a safe location for the installation that is also easily accessible. Plumbing is required only to a mains cold water supply that too with a pipe having 15mm diameter for electric showers. 
• Use a pencil to mark holes on the wall where the shower will be mounted. Choose the right size of a masonry bit to drill pilot holes. The drill also comes in handy in making a hole to fit the copper branch pipe. This hole is made on the same wall and the copper branch pipe mentioned above connects the showerhead to your main water valve. At this stage, you have cut the pipe and place it into the hole. 
• At the end of the branch pipe, you need to fix a stop cock. Make sure that the arrow is pointing at the showerhead and is away from the rising main.
• Make an attachment between the rising main and the T joint. You may have to apply sufficient pressure to tighten the attachment.
• Now cut out an additional piece of connecting pipe to join the T Joint and the stopcock. Then you have to connect the branch pipe to the main valve.
• At this stage, first, connect the showerhead with the end of the copper branch pipe. Then you have to connect the shower unit box to the wall and for that, you already drilled pilot holes. 
• Lastly, connect the flexible spray hose with both the showerhead and the shower unit.  

With this, the plumbing part of the installation is over. Now let us move to the electrics.

Dealing with the electrics

Make a hole in the ceiling above and attach the mounting board to it. Remember the mounting board finally joins with the pull-switch backplate. A circuit cable has to be run all the way through the mounting board and that ends at the ceiling. It is important to leave enough quantity of cable at the location of the switch.

Get rid of the jacket cover of the leftover cable at the switch. Once the bare wires come out, twist them together. Follow the same procedure with the ground wires too. Then cover them separately with green and yellow sleeves.

Connect the newly sleeved wires to the E terminal of the pull switch. Follow that by connecting the red wire to the L and the black wire to the N terminals respectively. 

Now it is my turn to get rid of the jacket of the cable connected to the shower unit. There will be a red and a black wire along with a set of bare wires. The wires placed on the shower unit are to be connected to the Mains terminal of the pull switch. Connect the red wire to the L and the black wire to the N terminals respectively. The bare wires are to be joined to the E terminal. Once again cover up the bare wires either with yellow or green sleeves before connecting those to the terminal.

Now it is time to run the shower. The first time run it was cold so dirt and debris trapped inside flush out making the system clean. Let the flow of water run to the highest capacity till all the air has been released. Then turn it off as a little of the task is still left, suggests our friendly electrician Mayfair.

Connect the showerhead to the hose and then set the unit to a pleasant temperature.

This is all about installing a power shower unit in your bathroom all by yourself.