Choosing a Shower System

stattman

Hi,

I'm looking to completely change my 80's bathroom
And I've been advised to look at Mira or Aqualisa thermostatic
Showers (over the bath).

Ones which look good are the ones with the deluge head with a secondary
Head on a flexible hose (diverter).

A friend suggested grohe.

I wonder if anyone can share their opinions on choosing a particular brand? For quality, ease of getting new parts,
Durability etc.

Thank you!

Regards
Mark.

har0ld

The key thing to consider is what type of hot water system do you have?
Vented (unpressurised) or unvented (pressurised).
If unpressurised - do you want a pump? or would you like one that works from a gravity supply?
If pressurised how much water does your system produce (litres/min) as this will determine the size of the shower head (high pressure does not necessarily mean high volume!!)

There is a lot to ask besides this.

As a general rule: if you want a gravity fed shower only Aqualisa will do - they specialise in this area.
For almost any other situation (pressurised/pumped) my general rule is to buy German (eg. Ideal-Standard, Grohe or Hansgrohe) Again this is less important these days as all valves and kits come out of the same factories in China.

NB, Big shower heads usually mean big water volume and big bills - smaller shower heads can give more pressure and less volume and hence smaller bills (or longer showers!!)

keystone

har0ld wrote: »

NB, Big shower heads usually mean big water volume and big bills - smaller shower heads can give more pressure and less volume and hence smaller bills (or longer showers!!)

Cannot stress this more. Rainhead showers use vast quantities of water. As above you need to start from first principles - what is your current system configuration for hot and cold supplies?

Cheers

daggy

We've just had a Mira Excel installed and it's pretty good... also, if you have children,it comes with a max temp stop, there is an override button if you do want a hotter shower. If you want to bling it up, you could go for a digital control system

Make sure you tests the temperature (past the temperature stop button) when it's installed, it is fairly hot, but I like an exceptionally hot shower. I'm told this is quite easy to adjust, but it would have been even easier had I got the installer to do it :P

stattman

Many Thanks for your advice. It's unvented and I agree in these days I'm eco friendly, I'm on a water metre so every drop counts!

)