Shower system

tempUsername2707

Can anybody recommend a good shower system that works well with a combi boiler and gives good all round pressure. There are huge range of prices and I want good quality providing its worth it?

dogshome

With a Combi boiler the water pressure at the shower rose is controlled by the pressure of the water coming in from the water main into the house - The quality/price of the shower valve makes no difference - Ask the plumber who will fit the shower to test the mains pressure to get  an answer

Martin_the_Unjust

A simple way to test your water pressure yourself, it'll be roughly accurate enough for your needs
1. Get a 1-2 litre jug and a timer.
2. Set the timer to 6 seconds and run your water on full into the jug, stopping it when the 6 seconds is up. 
3. Now multiply the volume of water in litres (eg 0.5 litres) by 10. This will give you your flow rate in litres per minute – ie 0.5 litres in 6 seconds equals 5 litres per minute.

Anything less than 10 litres per minute is considered low. 10 – 15 litres per minute is ok but could potentially be improved. 15+ litres per minute is considered good

If you have over about 15 ish litres per minute the flow from your combi boiler for your shower should be fine. 

Cardew

Agree with the above.

However having good mains water pressure does not ensure a high pressure WARM shower. The 'achilles heel' of a combi is the inability to heat sufficient water - particularly in winter.

matelodave

I've got an Aqualisa Quartz electronic shower mixer fitted with a 6lpm (litres per minute) flow restricter feeding an eco Camel shower head which gives a reasonable shower and doesn't waste gallons of water. (we replaced the Aqualisa shower head with the ecoCamel as we had experience on them with our caravan and on a cruise)

Bear in mind that a 10 minute shower at 6lpm will use 60 litres but at 10lpm it will be 100litres and at 15lpm you'll be using two bathtubs full so you need to take into account the cost of water (if you are on a meter) and the cost of heating the water.