Anyone know anything about showers?

[Fleurty]

We're having our bathroom done in the new year and me and DH are disagreeing about the shower. He is a tradesman (not a plumber, but spends most days working with plumbers) so I have difficulty winning these arguments!

He wants a digital shower, I really hate chrome and can't find any digital showers that aren't chrome. I want something like this shorturl.at/hmoAF

Our water pressure is terrible, so we will need a pump whatever we have. Is the only benefit of a digital shower over a pumped shower that you can choose the temperature and push a button to turn it on? Or do they have some sort of technology that improves water pressure too?

Why don't you like Chrome?

Unhelpful but we have a digital shower and I really like it. Had to be talked into it and its the best thing we got.

We had a digital shower in our old house, so I know what they're like. I just wish they made them look nicer. To be honest I don't mind turning a handle to adjust the temperature if the same pressure can be achieved without a digital shower.

I just don't like chrome, I'd rather have all the fittings in the same colour and there's no way I'm having chrome taps or towel rail

Your link didn’t work, the webpage asks me to enter the shortcut.

Anyway Mira sell digital showers for high and low pressure feeds.
Sounds like you’d need the high pressure version.

The controllers for the Activate range have changeable bezels

www.mirashowers.co.uk/showers/digital-showers/mira-activate-controller-bezel-accessory/

Thanks for that, unfortunately the whole rest of the shower has to be chrome so that wouldn't work.

Sorry the link was working when I posted it, it was linking to here:
www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/arezzo-brushed-brass-round-thermostatic-shower-pack-with-wall-mounted-head-handset?campaign=googlebase&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk4aOBhCTARIsAFWFP9FloXjxaDLllDooxUx3xgTJ3-hbsPnsI9ng5jve5U8THgMdwCRTE6MaAuyhEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[quote tanstaafl]Your link didn’t work, the webpage asks me to enter the shortcut.

Anyway Mira sell digital showers for high and low pressure feeds.
Sounds like you’d need the high pressure version.

The controllers for the Activate range have changeable bezels

www.mirashowers.co.uk/showers/digital-showers/mira-activate-controller-bezel-accessory/[/quote]
We have a low pressure gravity fed system, so we'd need the low pressure shower. Still doesn't make it look any nicer though!

I also don’t like chrome. Gold showers are the way forward. Stand firm OP!

But you have a pump , so there’d be a high pressure into the shower I thought.

I looked at plumbworld, digital showers and in their colour selection it was a choice of chrome (105), black (6), across all brands.

The black were the Mira Activate I’d suggested.

The brass fittings do look nice though.

@tanstaafl can you link to one? I can't see a single digital shower on plumbworld that isn't chrome. I'm not talking about the bevel of the controller that you linked to before, I'm talking about the actual shower, i.e the shower head, handheld attachment l, rail and hose. All of those are chrome only for digital showers.

No if you have low pressure gravity fed you buy the shower that says it's for low pressure gravity fed systems and then add a pump.

I thought the main advantage of digital showers - and the reason housebuilders like them so much - was that they were easy to plumb in because no pipes need to be dropped down in the walls to feed them?

What's the advantage if you already have pipework installed to feed a normal shower?

@Fleurty

Sorry for my poor reply, I was trying to agree that everything comes in chrome!

@CasperGutman

The two advantages I can see are a) the mixing of hot/cold is done in the separate unit. If you site that for easy access, say in the loft, you don’t have to take tiles off to get to the ‘traditional’ mixer tap as seen in the OPs link, if there’s problems later on.
B) the controller , ie temperature setting and on / off is now just wired to the separate unit and can be put ‘anywhere’ ( either 5 or 10 metres , can’t remember ) from the unit.
Oh and c) you can control it with an app on the phone. Set maximum time for a shower, set max temp, decide on the duration and temp and save that as your shower.
Should add that I’m talking about Mira Digital showers/baths.
We’ve got a couple of their Mode range.

The advantages of a digital shower are that it costs more, and is more complicated so it has more to go wrong.

Disadvantages, I mean.

I think the high pressure/combi unit from Mira is ‘only’ a mixing valve albeit with electronic control. Not that different to a mixer valve ?

Agree that they come with a cost. I find Plumbworld are the cheapest.
I’ve always found Mira customer service really good too.

Thank you Piglet John. That's the confirmation I need to keep fighting for a nice looking shower!

Thanks @tanstaafl - I can see some of those as advantages.

That said, I struggle to imagine why I would even want to turn my shower on with an app on my phone. I'm pretty well addicted to my phone, and I'm on it most of the day, but even I draw the line at taking it into the shower with me!

And why on earth would I want to set the duration of my shower in advance? I get out when I've rinsed (what's left of) my hair after washing it. I don't want the shower to switch off when I haven't finished, potentially leaving me with soap in my eyes! Nor should it stay on after I'm done.

You can use any shower head, handheld attachment, rail and hose you like with a digital shower. The only parts that you need for a digital shower are thermostatic shower valve which is hidden, and the controller which you could buy in all black if you wanted.

@CasperGutman

Of course you don’t have to use the app at all.
You just use the on/off/temperature controller as normal.
But that can be the other end of the (shower) bath or shower area so you don’t get that blast of cold water when you turn it on.

The personalisation function is useful for baths.