Deck mounted bath/shower thermostatic mixer reccomendations?

[Albumen]

I'm considering using one of those combined bath/shower thermostatic mixers. Deck mounted. Mainly for simplicity of plumbing.

Cold pressure in the house is good. All cold water is direct, DHW is off a Vaillant Eco Tec (so no tanks anywhere), and pressure of hot seems fine too. By pressure I suppose I really mean flow.

Questions.

1. Are deck mounted bath/shower mixers any good? My impression is that the shower bit always has pathetic flow. But this might be an impression gained mainly from my in-laws. Flow to the bath taps is fine, but when I switch over to shower it's terrible. They seem to be in a hard water area.

2. I prefer the idea of thermostatic. Because if somebody turns a tap on somewhere you either get scalded or frozen. Also if it's deck mounted less bending up and down to adjust temp. And we've got young children. And you can fill the bath without having to check temperature. But does thermostatic have any drawbacks compared to manual adjustment?

3. If the answers to 1 and 2 are yes and no does anybody have any reccomendations? I'm doing most of the work myself and don't mind paying for quality. I only expect to do this once before I die (hopefully not at the same time, but once that blowtorch gets lit it's anybody's guess!) so cost isn't an issue. High quality, spares availability etc is way more important than saving a few quid, especially for something that's going to be used several times a day, every day for the next few decades.

Any help gratefully received.

 

[Albumen]

In the end I got a Bristan Artisan deck mounted thermostatic bath shower mixer.

Seems to work fine with the existing shower hose, though I'll need a slightly longer one, but can't see that making any difference.

Pressure's fine. I think the flow is the same as from my manual mix Mira shower mixer. I assume the pathetic flow from the in-laws shower is due to cheap/furred up shower bit.

The preset 'safety max' temp of 38 seems a bit cool to me, so I'll check with a thermometer. But it's adjustable anyway, so I can move where the red safety knob thing it.

It's a biggish thing (and heavy too!) so looks a little bit incongruous on the bath, but I may well change that anyway.

Went on fine (unlike getting the old taps off!!), seems well made. The two supply pillars are separate from the main body, which if you're working single handed would make fitting it a bit easier.

So if anybody's thinking of one, this seems good. Cost £150 over th'internet. A similar Grohe (3000 range) was about £280. On the Bristan one the bath/shower chooser is a pull thing on the top, on the Grohe it depends which way you turn the flow control, which actually I thought was a disadvantage - lean in to run bath, forget which way to turn, get drenched by shower. Also the know on the top of the Bristan is pull UP to turn the shower on. So to turn the shower off quickly just press the know down, then flow control off. Saves getting your head under the shower. Maybe.

That concludes my review of the Bristan Artisan thermostatic deck mounted bath/shower mixer. I thank you.

 

[mike1984]

Glad you're sorted.

My last shower was a Bristan and did the job well. Grohe are expensive it seems and quite complicated as you have to build your own shower package every time by picking the valve and then the head...too complicated.