Shower Installation Guide -Your Options for Installing a Shower

Article Written By: Kathryn Dawson

The first point to bear in mind, if you're thinking about shower installation, is that a shower is made of several parts - the hot water supply system, the cubicle that you stand in, the door, the tray that collects the used water and sends it down the drain, the shower head that emits the water and directs if over your body, and such items as the shower rail, curtains and hooks.

First, let's look at the hot water supply system of which there are three main types - electric showers, mixer showers, and power showers. Each type functions differently and has its own requirements for installation.

An electric shower is the simplest and most popular. It consists of a heater unit which draws cold water from your main supply, heats it up and passes it out through the shower head. Installing an electric shower is a simple procedure, you just need to install the shower unit in your bathroom, hook it up to your water supply and install the electrical wiring.

However, first you have to determine if your site fulfills all the requirements as regards the water and electricity supply. First, there's the matter of water pressure. Electric showers require a minimum running pressure requirement of one bar and static pressure requirement of ten bars. They also need a flowing rate of water of eight litres per minute and to connect to the main water supply, a pipe diameter of 15mm width is required. You can select power ratings from 7-5 KW to 10.0 KW. The higher the rating, the higher the flow.

Mixer showers work by mixing existing hot and cold water in a special valve before it gets to the shower head. You can get these types for both high and low pressure water supplies, and they can be either surface or flush mounted. In the former, the piping is installed on top of your existing surface and in the latter, you can see the valve but the pipework is hidden.

With mixer showers, both hot and cold water should come from a supply of the same pressure. If this is not the case, then a pressure balanced mixer valve can be put in to achieve the desired state.

One downside to using mixer showers is that they draw water from the same pipes as other household appliances. This means that should you flush the toilet or turn on a tap, the flow of water to the shower will be affected. This is more likely if you have a low pressure water supply.

One danger resulting from this is that if cold water is drawn off elsewhere, the water flowing out of the shower could get excessively hot. There are two ways to solve this problem. The first is to create an independent water supply for your mixer shower, and the second is to use thermostatic mixer showers. These contain a pre-set thermostat that can sense a major change in temperature and work to correct it.

Power showers are mixer showers with built in pumps to boost the flow from the shower head. These are only suitable for low pressure, tank-fed shower systems. Some restrictions apply. For one thing you need a dedicated hot and cold supply. Also, the cold water tank should be at least 50 gallons if it supplies many outlets. If used only for the shower, then 25 gallon tank is possible.

Having decided on your type of shower, you now have to consider the rules and regulations governing the installation of bathroom fixtures, plumbing and electrical devices. These change from time to time so in order to choose your system and carry out your shower installation, you'll need to hire a qualified tradesman who's up to date with these matters.

Once you've decided on your shower system, you can choose the other items such as shower head, cubicle, door and tray to suit the size and ambience of your bathroom.

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson - power showers and shower installation.

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