Recommended shower makes / setup for three outputs.
Discussion
I don't really see the point of the shower one as running the perfect shower takes a few seconds for it to warm up and then you step into it.
The bath filler is great though and thanks for the suggestion. Run the bath from elsewhere in the house and get notified when it's ready for you with no wandering upstairs etc or overflowing danger. Especially useful for getting children's bath time ready whilst doing other stuff.
Will fit these to ours and family bathroom at refurb stage I think! Or at least have a power supply laid in so that we can do so when the early reliability issues have been solved.
The bath filler is great though and thanks for the suggestion. Run the bath from elsewhere in the house and get notified when it's ready for you with no wandering upstairs etc or overflowing danger. Especially useful for getting children's bath time ready whilst doing other stuff.
Will fit these to ours and family bathroom at refurb stage I think! Or at least have a power supply laid in so that we can do so when the early reliability issues have been solved.
I'm fitting a Mira Mode in our ensuite at the moment, seems very good so far and quite reasonably priced. You do have to run cables for the temperature control and external on/off button (not an issue for us as I was re-boarding the entire room). You can't adjust the flow rate whilst showering with the Mode like you can with the other Mira digital showers. But you do get a lovely small simple set of controls. My in-laws have the 'Vision' from Mira, the control is a bit cheap and bulbous in comparison. I've got the pumped model and it's super quiet compared to the old shower pump that we had.
I had one issue with a bezel missing in the box, Mira sent out a replacement bezel and entire control unit the very next day.
I had one issue with a bezel missing in the box, Mira sent out a replacement bezel and entire control unit the very next day.
Pheo said:
Some great tips here all. We are on HP so have many options!!
I take it overall people don't rate the digital stuff on reliability?
Aqualisa or Mira digital is fine and are actually more reliable than thermostatic valves particularly in a hard water area. They are simpler to install, have much better temperature accuracy and have more accessible pipework than conventional showers. Prices can be high, but if you need a pump as well then they are definitely a good buy.I take it overall people don't rate the digital stuff on reliability?
I'm planning a bathroom with a similar setup, looking for a three-way control that will control the overhead shower, handheld shower and bath overflow filler.
This is my top pick at the moment:
https://www.grohe.co.uk/en_gb/grohtherm-smartcontr...
It can be had for less than £400. I'm sure it's probably overpriced but I've heard nothing but good things about the brand.
Hansgrohe also do a similar one, but for the 3-way one you need a separate temperature control, which is more money and doesn't look as clean:
http://www.hansgrohe.co.uk/articledetail-showersel...
This is my top pick at the moment:
https://www.grohe.co.uk/en_gb/grohtherm-smartcontr...
It can be had for less than £400. I'm sure it's probably overpriced but I've heard nothing but good things about the brand.
Hansgrohe also do a similar one, but for the 3-way one you need a separate temperature control, which is more money and doesn't look as clean:
http://www.hansgrohe.co.uk/articledetail-showersel...
Nath911t said:
In the space of 6 years I've had 4 control boxes replaced by Aqualisa. Terrible customer services and wanting £200 or £300 to replace the box each time claiming it has no serviceable parts. Dripping shower head is a common problem with them.
A dripping shower head when turned off is common with all fixed overheads manual or digital as they hold water and not a problem with the control unit. Best to tilt them slightly so it runs out faster. What model was it?Edited by IJB1959 on Tuesday 22 August 09:51
XJ75 said:
I'm planning a bathroom with a similar setup, looking for a three-way control that will control the overhead shower, handheld shower and bath overflow filler.
This is my top pick at the moment:
https://www.grohe.co.uk/en_gb/grohtherm-smartcontr...
It can be had for less than £400. I'm sure it's probably overpriced but I've heard nothing but good things about the brand.
Hansgrohe also do a similar one, but for the 3-way one you need a separate temperature control, which is more money and doesn't look as clean:
http://www.hansgrohe.co.uk/articledetail-showersel...
The Grohtherm is a nice neat control and very easy to use. At £400.00 its a very good buy as they retail for over £500.00.This is my top pick at the moment:
https://www.grohe.co.uk/en_gb/grohtherm-smartcontr...
It can be had for less than £400. I'm sure it's probably overpriced but I've heard nothing but good things about the brand.
Hansgrohe also do a similar one, but for the 3-way one you need a separate temperature control, which is more money and doesn't look as clean:
http://www.hansgrohe.co.uk/articledetail-showersel...
IJB1959 said:
Aqualisa or Mira digital is fine and are actually more reliable than thermostatic valves particularly in a hard water area. They are simpler to install, have much better temperature accuracy and have more accessible pipework than conventional showers. Prices can be high, but if you need a pump as well then they are definitely a good buy.
IJB - is this really the case? If so, I may consider them, as we have a hard water area (London) and are doing four full bathrooms (and two WCs), including electrical work, and reliability is a priority for me here...Brand new CH system with twin unvented tanks (no idea why - seems like overkill, but that's what the prior owners put in; they only got halfway through a renovation and have spent a fortune)
Harry Flashman said:
IJB - is this really the case? If so, I may consider them, as we have a hard water area (London) and are doing four full bathrooms (and two WCs), including electrical work, and reliability is a priority for me here...
Brand new CH system with twin unvented tanks (no idea why - seems like overkill, but that's what the prior owners put in; they only got halfway through a renovation and have spent a fortune)
From experience and customer feedback, the Aqualisa quartz digital has come out on top. We sell 50/50 digital and manual, with thermostatic manual valves having greater issues with hard water. Aqualisa now have the new Q smart range which personally I would now go for. Use the config here and select the HP/combi option in the dropdown; https://www.aqualisa.co.uk/qBrand new CH system with twin unvented tanks (no idea why - seems like overkill, but that's what the prior owners put in; they only got halfway through a renovation and have spent a fortune)
We have Aqualisa digital bath filler with a diverter valve to a wall mounted shower. You can spend money on a nice head and a neat overflow/filler for the bath and the Aqualisa stuff stays hidden out of the way. It's lasted nine years with daily use, and failed once. The good news is there's a bloke who does repairs (on Ebay) who you can send old units to, and he'll fix them at a very good price. The bath filler is a godsend and it runs a perfectly good shower.
We also have Grohe digital stuff - again, spend the money on a good ceiling mounted head and the control stuff stays out the way. The one 'killer feature' of the Grohe (over say the Mira) is that it beeps when the shower is ready. It's a small thing, but once you're used to it
Now the Grohe stuff was much more expensive than the Aqualisa kit - but it's been less reliable, and Grohe no longer support it. At all. No spares, no service and no bloke on the internet who can fix them. The failure modes were pretty painful too - one blown circuit board, and one subtle but continuous leak (in a control unit that's hidden out of the way, so the first thing you know is when the months of water damage start growing mushrooms).
If you do go for digital, I'd strongly recommend putting in duct work to carry control cables to the relevant places in your bathroom. Wireless kit seems to have gone out of favour, and instead you have to pull cables through. If you have a failure (which from experience happens well within the normal lifetime of a bathroom suite) you don't want to have to dig out miles of tiles and grouting to swap cables over for a new controller unit.
Also keep in mind that you can mix and match - our Grohe set runs through a Mira shower head that looks the business but cost significantly less than the so called 'premium' brands. If you check how much brass is in the fitting rather than plastic you can get a good idea of how well it will last. Also avoid any 'cool new features' as some stuff will date your bathroom really badly.
We also have Grohe digital stuff - again, spend the money on a good ceiling mounted head and the control stuff stays out the way. The one 'killer feature' of the Grohe (over say the Mira) is that it beeps when the shower is ready. It's a small thing, but once you're used to it
Now the Grohe stuff was much more expensive than the Aqualisa kit - but it's been less reliable, and Grohe no longer support it. At all. No spares, no service and no bloke on the internet who can fix them. The failure modes were pretty painful too - one blown circuit board, and one subtle but continuous leak (in a control unit that's hidden out of the way, so the first thing you know is when the months of water damage start growing mushrooms).If you do go for digital, I'd strongly recommend putting in duct work to carry control cables to the relevant places in your bathroom. Wireless kit seems to have gone out of favour, and instead you have to pull cables through. If you have a failure (which from experience happens well within the normal lifetime of a bathroom suite) you don't want to have to dig out miles of tiles and grouting to swap cables over for a new controller unit.
Also keep in mind that you can mix and match - our Grohe set runs through a Mira shower head that looks the business but cost significantly less than the so called 'premium' brands. If you check how much brass is in the fitting rather than plastic you can get a good idea of how well it will last. Also avoid any 'cool new features' as some stuff will date your bathroom really badly.
Tuna said:
We have Aqualisa digital bath filler with a diverter valve to a wall mounted shower. You can spend money on a nice head and a neat overflow/filler for the bath and the Aqualisa stuff stays hidden out of the way. It's lasted nine years with daily use, and failed once. The good news is there's a bloke who does repairs (on Ebay) who you can send old units to, and he'll fix them at a very good price. The bath filler is a godsend and it runs a perfectly good shower.
We also have Grohe digital stuff - again, spend the money on a good ceiling mounted head and the control stuff stays out the way. The one 'killer feature' of the Grohe (over say the Mira) is that it beeps when the shower is ready. It's a small thing, but once you're used to it Now the Grohe stuff was much more expensive than the Aqualisa kit - but it's been less reliable, and Grohe no longer support it. At all. No spares, no service and no bloke on the internet who can fix them. The failure modes were pretty painful too - one blown circuit board, and one subtle but continuous leak (in a control unit that's hidden out of the way, so the first thing you know is when the months of water damage start growing mushrooms).
If you do go for digital, I'd strongly recommend putting in duct work to carry control cables to the relevant places in your bathroom. Wireless kit seems to have gone out of favour, and instead you have to pull cables through. If you have a failure (which from experience happens well within the normal lifetime of a bathroom suite) you don't want to have to dig out miles of tiles and grouting to swap cables over for a new controller unit.
Also keep in mind that you can mix and match - our Grohe set runs through a Mira shower head that looks the business but cost significantly less than the so called 'premium' brands. If you check how much brass is in the fitting rather than plastic you can get a good idea of how well it will last. Also avoid any 'cool new features' as some stuff will date your bathroom really badly.
Yes, never bury the digital cables in the wall. Use 22mm Speedfit or plastic overflow pipe, and attach a long strong draw string first if removing & replacing. Chromed plastic fixed heads (not the arm which always should be brass) is not necessarily to be seen as cheap or bad provided they are well made and therefore from a reputable manufacturer and will last for years, but brass will be a more durable option. Cheap Chinese imports sold online have given us this impression as they fail quickly at the joints, and the chrome can start to peel on edges in some places.We also have Grohe digital stuff - again, spend the money on a good ceiling mounted head and the control stuff stays out the way. The one 'killer feature' of the Grohe (over say the Mira) is that it beeps when the shower is ready. It's a small thing, but once you're used to it
Now the Grohe stuff was much more expensive than the Aqualisa kit - but it's been less reliable, and Grohe no longer support it. At all. No spares, no service and no bloke on the internet who can fix them. The failure modes were pretty painful too - one blown circuit board, and one subtle but continuous leak (in a control unit that's hidden out of the way, so the first thing you know is when the months of water damage start growing mushrooms).If you do go for digital, I'd strongly recommend putting in duct work to carry control cables to the relevant places in your bathroom. Wireless kit seems to have gone out of favour, and instead you have to pull cables through. If you have a failure (which from experience happens well within the normal lifetime of a bathroom suite) you don't want to have to dig out miles of tiles and grouting to swap cables over for a new controller unit.
Also keep in mind that you can mix and match - our Grohe set runs through a Mira shower head that looks the business but cost significantly less than the so called 'premium' brands. If you check how much brass is in the fitting rather than plastic you can get a good idea of how well it will last. Also avoid any 'cool new features' as some stuff will date your bathroom really badly.
Edited by IJB1959 on Tuesday 22 August 14:50
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff