Question about putting in a new shower

My bf and I are buying a house that needs quite a bit of refurbishment. One thing we want to do in the bathroom is rip out the old tub and put in a new shower. Does anyone have a recommendation of somewhere good to buy a shower (enclosure)? Economy is the word of the day, although size does matter. We want a big(gish) one!

Is it best to get one from one of the discount bath supplier places and then hire our own local plumber? Or is it better to get one from a firm which will do the whole job - installation, plumbing, etc.? We do very limited DIY and plumbing in a new shower is definitely beyond our capabilities.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Chary,

I'm right in the middle of extending a brick outhouse in our garden we built back in 95ish. Combination of really needing some extra space and loft conversion and adding a 1st floor rear extension over the current ground extension proving beyond our budget.

So, we've engaged our builder, and he's given us a figure for the labour only. All materials we are supplying and ..  we've bought pretty much all of it off ebay!
Before you scoff - how about a brand new £300 designer sink for ......    £3.50 ! an ex display kitchen worth £1800 for ..   £150! and the shower enclosure was worth around £399 excluding the base and was picked up for ...... £11 !! - although the delivery of it was £50 a total of around £61 for a brand new, boxed metal framed, glass quadrant style shower enclosure is a total bargain!

If you can, set yourself some 'serious' ebay time - as quite alot of this kind of stuff does get auctioned off quite regularly.

Also, do you know what kind of shower you want installed? if you have the traditional gravity fed system - then look out for the Aqualisa Quartz range of showers with a pump - we had one and it was quite simply awesome - we've now changed to a Combi style systems and the pressure just isnt the same.

So overall, if you get some quotes from numerous local plumbers, see what you they come up with for supplying the items yourself ie just their labour charge, to a complete install including labour etc and comapare the prices. Haggle hard as nowadays building work and construction have been hit quite hard and they're all looking for work!! as an example - at my rental flat one of the storage heaters packed up and I wanted it checked before buying another one, local electrician quoted £83+VAT for an hour callout - so i told them I'm not interested, they called back later that afternoon saying they could do a 'special' for £80 inc VAT - so I said nope, all I want is for someone to stick their multimeter on two contacts and possibly re-set a thermal switch - and im not paying £80 for that. Next day they rang back again saying they'll do it for £75 inc VAT - SO i said 'I'll give you £50 and I'll see the electrician in an hour at my flat - it worked, so a 50% reduction in their charges, got the unit looked at and it was faulty and as I had him for the hour, swapped over another bathroom fan heater as well.

Hope the above helps a bit!
Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

All materials we are supplying and ..  we've bought pretty much all of it off ebay!
Before you scoff - how about a brand new £300 designer sink for ......    £3.50 ! an ex display kitchen worth £1800 for ..   £150! and the shower enclosure was worth around £399 excluding the base and was picked up for ...... £11 !! - although the delivery of it was £50 a total of around £61 for a brand new, boxed metal framed, glass quadrant style shower enclosure is a total bargain!

That's great advice! I hadn't thought of eBay. I'll definitely have a look and see what I can find.

Also, do you know what kind of shower you want installed? if you have the traditional gravity fed system - then look out for the Aqualisa Quartz range of showers with a pump - we had one and it was quite simply awesome - we've now changed to a Combi style systems and the pressure just isnt the same.

No, we don't really know what kind we want. We're new to this! And, to be honest, I don't even know what the traditional gravity fed system is. Oh, dear. Why did he put me in charge of the shower project??

So overall, if you get some quotes from numerous local plumbers, see what you they come up with for supplying the items yourself ie just their labour charge, to a complete install including labour etc and comapare the prices. Haggle hard as nowadays building work and construction have been hit quite hard and they're all looking for work!!

That sounds like a good plan.

Thank you, Dennis! 

And, to be honest, I don't even know what the traditional gravity fed system is.

It's the arrangement where you have a large cold water tank in the attic which feeds most of the outlets around the house.  The tank is kept topped up from the supply by a ballvalve arrangement, similar to the type in your toilet's cistern.  Cold water is drawn from near the bottom of the tank to most of the cold outlets in the house, and to feed the hot water cylinder.   (The cold tap at the kitchen sink is normally fed directly from the incoming water supply to provide fresh drinking water.)

The result of the traditional system is that the pressure at outlets is dependent solely upon the head of water in the tank in the roof, and is thus considerably lower than for a tap connected directly to the mains supply.

If gravity alone doesn't provide sufficient flow for a shower head with the traditional system, you can add a pump to increase the pressure.

Are you planning on leaving the bathtub at all?

I don't know how to explain this, but Tim's shower is turned on from a switch, and then it has dials that control the water temperature.  We've been thinking about moving this over the tub and installing a shower curtain around the tub so the shower would be bigger instead of completely ripping apart the bathroom to re-do the shower (the wall caved in at the shower stall, so for about half my visit, we couldn't even use the shower an had to take baths!).

Are you planning on leaving the bathtub at all?

I don't know how to explain this, but Tim's shower is turned on from a switch, and then it has dials that control the water temperature.  We've been thinking about moving this over the tub and installing a shower curtain around the tub so the shower would be bigger instead of completely ripping apart the bathroom to re-do the shower (the wall caved in at the shower stall, so for about half my visit, we couldn't even use the shower an had to take baths!).

This sounds a bit like Steve's shower. In his house you pull a cord in the bathroom to switch on the shower and the ventilation for it, and you use the dials on the actual shower unit to control the temperature and all that loveliness. I remember standing there staring at it when he first moved in since his old house didn't have it; he then had to come upstairs and show me and I got all embarrassed since I had never seen it before 

If gravity alone doesn't provide sufficient flow for a shower head with the traditional system, you can add a pump to increase the pressure.

Thanks, Paul. So, does this mean that the two possible systems are: 1) the traditional gravity system; or 2) a system whereby it's connected directly into the mains?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm trying to get a handle on all this before I start asking for plumbing quotes.

I'm not actually sure what the set-up is at the house, but I'll see if my bf does when he gets home from work.

Are you planning on leaving the bathtub at all?

No.

ah, okay. When Tim and I were in B&Q I saw some really nice shower stalls that were longer than the traditional ones.  I kept wishing there was room for one in Tim's bathroom!

Thanks, Paul. So, does this mean that the two possible systems are: 1) the traditional gravity system; or 2) a system whereby it's connected directly into the mains?

Basically, yes, as far as your shower installation is concerned, although there are a number of variations in the detail and you can find hybrid systems, e.g. the tank in the attic feeds just the hot-water system while all the cold taps throughout the house are direct from the high-pressure mains supply. 

Sometimes there is a combination hot-water cylinder & cold-water header tank for the hot water while all the cold taps come directly from the supply.  That arrangement is quite common in apartments and other homes without sufficient roofspace, where the combination unit can be located in an airing cupboard or similar place.

Systems employing the modern "combi boiler" usually provide both cold & hot water at mains supply pressure.

The main issue as far as a shower with a conventional mixer arrangement is concerned is that both hot & cold feeds to it are of near-enough the same pressure.  So to cover the possibilities:

1.  Hot & cold from a traditional gravity fed system.  Hot & cold pressures will be equal, but may be insufficient to give a shower with some "punch" behind it.   This is where a booster pump will be beneficial.

2. Hot & cold through a "combi" unit, or where cold is otherwise direct from the supply and the hot system is pressurized.  Hot & cold pressures will be equal, and should be high enough to drive a conventional mixer shower adequately.

3. Cold direct from the supply, hot from a gravity-fed system.  Not suitable to feed a mixer shower tap directly due to the vastly different pressures.  Unless you're going to replace the hot-water system, options are either to run a new cold feed to the shower from the header tank, if possible, or to use a pressure balancing valve.  The latter can work only by reducing the pressure of the cold water to that of the hot, so you might end up with the same low-flow problem as with the full traditional system, but this time you can't get around it easily with a booster pump.

I don't know how to explain this, but Tim's shower is turned on from a switch, and then it has dials that control the water temperature. 

This sounds a bit like Steve's shower. In his house you pull a cord in the bathroom to switch on the shower and the ventilation for it, and you use the dials on the actual shower unit to control the temperature and all that loveliness.

These are almost certainly instantaneous electric showers, which are the other option.  They require only a single cold water feed, and heat the water as it passes through.  The cold supply needs to be at high pressure (direct from the supply usually), and the temperature is set by adjusting the flow rate (i.e. increase the flow for cooler, decrease the flow for warmer). 

Thanks again! There's no combi unit, so it's either option 1 or 3. I think we'll have to rig up something over there to test out the pressure before we know for sure. My bf is fairly sure we have option 3.

I mentioned a booster pump, but he's worried this will increase our consumption (and consequently our £££) significantly. Does it make that much difference? If so, we might have to look into getting an electric shower.

I think we'll have to rig up something over there to test out the pressure before we know for sure.

It's usually fairly easy to tell by a simple, low-tech method.  Turn on the bath taps to a moderate rate of flow, then try to block the flow by jamming your thumb firmly over the outlet.  With gravity feed, you can stop the flow quite easily.  If it's high pressure direct from the supply, you'll most likely just succeed in spraying water everywhere.  (Well, you wanted a shower anyway, right?  )

I mentioned a booster pump, but he's worried this will increase our consumption (and consequently our £££) significantly. Does it make that much difference? If so, we might have to look into getting an electric shower.

Electrical consumption or water consumption?  Either way, it's nothing to worry about.

The booster pump will increase water consumption by increasing the flow rate, but to no more than obtaining the same flow rate by connecting directly to the supply.

As far as electrical consumption is concerned, the pump will draw a few hundred watts at most.  The instantaneous heated electric showerss are anything from 7 to 11 kilowatts while running (nearer the higher end if you want truly hot water coupled with a decent flow rate).   No contest!

Obviously the instant electric shower is heating its own water and thus won't be using the hot water stored in your cylinder, but if you have plenty of hot water there anyway, it's not an issue and far more efficient to just let your existing boiler replenish it.

Bear in mind too that a pump can be powered easily on a spur from an existing circuit, whereas an instant electric shower will need its own dedicated branch circuit to cope with the high power (40 to 50 amps for the larger units).

Electrical consumption or water consumption?  Either way, it's nothing to worry about.

Sorry, he meant water consumption. I was used to not having a water meter in Wales, but everyone has one down here.

And now I'm going to let my bf read your post. I'm sorry to have to tell you, Paul, but it's really all Greek to me! 

And now I'm going to let my bf read your post. I'm sorry to have to tell you, Paul, but it's really all Greek to me! 

Just so long as it isn't Double Dutch!