Bath mixer shower

neilmcl

I'm thinking of replacing the taps in my bathroom looking to change the separate bath taps for a deck mounted mixer shower, mainly because I have an electric shower which I don't think will last that much longer and this time of year it isn't that great.

I can't make my mind up whether to get a standard mixer or a thermostatic one, I've heard that whilst the thermostatic mixers are great for showers they're not that brilliant for drawing a nice hot bath. Any thoughts?

Also I have a large bore flexi connector attached to my hot bath tap (not sure of the size but it's bigger than the one on the cold tap), a throwback to my old system boiler, but I've since had a combi installed. Can I still reuse this connector or will I have to replace it for the standard size so that both hot and cold feeds are the same?

Jeepers_Creepers

Thermostatic makes sense in almost every case, definitely when it comes to showers - or else you'll freeze/scald whenever anyone else runs a tap/flushes a loo.

But I have also read about thermostatically-controlled bath fills being a bit lame. This will likwly be compounded by the fact that a combi won't fill your bath as fast as a traditional gravity system, so an acceptable 40oC water flow could soon become a rather chilly 35 or below bath temp by the time it's deep enough to cover your knees.

Do some research and find one that doesn't have this problem. Many mixers have, at least, an override even for the shower part - you press a wee button and it'll allow you to go 'ouch'.

As for the flexi, provided it's still in good order inside (which you can't see), it'll be fine. Combis only require 15mm pipes, so anything larger than that won't hold it back.

Doozergirl

Have you thought about keeping the the bath tap separate and introducing a thermostatic shower?  A bit like what you have now, replacing the electric with a thermostatic shower.  

We had an exposed shower valve over the bath in our last house.  Best of both worlds.   

coffeehound

If not fitting a separate shower, I s'pose it's down to whether you'll be taking baths much and whether you'll go back to the electric shower in warmer months.  Combis definitely work better through a thermostatic shower as they are so variable in temperature output, IME

neilmcl

Doozergirl said:

Have you thought about keeping the the bath tap separate and introducing a thermostatic shower?  A bit like what you have now, replacing the electric with a thermostatic shower.  

We had an exposed shower valve over the bath in our last house.  Best of both worlds.   

The way the current pipework is if I did that I may as well start redoing the whole bathroom, which I don't really want to do nor can afford at the moment. This is more of a stop gap situation until I can have a complete redesign.

neilmcl

coffeehound said:

If not fitting a separate shower, I s'pose it's down to whether you'll be taking baths much and whether you'll go back to the electric shower in warmer months.  Combis definitely work better through a thermostatic shower as they are so variable in temperature output, IME

I quite like a good soak in a bath every now and then so I wouldn't want to do without it and tbh the electric shower is unlikely to last much anyway. I want to replace the bath and basin taps anyway as they're getting a bit old and if I don't get a shower mixer then I'd end up replacing the electric shower with a new one at some point and I think it's only an 8.5kw one and I don't think I can upgrade to a higher powered one.

Norman_Castle

Since fitting one 4/5 years ago I haven't had a bath but I have over ridden the 38 degree safety setting to fill a bucket to wash something, the water was almost too hot to put my hands in and they ended up glowing red, too hot for a bath.  

Rosa_Damascena

Norman_Castle said:

Since fitting one 4/5 years ago I haven't had a bath but I have over ridden the 38 degree safety setting to fill a bucket to wash something, the water was almost too hot to put my hands in and they ended up glowing red, too hot for a bath.  

40 degrees is temperate enough for comfortable  handwashing, a 20 min burst at 60 degrees is good enough for a nice hot bath.

Jeepers_Creepers

Norman_Castle said:

Since fitting one 4/5 years ago I haven't had a bath but I have over ridden the 38 degree safety setting to fill a bucket to wash something, the water was almost too hot to put my hands in and they ended up glowing red, too hot for a bath.  

That's a bath/shower mixer which has override on the temp? So they exist? That's what Neil needs :-)