Thermostatic Mixer Shower on / in Thin Block Wall

TDS_2

Just bought my first house (so still only a novice DIYer!)

We’re planning to replace the entire bathroom and will be installing a shower above the bath (currently no shower). Since there’s a window at one end of the bath, we’re forced to place the shower at the other end. As it happens, the combi boiler is in a cupboard at the other end of the bath, so it makes all the pipe-work rather straightforward.

All partition walls upstairs (this is a 1950s house) appear to be lightweight blockwork of about 3” to 4” width including plaster. I’ve done a pilot drill into the wall at the end of the bath and it’s solid all the way through; the debris is quite like ‘moon dust’(!) Does light blockwork sound about right?

Question is, given the thickness of the solid wall, can we still have a built-in valve thermostatic shower, or are we forced to have exposed valve? My research indicates that built-in valves generally require either a thicker solid wall (in which the pipes are chased into the wall), or a partition wall (in which the pipes are behind the thin plasterboard. My wall appear to be too thin to chase pipework into, but too thick for the valve to straddle.

Obviously the exposed valves are an option, as in this case the pipes will route up the inside of the cupboard and pass through the wall at the level of the valve – we just prefer the look of the built-in! The other option is a digital mixer where the valve can be completely concealed in the cupboard with just a single pipe then passing through the wall to the shower head. I’m a little hesitant about these though as they seem to over complicate things – more to go wrong, and I’m worried about getting power to the valve.

Any way (sorry, this post is longer than I was intending!), any advice / info on the matter would be gratefully received. I understand that the situation I have is quite common in inter-war built houses, so there must be a lot of folks who’ve tackled the same job.

Thanks!

bigmikeh

I think your assessment is pretty good. As a bathroom fitter, I come across this problem all the time. For my customers on a limited budget the usual solution is a thermostatic bar mixer shower valve with just two pipes buried in the wall, or something like a Aqualisa Quartz Digital (exposed) in the roof space/airing cupboard, taking it's power from the lighting circuit.
Mike

TDS_2

Thanks for the reply. Nice to know I'm on the right track!

Probably not worth the effort trying to fit the built-in valve, so that leaves the exposed or digital.

I'm looking at the Mira Excel (expsed valve) or Platinum (digital). Any thoughts as to which would be a better bet. I'm worried the digital showers look a bit flashy!

Is it easy to hook up the digitals to the lighting circuit? Any tips?!

Thanks again.

anotherbaldrick

At the expense of loosing a couple of inches of space you could dummy out the wall with timber battens and plasterboard to hide the pipes and contain the body of the mixer. Tile over to finish.

diable

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

At the expense of loosing a couple of inches of space you could dummy out the wall with timber battens and plasterboard to hide the pipes and contain the body of the mixer. Tile over to finish.

It may not be practical if the end of the bath doesn't have a large lip.

TDS_2

Yeah, thanks for adding the false wall option. I did think about the false wall, but the bath would come right up to the wall, so the wall would overhang the lip.

With regards to the digital mixers...are they recommended at all, or are they asking for trouble. Sorry to keep banging on about it!

TDS_2

So I think I've settled on the Mira Platinum for the shower...blimey, what a minefield!

With regards to the bath taps...can I use the above shower with one of those fancy overflow fillers? I understand that Mira do one, but they say it requires a diverter valve, which presumably switches the mixed output from the thermo valve to either the shower head of the overflow filler. Is this correct? Can I use such a filler with such a shower.

Blimey, I thought picking the taps would be the easy bit!

Canucklehead

TDS wrote: »

Just bought my first house (so still only a novice DIYer!)

We’re planning to replace the entire bathroom and will be installing a shower above the bath (currently no shower). Since there’s a window at one end of the bath, we’re forced to place the shower at the other end. As it happens, the combi boiler is in a cupboard at the other end of the bath, so it makes all the pipe-work rather straightforward.

Hi,
You have no need for a digital shower at all.

As an example the Mira Element is a neat shower mixer and can be fitted either way.
The cheapest method would be to surface fit, drill holes for hot and cold into the cupboard and connect to combi hot and mains cold.

If you really want to lose the valve then make a hole in the wall and fit a piece of ply or similar to the inside of the cupboard and fit the mixer to that. Space the mixer off the ply to get the depth right. Drill through for the wall outlet. Make good and tile. All pipework is in the cupboard.

A lighting circuit is exactly that, a LIGHTING CIRCUIT, do not use it to run a shower processor pack or shower pump.


GSR

Edit.

The Mira Element is sold as a shower package. As you have a combi you only need the processor pack as a thermostat.
I'm sure you could modify it to do what you want but that's not what it's for.

TDS_2

Thanks for your post. The shower in your link is certainly an option, it's just that we'd rather not have the valve exposed.

I'm not particularly fussed about digital, but the benefit of the Mira Platinum is that the valve isn't physically connected to the controller meaning it can be entirely hidden in the boiler cupboard. Built in would do the same job, but would require some rejigging of the wall to swallow the valve. Not sure how easy that would be.