Choosing a shower
The type of shower that can be installed depends in part on your household water system. Where hot and cold water are both supplied from storage tanks at equal pressure, a mixer shower is the most economical option. Many showers are designed to cope with differing water pressures, such as stored hot water and cold mains water. If you connect mains water to a shower, you must fit a double seal check valve on the mains supply pipe to prevent back siphonage. Some showers come with built-in check valves. Specially designed systems are required when hot water is to be supplied from the mains via a multipoint heater or combination boiler: check the installation requirements with the shower manufacturer.
Shower Accessories - shower mixers and also bath mixers
Shower accessories are an important feature of any shower, from the shower head to the valve. These shower accessories give the finishing and defining touches to your shouwer. A shower spray combined with a bath mixer tap provides a shower for little more than the cost of the bath taps, and no extra plumbing is involved. The temperature is controlled through the bath taps, which may not be convenient, and will be affected by water being drawn off elsewhere in the home.
Power shower
An all-in-one shower which incorporates a powerful electric pump that boosts the rate that hot and cold water are supplied to the shower head from the storage cistern and the hot water cylinder. A power shower is unsuitable where water is supplied from a combination boiler under mains pressure. Removing waste water from a power shower fast enough can be a problem. The shower tray must cope with around 27 litres a minute, so it is probably worth fitting a 50mm waste pipe.
Safety Warning - A showerhead on a hose must be fed through a retaining ring on the wall of the shower. This prevents the showerhead hanging in standing water in the bath or shower tray beneath and avoids potential contamination of the mains supply.
Wetrooms - A wetroom consists of a WC, basin and shower area. No shower tray or shower enclosure is fitted and water drains through a central drain set in a sloping floor, so the whole room must be waterproofed. This is not a bathroom DIY job. Wetrooms may have a powerful thermostatic mixer shower and body jets or a shower tower.
A wall unit plumbed in to a mains cold water supply, and heated by an electric element. The controls allow either less water at a higher temperature or more at a lower temperature, so the spray is weaker in winter when mains water is colder. Some models have a winter/summer setting. Designs fitted with a temperature stabiliser cannot run too hot or be affected by other taps in use. The unit must be wired to an electric power supply meeting Wiring Regulations requirements. This type of shower can be installed where a shower mixer would be illegal. Where mains water pressure is too low, a tank-fed pumped electric shower is available.
Manual and thermostatic mixers
These are wall units with hot and cold water supplies linked to a single valve. In a manual mixer, temperature and volume are controlled by one dial or separately. Thermostatic mixers are more expensive. Their temperature control has a built-in stabiliser so water cannot run too hot or too cold. Computerised models have a control panel to programme temperature and flow rates and can store the data for each user. Provided water is not supplied from a combination boiler under mains pressure, this type of shower can be linked to a pump to give power shower performance.
Shower tower
A wall unit that incorporates a thermostatic mixer shower with a number of adjustable body jets. Tower units also have a fixed shower head and a hand-held spray, and may be designed to fit into a corner or on a flat wall. Some can be installed over a bath while others are made for cubicles or wet rooms. Most require a minimum ceiling height of 2.2m. A pump is usually needed to boost water pressure.
Shower Fittings
Spray roses Showerheads - may be fixed or part of a handset on a flexible hose. The simplest have a single spray; multi-spray showerheads offer a choice of spray patterns selected by rotating the outer ring on the rose. Large diameter single spray showerheads offering a rain-style shower are also available.
Shower trays - GRP-reinforced acrylic shower trays are light to handle and not easily damaged. A reconstituted stone or resin shower tray is heavy, stable and durable, but the floor must be level before it is installed. Shower trays come in sizes from 700mm square and are usually 110-185mm high; low level 35mm trays are available for `walk-in' showers. Quarter circle and pentangle shower trays help to save space.
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