A decent shower-head for bath/shower mixer tap?

[Plumpcious]

Does such a thing exist? One that attaches to a hose integrated with the mixer tap - similar to this.

Just had a new bath/shower mixer tap installed and the shower-head provided with it is rubbish: a narrow spray and you have to stand almost over the plug hole to get any water on you. So what I'm looking for is a wider spray (probably not difficult as I've already seen some online) but more importantly one that projects the spray further into the bath.

Can anyone recommend one?

have you got a combi boiler or a hot-water cylinder? What colour is it?

Ooh, PigletJohn has replied to my post - I feel honoured!

We have a hot-water cylinder (don't know the colour as it's covered in pale yellow insulating foam - or is that what you mean?) and a cold-water tank in the loft. So I'm guessing water pressure is low.

The old shower head (over 40 years old) had a 'watering can' style head but connected to the hose differently to the way modern heads do. The hose connected to the underneath of the handle, which had a short 'tail' at the end which slotted into a special wall-holder. I think that's why it had a better angle to project water further into the bath (even with low water pressure). The modern heads all seem to have the hose connection at the end of the handle and so when they're in the (modern) wall-holder they're at a steeper angle and don't project water so far into the bath.

I did manage to retrieve the old attachment but unfortunately not it's wall-holder.

I was thinking I might draw an outline of the new attachment on a piece of paper and take it to the DIY stores and compare it to the shape of other attachments to see if I can find a better one. But I'm not sure what shape would be better: would a curved handle reach further over the bath than a straight handle? Or is the overall length of the handle more important? Plus the angle of the shower head itself.

The wall-holder is a bracket (not on a riser rail) so the height is fixed but it does have a ratchet-type mechanism so the angle of the shower attachment can be adjusted.

Does no one else have this problem with over-the-bath-shower-attachments? Or maybe our old shower head was unusual and everyone else is used to having to stand over the plug hole to be under the flow of water.

you have a yellow-insulated tank, which is fairly old, and a loft tank, so the hot water pressure will be quite low.

the cold supply to a shower mixer should always be at the same pressure as the hot, so should also come from the tank.

You will need quite a big shower head, maybe 4 inches or so. There are lots around. The screw fitting on the end of the head, and on the shower mixer, are a standard size. Get a wall rail with it so it slides up and down and can be tilted.

I have been very pleased with Plumbworld, but I have also had a suitable head and rail set from Tesco.

Modern head usually have little rubbery nozzles in the head which flex a bit so you can rub them and limescale crack off.

If the flow has reduced with your new mixer, it might have been fitted using 15mm pipework or small service valves or flexible hoses. Inexperienced plumbers who are only trained with combi boilers might fit these. The old pipes to your bath mixer should be 3/4" or 22mm.

good grief, I said "yellow-insulated tank"

I mean of course "cylinder"

Thanks PigletJohn.

I've had a quick look on the Plumbworld site and some of the shower rails project out from the wall more than others, so if I choose wisely I'll be able to add a few centimetres even without changing the shower head.