Bathroom showers fall into 3 main categories, Shower Mixer valves, Power Showers and Instantaneous Electric Showers. When choosing your bathroom shower you must first of all find out what type of domestic water system you have, this will determine which types of bathroom showers you can choose from.

The main types of water systems available are:

Low Pressure

With this system you will have a hot water storage cylinder which is fed from a cold water storage tank (usually located in the loft). This system relies gravity for it's 'power' with distance that the cold water storage tank is above the shower head being the critical factor. The types of bathroom shower suitable for low pressure system include Thermostatic Mixer valves, Manual Mixer valves and Power Showers.

High Pressure

High pressure systems rely on the incoming mains water pressure for their 'power' and fall into two categories Instantaneous (Combination Boilers & Multi-point Heaters) and Stored Water (usually a Hot water storage tank with a pressure vessel on top). The Types of bathroom shower suitable for high pressure systems are Thermostatic mixer valves, Manual mixer valves and Pressure Balancing mixer valves.

Once you have found out what type of water system you have you can choose which type of bathroom shower best suits your needs. Here are a few pointers to help you make your choice.