Upgrading the standard shower head.

[sipi]

Good evening Gents.

I have just returned to Australia from our house in Bueng Kan and am reflecting on a few minor changes we made to our house at minimal cost which made quite a difference. 

The main change was changing our shower head from the one supplied with the instantaneous heater to a high flow head for about 450 baht from memory (maybe more).

Greater and softer water flow compared to the shop fitted one was amazing. Should have done it sooner.

 

[sipi]

I will just add briefly that the one that came with it was one of those fairly large diameter ones with the multi settings. It has worked ok,  but the new high flow one is no comparison. At the end of a hot day one needs a good solid shower.

[eyecatcher]

Well done for sussing that one out.

 

I will add however,if your water flow isn't great to start with,  the bigger head could seem like a disappointing waste of money as it will simply struggle to fill the new head and dribble out like a pensio...baby.

 

But the good news is, what a simple diy job....30 seconds???

[bankruatsteve]

Don't know why but the shower heads supplied with the shower units are mostly crap.  I replace with SS quality and only have to use the anti-limescale stuff once a year maybe.

[tutsiwarrior]

the instruction booklet for my new Hitachi 4.8kw unit sez to only replace the shower head with another Hitachi supplied device...would this become an issue in the event of a failure using another shower head during the 1 year warranty period?

 

and the limescale problem has more to do with water temperature than the material of the shower head; a greater amount of minerals in solution at higher temps, etc...that bein' said, any ferrous material ie., SS would be more suceptible to limescale accumulation than plastic I would presume under equal operating conditions; SS is usually selected for its strength and resistance to corrosion but is suceptible to fouling like any other ferrous material...and plastic doesn't conduct heat like SS making it (SS) more uncomfortable to handle with hot water...unless there is a thermal liner of some sort...

 

 

Edited December 30, 2016 by tutsiwarrior

[CGW]

Shower heads are all molded plastics! then "coated, if they were solid SS they would be kinda of heavy!

[lopburi3]

Indeed a change in shower head can make a big difference - and the new smaller/lightweight units seem to be total garbage (although they may offer water savings).   Am sure a rainfall type head might not get enough water for the normal point of use heater but if you have good water pressure you can do a lot better than the heads that normally are supplied.

 

For the "use only Hatachi" believe your unit may allow turning water off at head or pulse spray?  Know we used to have a unit that had two hose (one inside the other) and had to replace same type of head.  

[tutsiwarrior]

5 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Indeed a change in shower head can make a big difference - and the new smaller/lightweight units seem to be total garbage (although they may offer water savings).   Am sure a rainfall type head might not get enough water for the normal point of use heater but if you have good water pressure you can do a lot better than the heads that normally are supplied.

 

For the "use only Hatachi" believe your unit may allow turning water off at head or pulse spray?  Know we used to have a unit that had two hose (one inside the other) and had to replace same type of head.  

 

nah...just lookin' at it from a warranty perspective...the warranty only covers installed equipment...if ye start messin' with the original installation (like with a non OEM shower head) and there is a problem later during the warranty period you may find that the warranty may be void...this happens with large industrial installations; just sayin'...the same principle may apply...

 

these units are designed to operate with the supplied arrangement...a different shower head may cause there to be more resistance to the water flow which might mess with the heating arrangement and result in overheating and material failure, etc...

 

anyway, just sayin'...

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2016 by tutsiwarrior

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here in Thailand, AFAICT, the normal consumer installation seems to be an electric wall-mounted water heater that then has a shower head wand attached on a flexible hose. And when I go to the stores, the replacement units I see in spades are all the shower head on the end of a wand with a hose type.

 

But in our house, while we have in-line electric water heaters in both showers, the water heaters just feed the piping system and the actual shower heads are the traditional western type where a solo shower head is screwed onto a short, bent pipe piece that connects to the water outlet in the shower wall. Go to the Thai stores, and rarely see the solo shower head units on the shelves.

 

Do see some of the solo shower head units at places like Home Pro, but they seem to be silly expensive like 1500 to 3000 for stainless steel varieties.

 

[lopburi3]

But who would ever want to return to that type fixed stream after using the wand system?   My guess very few (unless shower being used mostly for activities other than cleaning) - the wand is so much easier to use/repair/replace and doubles as shower cleaning sprayer.   

[tutsiwarrior]

yeah...and when ye find yerself in a bathroom with no bum gun and a fixed shower head with no hose then after bowel evacuation you find yerself up shit creek...etc...

 

very common to typical bathroom arrangements in western countries...very unhygenic IMO....

[SaintLouisBlues]

14 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

 then after bowel evacuation you find yerself up shit creek

Quite so

[lopburi3]

17 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

yeah...and when ye find yerself in a bathroom with no bum gun and a fixed shower head with no hose then after bowel evacuation you find yerself up shit creek...etc...

 

very common to typical bathroom arrangements in western countries...very unhygenic IMO....

The Tutsi way with words to start the New Year.

Not to mention our wallowing in the pigsty called a bathtub.  

[tutsiwarrior]

I found that when I went to England that people didn't take showers, only baths...really weird...how d'ye rinse yerself off properly?

 

and then when we got back to Brighton after 3 years in Jakarta I wanted to install a bum gun in the bathroom...and my ex then forbade any such arrangement saying: 'our friends will make fun of us...'

 

it was the beginning of the end of our marriage...

[grollies]

On 31/12/2016 at 9:34 PM, tutsiwarrior said:

 

nah...just lookin' at it from a warranty perspective...the warranty only covers installed equipment...if ye start messin' with the original installation (like with a non OEM shower head) and there is a problem later during the warranty period you may find that the warranty may be void...this happens with large industrial installations; just sayin'...the same principle may apply...

 

these units are designed to operate with the supplied arrangement...a different shower head may cause there to be more resistance to the water flow which might mess with the heating arrangement and result in overheating and material failure, etc...

 

anyway, just sayin'...

 

 

 

 

Go with the shower head of choice, keep the OEM one. If you need a warranty repair swap the old head back before they arrive :-)