MIXER showers are currently very popular products for the bathroom because, quite simply, they are better adjusted to individuals' temperature preferences than most other shower alternatives.
They take water from the cold and hot pipes in your house and mix it together in a valve, before it reaches the head of the shower.
By obtaining water from both pipes these showers can mix the hot and the cold so that the user is able to find that perfect temperature. Because of this mechanism, the mixer shower doesn't need to rely on an electric power source to function.
These shower appliances are ideal for households with good, plentiful supply of heated water. Mixer showers tend to flow more quickly than an electric shower and if you have problems with water pressure, due to a low-pressure gravity water system, you can remedy this by adding a simple pump.
It's possible to find these pumps (and the showers themselves) at good DIY stores and online. The mixer shower will draw from its water source from your main household supply so a pump for the shower system will maintain the pressure around the rest of the house.
You can get these showers as flush-mounted systems, where the valve is exposed but the pipes hidden behind the surface, or as surface mounted systems where the pipes are fitted atop of your existing surface.
One of the latest products on the market is the thermostatic mixer shower. This adds an extra element of safety because it can sense sudden changes in water temperature that often occur in the household.
The thermostat will rectify the problem when this occurs but you can go even further and get a mixer shower that temporarily cuts the water supply off when such temperature surges occur. However, you don't necessarily need such a safety feature, as most thermostatic mixer showers will have a limiter which ensures the water temperature never exceeds a palatable level as standard.
Many people find that it's not too difficult to install these products themselves as it doesn't involve any real structural change to the bathroom and plumbing. The most difficult aspect of the job is probably the pump. This task has recently become easier thanks to the twin impeller pump. The first design, the single impeller, required an installation position above the mixer valve itself. This would regularly be in a loft, where the cold water in the pump was susceptible to freezing in the winter.
So the duel pump was invented, which affords much more flexibility. It's attached to the cold and hot water supplies before it reaches the valve and can be placed in an airing cupboard, for example, where it won't be exposed to extreme cold. Most of these pumps will need to be a minimum of three centimetres below the cold water tank and within four metres of the hot tank.
After taking all this into consideration, it's just a question of what sort of design you choose and, if needs be, what sort of shower cubicle you want to put around it. Most good hardware suppliers will allow you to mix and match here. There is a vast array of mixer showers on the market from clinical shower heads with straight edges, to a more traditional head with a rounded and soft shape.
Some hardware suppliers, however good, don't have space for a big showroom on their premises, due to the massive amount of stock that is being stored there. So the shower head range may not be on display for you to take a look at. Instead, go online to one of the most respected DIY suppliers and have a look at the range before you go into the store. It's great to get an idea for how they look and feel before you buy.
Having said that, many sites offer detailed descriptions of the dimensions, look and feel of the their products so it's a pretty safe bet to just order online without seeing the mixer shower properly first.
