Concealed shower valves

[fourstardan]

Im looking for a reliable mixer valve for shower/bath/hand shower.

I dont like the Look of grohe three way it looks funny with the three images on.

I like the bristan prism PM2 that is servicable from the front. The instructions are very good too for mr idiot fsd.

Any reviews out there or recommendations?

[curvature]

I supply sanitary ware in to commercial projects and would pick Grohe over Bristan.

If you go into most chain hotels they all use Grohe or Hansgrohe for a reason. It is good quality and will last.

At home I have mix of Grohe shower valves, Grohe taps and Ideal Standard / Armitage Shanks sanitary ware.

Grohe have their own Amazon shop.

[Car bon]

I've got a couple of Hansgrohe ones & they have been faultless.

It may be obvious, but I mounted them at the entrance to the showers rather than underneath the heads.

[worsy]

We have Bristan frenzy. Nice an easy to replace, have just replaced ours after 13 years of daily x2 use.

Edited to say - it is not concealed, but think long and hard about having something that requires tiles replaced to service it.

[Rosscow]

We went for Vado 7 years ago and they've been faultless.

https://www.vado.com/tablet-knurled-accents-chrome...

[skilly1]

I fitted crosswater. Good quality and better look and feel for my taste.

[Car bon]

worsy said:

.... think long and hard about having something that requires tiles replaced to service it.

Hansgrohe (& Grohe & probably others) use a back box that is standard across their range & everything serviceable / replaceable from the front.

https://www.hansgrohe-usa.com/bath/planning/instal...

[ATG]

We had a concealed bristan thermostatic shower valve and it was OK. It is indeed serviceable from the front so you don't have to demolish your wall to get at it, but the retaining nut was a right pain in the arse to turn to let you actually withdraw the cartridge. Our div builders ran its supply in a cold solid external wall behind the internal insulation, so the bloody thing froze and burst a few years ago. We replumbed the shower with a surface mounted valve and supply to avoid the risk of freezing, and frankly it looks absolutely fine. If you're desperate for space, concealed is better. Aesthetically it's up for grabs. Concealed is a bit more minimalist. Surface can look just as smart, but more traditional.

Edited by ATG on Monday 15th December 16:58

[Car bon]

For me, the advantage with concealed was to be able to locate it remotely and not directly under the shower head. I know it's not a huge issue to get your arm wet with cold water when switching it on, but I'd rather not.

[PRO5T]

Plumber and property developer. I only fit Grohe in my developments and in my own house.

[miroku1]

People get confused with grohe and hans grohe , they ok , Vado are superior without question, installed all , Vado by a country mile

[fourstardan]

I've had a quote from City Plumbing and they've suggested in the quote the Crossover option and I wasn't sure, I've just watched a full plumbers parts do an install of one and may change my mind on this.

I've got a side wall to the shower thats breeze but get panic stricken about pipe issues and homing it there. It also means much more pipe work required than if I do it all at the front off the shower and get my arm wet.

[skilly1]

fourstardan said:

I've had a quote from City Plumbing and they've suggested in the quote the Crossover option and I wasn't sure, I've just watched a full plumbers parts do an install of one and may change my mind on this.

I've got a side wall to the shower thats breeze but get panic stricken about pipe issues and homing it there. It also means much more pipe work required than if I do it all at the front off the shower and get my arm wet.

This was my bodge - first time at doing a bathroom ! Turned out ok.

[JJ55]

skilly1 said:

This was my bodge - first time at doing a bathroom ! Turned out ok.

Really like that. Are the walls wood effect tiles?

[skilly1]

Yes - here s a better pic

Edited by skilly1 on Monday 15th December 21:27

[fourstardan]

I've had a quote from City Plumbing and they've suggested in the quote the Crossover option and I wasn't sure, I've just watched a full plumbers parts do an install of one and may change my mind on this.

I've got a side wall to the shower thats breeze but get panic stricken about pipe issues and homing it there. It also means much more pipe work required than if I do it all at the front off the shower and get my arm wet.

[fourstardan]

skilly1 said:

This was my bodge - first time at doing a bathroom ! Turned out ok.

Well done.

I'm moving more towards the idea of push fit for plumbing mains in.

Any problems with it?

[skilly1]

fourstardan said:

Well done.

I'm moving more towards the idea of push fit for plumbing mains in.

Any problems with it?

All fine once i realised i would have to put 90 degree elbows in and not try and run the pipe without them. I would probably buy straight pipe lengths rather than the roll as it’s so hard to manipulate bent plastic pipe.
I also ran 22mm pipe from the pump and reduced to 15mm at the mixer. Got great flow now!

[scot_aln]

As long as you use clips then the huge advantage of the roll though is that you can minimise the number of joins. In a bathroom though I'd not imagine you'd be having need for single runs over 3 metres anyway.

[Ledaig]

I'll kick off by stating that I'm no plumber, but having just fitted a new shower, I've finally got around to fitting one of these:

Valve

The good point as made by someone above, is that it is fully serviceable from the front. We've also had this sitting around for about 18 months - started thinking about the shower but didn't get around to it until now.
Still works great, which is surprising as I thought the seals may have not taken kindly to just sitting in a box in one position!
As for long term reliability, ask me in a year

It's not as difficult as some may think to fit.

When installing into the block , I simply took the depth of the batten+shower wall panel from the required depth, and then hacked out the wall to the appropriate depth.
This was naturally a touch rough, so I took a rectangle of ply, put six holes into it and then placed in position where the valve needed to go. I then drilled the wall and inserted Rawlplugs. I could then use the plugs to set the exact position of the ply by pushing them in, or pulling them out a little.
Once the plugs were set at the correct depth, I back filled the hole to flush with the plugs using Toupret filller, then inserted the ply and filled a little more around the edges. Then screwed this into place the following morning once set

End result, a nice flat surface to mount the valve to. Couple of pic's below, unfortunately these are not the greatest quality as I wasn't concentrating on the valve itself.