Riser Rail V. Fixed Head Shower?

Raiser

Hey!



I was considering buying two of these (part of a deal which includes the Grohtherm 1000 valve and Tempesta Trio Kit) as they can be sourced relatively cheaply on Ebay (PM if you want details) from Germany.

- Was a bit put off by a review saying that the riser rail fittings are plastic though - Anyone have one and can assure me they're ok? Would be nice to get all metal fittings at that price.

Then to be honest I was a bit put off by the whole riser rail idea in the first place as they look a bit cheap and nasty compared to something like



Was wondering if I can just bypass the movable head thing altogether and go fixed head? I did read on here that Womenfolk may demand a riser rail for showering without wetting hair etc.

Finally - It had occurred to me that if I fitted the above Grohe complete with riser rail system in the out of the way En Suite I could stick an electric shower beside it for a backup system in case the central heating was not working or there was no hot water for some reason - From what I can make out I could leave the Triton Unit on the wall with its hose thrown in a drawer somewhere and simply unscrew the Grohe one from the Thermostatic Mixer, hook up and go, but can anyone confirm this?

Joey the lips

Raiser wrote: »

Hey!



I was considering buying two of these (part of a deal which includes the Grohtherm 1000 valve and Tempesta Trio Kit) as they can be sourced relatively cheaply on Ebay (PM if you want details) from Germany.

- Was a bit put off by a review saying that the riser rail fittings are plastic though - Anyone have one and can assure me they're ok? Would be nice to get all metal fittings at that price.

Then to be honest I was a bit put off by the whole riser rail idea in the first place as they look a bit cheap and nasty compared to something like



Was wondering if I can just bypass the movable head thing altogether and go fixed head? I did read on here that Womenfolk may demand a riser rail for showering without wetting hair etc.

Finally - It had occurred to me that if I fitted the above Grohe complete with riser rail system in the out of the way En Suite I could stick an electric shower beside it for a backup system in case the central heating was not working or there was no hot water for some reason - From what I can make out I could leave the Triton Unit on the wall with its hose thrown in a drawer somewhere and simply unscrew the Grohe one from the Thermostatic Mixer, hook up and go, but can anyone confirm this?

To answer it in stages...

Firstly i cannot remember which of them it is but the most popular riser rail system in ireland by Grohe is set 3 and set 6. One is a fixed head one is a raiser rail. The riser rail comes with plastic fitting. PHD are the agents in ireland they will confirm more but plastic will be fine. My personel feeling is get a plastic riser rail kit but metal wall outlet. You dont want the kit to fail in the wall(Hope that makes sense)

Secondly. The riser rail kit will not look as good quality as the fixed head for many reasons but mainly because there is less clutter in the fixed head.

Thirdly on by passing. The kit you are picking is the high pressure one so you will need at least 3 bar to operate it. If you have 3 bar why not consider installing a better kit with a divertor valve and you can divert the water to a rail head and when the women folk want it after a days shopping and getting the hair done they can divert it back to a riser rail,

Lastly on the electric shower. Using a different hose can effect the showers perfermance especially the temp reliability by using a different hose. what your proposing to do is the equivilant of having the queen of england eat in macdonalds... One just does not do these things but that does not mean it cannot be done.

Raiser

Thanks for the long and detailed reply Joey & I hadn't heard the Royal Happy Meal one before!

- Well the plan is to serve the Main Bathroom and an En Suite in the third room down the Corridor (sorry for the iffy measurement! Maybe 30feet, same floor) using one Grundfos Booster Pump in the Hot Press.

I keep getting varying opinions on whether I need a 2 or 3 Bar Pump - now you may have cleared this up! Only concern is that the 3 Bar might be unnecessarily expensive and then loud? Perhaps it would be best to go with a different kit and a 2 Bar Pump?

I must admit that even though I originally ruled out the likes of the below, they don't look that bad and are quite practical - Anyone ever use "Image" ones - Local Plumbing Supplier has them for ~300, and from what I can determine every inch of it is chromed metal.



Final question - If you had a 2 or 3 Bar Pump can the two Showers run simultaneously off the same one? Its a 300L Cylinder.....