Rainfall showers, any good?

[lolalotta]

We are dithering about showers and NEED to make a decision. We are considering a Aqualisa Aquavalve 700 on PigletJohns recommendation but my head is being turned by the pretty Aqualisa Midas with the rainfall shower head and hose shower option . We are having a megaflow installed if that makes any difference! I'm torn and am sick to death of reading about showers! I've never been in a rainfall shower, are they less powerful than a regular one? Do they use a tonne of water? We are on a water meter now...

If you have enough pressure they are powerful enough. I greatly prefer your choice. The other one is out of the Ark. If it’s the drench Head, it will be fine. My shower is a fixed large drench head and it’s great. We don’t use the flexible one much. We have a meter. Even a large shower head won’t use the same water as a bath unless you stand there for a long time!

We had a megaflow fitted and our plumber said that "men liked rainfall showers" so we put one in.

Neither him or I like this rainfall shower... we use the shower hose option all the time. HTH

(looks good but doesn't deliver)

I got an Aqualisa mixer with rainfall head and and 2nd hose shower.

I hardly use the rainfall head but it looks really good ad i'm glad I put it in. I only have a comb boiler.

We have a pressurised tank, a rainfall head and an ordinary head. DH uses the rainfall all the time & I use it when it's hairwash day. We both love it.

I like the rainfall shower in a large shower cubicle but not in a small one. I don’t really like having my head under water because I’m weird and in a small cubicle I feel like you can’t escape it.

There was one installed in our house when we moved in - I love it!
When I stay at my parents their bog-standard shower head is too narrow and is like being spat on in comparison.

We had a rainfall head plus shower hose when we had the bathroom in our old house refitted. Tbh we never used the rainfall option - easier to move your head out of the way of the standard hose to see to reach shampoo, etc. and the flow was great.

We have a hansgrohe rainfall head in our en suite walk in shower and everyone loves showering in there. When we did our family bathroom we installed a Pura rainfall shower but it isn't quite as luxurious in a shower over bath set up and I think I agree when there is less room it may not be worth it. We have a megafli also and pressure is good in both.

We have recently fitted 2 of the aqualisa Midas showers , we also have a mega flow type cylinder and they are great . We use both types of shower head- depending on whether I'm washing my hair or not . Water pressure is fine with the drencher head . Because our flow / pressure wasn't that high we also had an accumulator fitted in the loft - now with the extra pressure they work like power showers . We are also on a meter but have no idea about costs before and after as we haven't had a meter before and are doing this house up .

I love rainfall showers!

We use the rainfall head on a daily basis here - use the hose one for rinsing kids hair and the like but drencher head mainly by far.

I hate them. Especially because they only seem to be installed in places where there isn't another option! I don't always want to wash my hair every day, but I do want to shower every day, so if there isn't another shower head option, I have to do a very awkward lean backwards so that my hair doesn't get wet!

I had my bathroom redone this year and had the Aqualisa Midas installed. I never used to like rainfall showers but I love it, I’ve only used the handheld bit once.

I insisted I wanted the option of both heads when we got ours done - the rainfall part wouldn't have worked at all for kids who don't like water landing on their face (and I'm a bit the same too) - I wanted an adjustable hose type one as well.

Love the combi one we've got with both types.

DH liked the one we had in our last house. Utter nuisance if you ask me. I hated it because you can't get out from underneath them to do things like shaving and the bastard thing used to drip cold water over you if you used the normal shower head after DH had been in. It also got all grimy and I couldn't get it detached to clean it without a major plumbing job. I'll never willingly buy another one. They look nice though!

This thread tells you that you need to try one as the votes are split.

I am with BIWI - I don’t wash my hair every day and find showering in one very awkward. I also find that usually the pressure is not sufficient on the hair washing days. Granted my only experience has been in hotels and the like where pressure not great.

And also agree with Helpme that it is difficult to get out of the spray to shave etc.

We had our bathroom redone last year and got a dual head rainfall/standard shower hose type thing, run off a combi, over a bath. I absolutely love it. Me and DH use the rainfall head as standard, only use the shower hose for DS and cleaning the bath. It's one of my favourite things about the new bathroom (and I love it all!)
We got it in December last year, and the water bill in April was no different to before.

Can I just add something - we have rainshower / hand led combis in our bathrooms. The men love the rainshowers but I use the hand held as I cant bear getting my hair wet on a daily basis (as per BIWI ) .

A very important thing to consider is where you put the shower controls. I've lost count of the number of times I've stayed in a hotel and got soaked just trying to operate the shower because of where the controls are. Get them put somewhere you can run the shower before you step in!

Oh God, yes I so agree with that! I wonder, sometimes, who ever designs shower cubicles? The number of times in hotels I'm trying to shrink into too small a corner, under freezing water, just because I had to try and turn the blasted thing on!

I've got one and it's fucking amazing

Pressed post too soon I have one in the en-suite shower cubicle thingy and the same one in the main bathroom. I'm not sure what type it is so I'll check later but it's really powerful and sooooo much better than a hose type. It has a hose too but I never use it.

If you have a big walk in shower, you can have a shower without getting your hair wet. You just shift a bit in the shower. I wouldn’t have a large drench Head in a tiny shower because you will get your hair wet but you need an enclosure sIze that matches the Head. So a large head needs a large enclosure.

Get them put somewhere you can run the shower before you step in!

Before we got our bathroom done the thermostatic bit on the shower was dying and it was a bit of a case of roulette what temperature you'd get when you turned it on until it decided if it was a hot or cold shower morning for you... got very good at sticking my hand at maximum extension into the cubicle to turn the shower on and getting the hell out of there before the water started! The points where it would randomly drop to a level that's more commonly found coming out of the ice dispenser in my fridge mid-shower didn't half wake you up in the morning as well!

I don't like rainfall showers. Can't get them to not water your head, can't direct the flow anywhere and how the hell do you clean or descale them? Last one I used I could only reach by stretching up, couldn't imagine trying to clean it like that.