It seems no home is really complete without the latest digital shower today. But if you haven’t yet joined in this little showering revolution, you may be wondering what it’s all about.
Simply put, a digital shower is one controlled by a panel that communicates with the shower unit’s power unit to adjust both flow and temperature. This can be in a wireless way. The power unit is most commonly installed in your loft or airing cupboard. Your hot water feed will be delivered through either the ceiling or the wall, depending on the exact installation. The control panel can be placed anywhere in a 10 metre radius and there’s no plumbing work visible. Some types of digital shower also offer pause features, remote control and pre-settings.
Digital showers are available in both mixer and electric versions. As the name implies, digital mixer showers work by taking water directly from both the hot and cold feeds and mixing it in the digitally-controlled processing unit to achieve exactly the desired temperature. This water is then pumped to the shower at a flow rate decided by you, the user.
Electric showers, meanwhile, take only a cold water feed. They heat up the water as it passes over an electric heating element in much the same principle as a kettle.
The digital unit is different depending on the type of plumbing system in your home. So before you by, you’ll need to be clear about whether you have a high pressure system, combination boiler or gravity fed system.
Mira digital showers are some of the UK’s best-selling models, whereby the shower control unit and the water mixer have built-in digital intelligence. You can choose either a pumped or a high pressure version and these are ideal choices for homes with a plentiful supply of hot water. Other Mira showers may be more appropriate depending on your hot water system.