Bar Mixer Showers - Advice and Recommendations

[albaPhenom]

I'm selecting all of the stuff for my bathroom at the moment and have pretty much everything selected other than the mixer shower.

I am lost on this. I know I want a bar mixer with a separate overhead rain head and the smaller handheld head but I know absolutely nothing about showers tbh.

Looking at a bunch of retailers online, the shower units go from £180 to £950 and tbh they all look much of a muchness to me. Pretty identical looking so what am I missing?

Can any of the plumbers give some guidance and what I should be looking for, brands which are respected in the trade for quality and anything else I should be thinking about?

 

[CBW]

I’d avoid one's from unheard of, and stick with decent support, so: Bristan, Mira, Ideal standard,Triton, aqualisa, Grhoe, Hansgrohe. Probably some others as well.

Edit: you might want to look at the delivery as well, so for example 8 litres per minute as opposed to 3 litres per minute. Suitability of water supplies, eg. Mains or gravity etc.

 

[albaPhenom]

I’d avoid one's from unheard of, and stick with decent support, so: Bristan, Mira, Ideal standard,Triton, aqualisa, Grhoe, Hansgrohe. Probably some others as well.

The Hansgrohe ones were the high end stuff, the Grohe and Mira seemed like the mid-range kinda thing that I'd probably opt for.

I'm gonna set a budget of £350 (ish) for the shower unit, hopefully that's the right amount for a decent mixer shower?

 

[CBW]

I'm gonna set a budget of £350 (ish) for the shower unit, hopefully that's the right amount for a decent mixer shower?

I would think so yes, I’ve just edited my original reply, so read that as well.

 

[albaPhenom]

I’d avoid one's from unheard of, and stick with decent support, so: Bristan, Mira, Ideal standard,Triton, aqualisa, Grhoe, Hansgrohe. Probably some others as well.

Edit: you might want to look at the delivery as well, so for example 8 litres per minute as opposed to 3 litres per minute. Suitability of water supplies, eg. Mains or gravity etc.

Thanks again.

From what I can gather, everything is mains fed.

Both the bathroom and kitchen are on ground floor, rooms adjacent each other. The boiler is under the stairs on the ground floor next to the bathroom.

There is an old tank in the loft and in the first floor bedroom, there is 3 pipes running floor to ceiling within a boxed out recess. (See photo)

I suspect both this tank and these pipes are from a redundant system and all of my water supplies are mains fed now.

If this turns out to be the case, I’ll hope to dismantle and remove the tank and these pipes.

 

[CBW]

Obviously don’t assume (it makes an ass of u and me) if you no longer have a hot water cylinder, and you have a combi boiler, then yes, likely all mains.

 

[muggles]

Aqualisa, Mira, Hansgrohe, and Vado are all good makes

 

[Stivino]

I've had one of these in my house for ten years, it works as good as any other shower I have used and has not given me any trouble.
I also have one in a flat. I was going to refurbish the shower cubicle and the guy in the flat actually made this comment to me, "after I've been in the shower, you know you've had a shower".
I left it as it was and saved £££'s.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Bought a Triton Altair mixer for my bathroom as was on a budget at the time. It worked but was never a brilliant shower. Started dripping, (needed new cartridge), so bit the bullet and bought a Mira Atom as it was on offer from our friends that fix screws. Difference is staggering, I'd say the Mira is giving half as much flow again, really nice shower.

So, I'd say get the best you can afford and check the specs before buying.

 

[JohnD]

For some reason bar showers are cheaper and not as good as round mixers.

On the plus side, they are easy to unscrew and throw away when you need a new one.