Installing a shower water heater

[clarky cat]

I've recently moved into a new-build house and no shower units with water heaters have been installed.

 

People have told me all I need to do is buy a shower heater unit and pay someone about 500 baht to install it.

 

What I can't understand is how this is done - the bathroom's been newly tiled and the only electrical item is the ceiling light..

 

[lopburi3]

It is not a good idea to mix local electric work and bare feet in water so highly recommend you obtain services of a competent electrician (perhaps buy from HomePro type place and use them to hook up).  You need a dedicated electric circuit and will be at least 3,500 watts at full power (check when you buy).  You also need (require) a good ground.  If your house electric really has ground that can be used but if not (or not sure) a ground stake should be directly attached to heater.  Heater should also be on a dedicated circuit breaker.  This is not something to fool around with as although unit will have an RCD that should protect you from death you also have high amperage live wire inside bathroom that is not protected unless another RCD upstream from it.  

 

Edit:  do you have enough water pressure?  If not using a house pump that could be an issue with most heaters.

[clarky cat]

There is enough water pressure yes.

 

The plan is to buy a dedicated unit like you mentioned and hire an electrician, but how does it get installed without ripping the bathroom apart and damaging all the new tiles?

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, clarky cat said:

What I can't understand is how this is done - the bathroom's been newly tiled and the only electrical item is the ceiling light.

Not a problem installing after you have water supply already.

The house should already be an earthed electrical supply.

The electrical connection can be made and brought down from the ceiling just make sure the shower unit is earthed and is wired from the power supply and not the light in the bathroom if it is on the lighting supply.

[lopburi3]

As said wire down from ceiling and not from light and you can use plastic conduit to cover wire if you wish (although probably not much if from above the ceiling).  External wires are normal in Thailand.

[KhunKenAP]

Quite a few years ago, I had a hot water tank heater installed, for a jacuzzi in my condo at the time. Problem is your monthly electric bill will skyrocket, as the heaters will kick on, whenever the water temperature drops below you settings. These type of heaters draw a lot of energy.

 

Make sure they are super energy efficient and perhaps on a timer with a bypass switch for you normal shower times.

[lopburi3]

This will be a point of service heater as is normal in Thailand so only pulls electric for the few minutes it is used.

[clarky cat]

would something like this do the job?

 

[Kwasaki]

5 minutes ago, clarky cat said:

would something like this do the job?

 

I bought 7kw shower unit 3.5 couldn't get the cold morning water hot enough for us.

[lopburi3]

3.5 should be fine in Bangkok area for most people (you should not shower with water that is too hot - on coldest days you can reduce flow to compensate.  Power requirements of 7kw are much harder for normal home to provide.

 

I prefer the current Panasonic two round control units but in 7 bathrooms have an assortment.  

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

Do just like this no problems.

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[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

7 minutes ago, Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai said:

Do just like this no problems second method cheaper. Lol

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[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

I bought 7kw shower unit 3.5 couldn't get the cold morning water hot enough for us.

I agree, our 6kW units will get warm showers in the cold season when throttled down. 
My preference is for a unit that can have an easy to understand exact temperature set, like this one. 

[Artisi]

2 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

I agree, our 6kW units will get warm showers in the cold season when throttled down. 
My preference is for a unit that can have an easy to understand exact temperature set, like this one. 

Trust that's not you heater with the stickers still attached after installation ????

[johng]

28 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Trust that's not you heater with the stickers still attached after installation ????

It seems quite popular in Thailand to leave the stickers on ????

[Lacessit]

9 minutes ago, johng said:

It seems quite popular in Thailand to leave the stickers on ????

Thais leave stickers and wrappers on everything, because it demonstrates to friends and neighbors the item is still new.

[johng]

5 hours ago, clarky cat said:

but how does it get installed without ripping the bathroom apart and damaging all the new tiles?

Just 2 holes in the tiles to hang the water heater...then  then flexy pipe from tap to the heater input and attach shower head to the output...it would be best if they run a new 3 core cable Live,Neutral and earth

( 2mm thickness ?? anyway thicker the better)

from the fuse box to the water heater, a lot of "cowboys" will try to run a short wire from the nearest point of electricity be it a plug socket or even a ceiling lamp !!!! ..most heaters now have a built in ELCB or safety breaker some don't so do check and install a separate ELCB ( earth leakage breaker)  for about 400 baht.

[johng]

6 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

it demonstrates to friends and neighbors the item is still new.

I leave mine on to demonstrate how old the appliance is ????

[Artisi]

48 minutes ago, johng said:

It seems quite popular in Thailand to leave the stickers on ????

Would love to understand the brain process (or lack of process) for this phenomenon. 

Recently saw in major shopping complex, stickers still attached inside the hand-wash basins in the toilet, would have been there since the initial building many years back - go figure that out. 

[Kwasaki]

8 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

I agree, our 6kW units will get warm showers in the cold season when throttled down. 
My preference is for a unit that can have an easy to understand exact temperature set, like this one. 

Yeah our water from govt is a reasonable pressure these days so I only turn our water pump on now so I can have like what I call a power shower.

[sometimewoodworker]

16 hours ago, Artisi said:

Trust that's not you heater with the stickers still attached after installation ????

It is, I couldn’t be bothered to take them off & don’t see them now 

[longball53098]

On 3/6/2020 at 12:14 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

I agree, our 6kW units will get warm showers in the cold season when throttled down. 
My preference is for a unit that can have an easy to understand exact temperature set, like this one. 

Hey if I may ask? Is this a multi point heater or a local hand held shower model. I cannot find on the local net any model like this. Where did  you buy it?

[lopburi3]

10 minutes ago, longball53098 said:

Hey if I may ask? Is this a multi point heater or a local hand held shower model. I cannot find on the local net any model like this. Where did  you buy it?

Can't answer for that model but I have had the temp regulated model (one) and it failed in short order and cost more to fix than it was worth.  Normal hand adjustable models seem to last forever and have my vote.  Although if not at point of use I might consider a temp controlled unit.

[Artisi]

29 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Can't answer for that model but I have had the temp regulated model (one) and it failed in short order and cost more to fix than it was worth.  Normal hand adjustable models seem to last forever and have my vote.  Although if not at point of use I might consider a temp controlled unit.

Correct, a rheostat is a fairly trouble free as well as being cheap and easy to replace if needed. 

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, longball53098 said:

Hey if I may ask? Is this a multi point heater or a local hand held shower model. I cannot find on the local net any model like this. Where did  you buy it?

I got all of mine from smtv

Quote

เครื่องทำน้ำอุ่น 6000W SHARP รุ่น WH-T67DP

รายละเอียดสินค้า
1. กำลังไฟ 6,000 วัตต์
2. ระบบ MEMORABLE DIGI-TEMP บันทึกอุณหภูมิส่วนตัวที่โปรดปราน อุ่นสบายทุกองศาที่ต้องการ
3. จอแสดงอุณหภูมิแบบเรืองแสง LED 7-SEGMENT แบบเรืองแสง มองเห็นชัดเจน
4. ระบบ ETC ควบคุมอุณหภูมิน้ำออกอย่างสม่ำเสมอทุกองศา แม้แรงดันน้ำเข้าไม่สม่ำเสมอ
5. ฝักบัวดีไซน์ใหม่ สามารถปรับระดับน้ำได้ 3 แบบ และได้รับมาตรฐานผลิตภัณฑ์อุตสาหกรรมด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม (การประหยัดน้ำ)
6. ปุ่ม ELB CHECKER ช่วยตรวจสอบการทำงานของระบบนิรภัย 
7. ปรับอุณหภูมิของน้ำได้ตามความต้องการ ด้วยปุ่มปรับอุณหภูมิหน้าเครื่อง
8. ฝาหลังเครื่องทำจากพลาสติกคุณภาพดี ปลอดภัย และออกแบบเพื่อป้องกันน้ำเข้าเครื่อง  
อาบน้ำเย็นได้ตามปกติ แม้ไฟฟ้าดับ 
9. รับประกันหม้อต้ม (HEATER TANK) นานถึง 5 ปี
ราคา
฿5,990.00
ราคาพิเศษ
฿5,390.00
 

 

that should be enough 

2 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Can't answer for that model but I have had the temp regulated model (one) and it failed in short order and cost more to fix than it was worth.  Normal hand adjustable models seem to last forever and have my vote.  Although if not at point of use I might consider a temp controlled unit.

The model we have in our old house is going on for 13 years, so not the same quality as yours, that one was ordered through HomePro and is the 3.5kW unit.

 

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

a rheostat is a fairly trouble free

So are these Sharp units. I would never go back to a twist and guess unit again.

[lopburi3]

12 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The model we have in our old house is going on for 13 years, so not the same quality as yours, that one was ordered through HomePro and is the 3.5kW unit.

Actually believe it was a Sharp 3.5kW unit (all my units have been Japanese name brands) - have had several Sharp units over the years.  They used to be steel construction and had rust issues (although main concern was not wanting to have conductive unit in BR).

 

It may well have been a fluke as we do occasionally have close lightning strikes take out items here in Bangkok.

[hackjam]

I am just about to fit a new shower, want to run the cable first, back to the fuse board, what size cable should I use? Should I run 3 separate cables or one cable with the 3 inside?

[lopburi3]

2 minutes ago, hackjam said:

I am just about to fit a new shower, want to run the cable first, back to the fuse board, what size cable should I use? Should I run 3 separate cables or one cable with the 3 inside?

What wattage heater?  Wire size will depend on that.  Normally easier to use one cable if available.

[hackjam]

 I will probably get a 3.5 K watt but would like to have a wire in place in case that the unit needs to be upgraded or replaced with a larger one.

[VocalNeal]

Have a 3800W Malaysian Jet Pump unit. Set at 36C some days and 42C other days. 

 

If up north you need about 6000W