Cheap and cheerful showering (Palm Beach Chrome Bath/Shower Mixer)

Member Name: chinnyli

Product:	Palm Beach Chrome Bath/Shower Mixer
Date:	20/06/02 (5405 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Doesn't require plumbing, electrical wiring or whatever it is electrical showers need before they work

Disadvantages: Oooh cold cold, arrgh hot hot!

Do you know, I'd never had a shower until I started PE lessons at secondary school? Ooh that makes me sound unhygienic! But don't worry, I did wash, but in a good old-fashioned bathtub.

Showers used to be a traumatic experience for me. At school, the shower rooms were communal, so to protect my modesty and to make sure I wouldn't spend 15 minutes shivering while attempting to dry myself, I often simply dashed across the room directly under the shower heads, avoiding the sprays of water so I wouldn't get wet!

Fast forward eight years and I've just arrived at my new university flat, and eek there's no bathtub, only a shower in the flat! However, as the shower was in a self-contained and more importantly lockable room, and as I got used to the twiddly knobs that made it work, I warmed to the idea of using showers, discovering its convenience and appreciating its therapeutic feel!

Another five years later, I've finally moved out of home and have a flat of my own, but no shower! This was a major inconvenience - it takes too long for me to attempt a bath before going to work, and anyway baths makes me feel sleepy, and difficult to wash my hair separately - I'm a tiny bit too short to stand easily over sink to wash it!

So what to do but go out and buy a shower! I initially looked at electric showers - a quick glance through an Argos catalogue told me one would cost between £60-£160, a power shower could cost even more! But then on top of that I'd have to consider whether I would be able to get anyone reliable to fit it for me (cheap but preferably free!)

Ditching that idea, I flicked back a page in the catalogue to the bath/shower mixers.

I didn't want anything extravagant, I didn't need one with a soap dish or would move up and down and swivel at various angles - I just needed a shower that worked, but could switch back to tap use easily if I wanted to, without having to remo
ve the connectors.

I quickly found what I wanted, a Palm Beach chrome bath/shower mixer costing a mere £9.99 (second cheapest shower available in the catalogue), and speedily went to Argos to buy it.

---- Bits and pieces ----

The shower comes packed in a small ridiculously lightweight box - the size of it made me worry that perhaps they'd given me the wrong product. But on opening the box at home, I found that it contained all the necessary bits constituting a shower... the rubber push on connectors to go onto the taps, a metallic hose tube (which is far less likely to get damaged than plastic ones), washers (thin rubber disc things to prevent water leakage from joints), two 'sprays' (an assortment of plastic discs slotting together, be careful not to lose them!) and the screw to fit it in.

A wall bracket is also provided, along with two wall plugs and screws. However if you already have a shower wall bracket, you may be able to use that instead of fitting this. Mine is, um, perched quite precariously in the wall bracket that already exists! If you like to swivel your showerhead though, I'd recommend fitting the wall bracket although this is still only able to swivel up or down. This doesn't involve much DIY skill, though if you're unable to drill holes accurately, I'd advise you to find someone who can as it involves drilling two holes diagonally from each other.

The shower obviously comes with fitting instructions, though I found I was mostly able to fit it together without referring to it, except to work out what to do with the washers! Having fitted everything together, you can then push the rubber connectors onto the tap, then lift the hose and shower head to slide into your wall bracket.

---- Water therapy ----

To use the shower, you simply push down a controller knob in the centre of the connectors, turn taps on and water will come rushing out the showerhead. To switch
back to tap use, lift up the knob. Simple eh?!

However, the instructions caution that as the cold water pressure is usually much higher than that from the hot tap, that you should turn the cold tap up very gradually and no higher than necessary, as otherwise the connectors will blow off.

Typically, I had the opposite problem... my cold water tap doesn't seem to have any pressure at all! Which means that no matter how high I turn that tap up, I won't get any cold water coming out the shower, not a single drip. Not only that, but if I already have the hot water running, and then attempt to turn cold tap on, my hot water reduces to a dribble from the showerhead, but water doesn't get any cooler.

This would be a major annoyance for anyone that wants a cooler shower or likes more control over the temperature (I'll have to refrain from using it in the summer!)

But this isn't the only problem you can encounter. If your water heating system is slightly temperamental like mine, ie takes ages to heat up water, and then blows hot and cold especially if you suddenly increase or decrease the tap water flow, then you're in for an uncomfortable shower.

I get around these problems by running only the hot water tap (don't have a choice about that), leave it alone for a few minutes until water has heated up and I have the right water flow, then make damn sure I'm not going to have to touch taps again to change water flow, before getting into the shower.

Another minor problem that might annoy some people is that the water doesn't come out through evenly distributed holes, but seems to sprout out in a ring... if you stick your arm out, you'll find the water will spray out in a ring and leave a large area on your arm in the middle dry! And changing the discs doesn't seem to help this.

Oh dear I haven't made this sound very appealing have I? But really I can't live without
the shower - it's quick and convenient to use, it doesn't require rocket science knowledge to operate (ie you don't have to remember to switch electricity on before even getting anywhere near shower) and if you like your showers hot (or cold depending what your system is like) then this really won't bother with you. Besides which, it's far cheaper both in the short and maybe long term to buy - there're no fitting costs, negligible maintenance (you might want to clean showerhead occasionally for limescale), and lower energy costs involved.

Oh and another thing, if the shower stops working it doesn't cost a fortune to fix. Its possible to replace the shower head or metal tube, although it's probably even cheaper and easier to just buy a new one!

However, if you're more fussy about your showers than I am, then go buy a proper electric or power shower, though I warn you I've found even electric showers can be temperamental ;)


Shower available in white only from Argos (Spring/Summer 2002 catalogue, p335, cat no 831/3689, £9.99)
Palm Beach shower with rail riser, extending arm and soap dish also available for £14.99

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