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All About Showers

A General Overview of Our Showers

Each NewTeam shower is supplied with a comprehensive illustrated manual, which takes you through each stage of the installation process.

New Team showers are equally at home over a bath or within a shower enclosure and can be mounted easily to the wall using standard fixings. We recommend that installation is carried out by a competent person in accordance with Water Regulations and IEE wiring regulations (where applicable).

Detailed consideration has been given to installation, with the majority of Newteam showers having push-fit fittings, meaning that minimal plumbing work is required, making connection as quick and easy as possible.

 

The schematic drawings below show the basic recommended water and electrical connections required for typical shower installations, please refer to the installation manual with each product for full instructions. These can be seen on the individual product pages (see our shower collections here)

TECHNICAL ADVICE

Typical power shower installation   Typical electric shower installation

POWER SHOWERS

Thermostatic Power Showers - These are showers using both hot and cold water supplies to obtain showering temperature, pumped from a gravity fed system to give higher flow rates. Also has the benefit of a thermostatic mixer mixer to give safe showering conditions.

PLEASE NOTE: These cannot be used with combination, pressurised or unvented mains systems.

Our power shower collection is suitable for a pressure range of 0.1 bar to 1.0 bar (gravity fed water systems only), they have 15mm push fit inlet connections and we always suggest using a double pole isolation switch with your electrical connection.

Points to note:

  • Power showers can only be used in gravity fed situations (1 bar maximum).
  • They will empty both hot and cold tanks more quickly than a standard system, please keep this in mind when selecting shower. You may want to check the capacity of both water tanks and think about how long and often the shower will be used.
  • The New Team thermostatic power showers provide the safest form of showering giving immediate response to fluctuations in supply pressure or temperature.
  • All thermostatic showers are factory pre-set to a maximum temperature; this can be increased/decreased depending on user preference.
  • Temperature is controlled by one handle with a push button to turn the pump on and off.
  • Power showers must be installed to all relevant IEE Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) and be protected with a Residual Current Device (RCD).
  • Isolating switch should be of the pull cord type, if not it should be out of reach of person using bath/shower.
  • It is advisable to fit an easily accessible isolating and non-return valve to the inlet (where not already supplied). This will ensure future maintenance is made easy and in compliance with Water Regulations. If in doubt, contact your local water authority.
  • All showers are supplied with comprehensive fitting instructions complete with illustrations.

You can see our NT1000XT and NT1500XT power showers here.

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ELECTRIC SHOWERS

Electric Showers - This type of shower requires a mains cold supply only, thus no requirement for stored hot water.

Our electric shower collection is suitable for a pressure range of 1.0 bar to 10.0 bar, they have 15mm push fit inlet connections and we always suggest using a double pole isolation switch with your electrical connection.

Points to note:

  • Electric showers should be connected to mains cold supplies. If this is not achievable then you can use your cold water storage tank and install a single impeller pump.
  • Temperature is controlled by one handle that varies the volume of cold water entering the heating element. There are also 3 power settings on a separate control.
  • Electric showers must be installed to all relevant IEE Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) and be protected with a Residual Current Device (RCD).
  • Isolating switch should be of the pull cord type, if not it should be out of reach of person using bath/shower.
  • Cable required depends on kW of shower, length of cable required and the way the cable is fitted (ensure cable size is checked prior to upgrading to a higher kilowatt shower). An indication of cable size is shown in the chart below.
  • It is advisable to fit an easily accessible isolating and non-return valve to the inlet (where not already supplied). This will ensure future maintenance is made easy and in compliance with Water Regulations. If in doubt, contact your local water authority.
  • Performance of all electric showers varies with the incoming water temperature and therefore fluctuates as the seasons change, our chart below shows typical flow rates for our Newteam electric showers. These were recorded under typical installation conditions and can be used as a guide to expected performance.
  • All showers are supplied with comprehensive fitting instructions complete with illustrations.

 

flow rate / cable size pump chart

  NT 7.8Kw NT 8.5Kw NT 9.5Kw NT 10.4Kw
Flow Rate Ltr/Min 4.5 4.9 5.4 6.0
Recommended cable size 6mm 6mm 10mm 10mm

Note: All flow rates measured on Spray mode at 38 degree C summer time use. 15 degree C inlet temperature. Cable Size is based on typical cable length for a standard three bedroom household.

You can see all our electric showers here.

SHOWER VALVES

These are available in Manual and Thernmostatic variants. A mixer shower uses a simple shower valve to blend your hot and cold water supplies to achieve the showering temperature and flow that you desire, generally these have improved flow rates over electric showers and can be used on any system provided certain requirements are met.

Mixer showers are ideal when fitted onto a gravity site situation, i.e. a separate hot and cold water supply, gravity fed by a storage tank of at least 112 litres (25 gallons) capacity. they require a minimum head of 0.1 bar (1 meter) between the bottom of the cold tank and the shower handset / fixed head position.

They can also be used with combination boilers or multipoint water heaters.

 

Minimum pressures do vary dependant on model, so best to check installation instructions / product specifications for exact requirements.

 

Typical gravity shower installation   Typical mains shower installation

MANUAL MIXERS

Manual Mixers - Showers which incorporate a ceramic cartridge are becoming more popular due to low maintenance requirements and ease of operation. These include hard wearing ceramic discs which provide the easy single lever operation.

Our manual shower collection is suitable for a pressure range of 0.1 bar to 10.0 bar, they have 15mm compression inlet connections and are suitable for all plumbing systems (balanaced pressures recommended).

Inlet pipe centres on these manual mixer showers do vary, see the chart below for details.

Points to note:

  • Manual mixers have none of the safety benefits of thermostatic mixers.
  • Flow and temperature are controlled by one lever, the advantage of this is ease of use.
  • The minimum working pressure is 0.1 bar, this is at least 1.0 metre vertical distance from your shower handset / fixed head to the base of the cold water tank.
  • Manual mixers are suited to all systems except where there is a large imbalance in pressures (more than a ratio of 5:1), in these cases steps should be taken to reduce the imbalance.
  • Pressure reducing valves are recommended where maximum pressure is exceeded.
  • It is advisable to fit easily accessible isolating and non-return valves to both inlets (where not already supplied). This will ensure future maintenance is made easy and compliance with Water Regulations. If in doubt contact your local water authority.

A good example of manual mixer showers are our NT911 M or theNT 911 MC

THERMOSTATIC MIXERS

Thermostatic Mixers - Showers using a temperature sensitive cartridge give further benefits when compared to manual mixers.

Features include safety shut-off upon supply failure. Also a constant showering temperature is maintained despite fluctuations in incoming supply pressure and temperature.

Inlet pipe centres on these thermostatic mixer showers do vary, as will the flow rate and performance you can expect from each model, see the chart below for details.

Points to note:

  • Thermostatic showers provide the safest form of showering giving immediate resonse to fluctuations in supply pressure or temperature.
  • All thermostatic showers are factory pre-set to a maximum temperature; this can be increased / decreased depending on user preference.
  • Flow and temperature are controlled by seperate handles giving accurate control of both.
  • The minimum working pressure is 0.1 bar, this is at least 1.0 metre vertical distance from shower handset / fixed head to base of cold water tank.
  • Thermostatic mixer showers are suited to all systems except where there is a large imbalance in pressures (more than a ration of 5:1). In these cases steps should be taken to reduce this imbalance.
  • Pressure reducing valves are recommended where maximum pressure is exceeded.

  • It is advisable to fit an easily accessible isolating and non-return valve to the inlet (where not already supplied). This will ensure future maintenance is made easy and in compliance with Water Regulations. If in doubt, contact your local water authority.

You can see our thermostatic mixers here.

flow rate and inlet pipe centres chart

Mixer Shower Pipe Centres Gravity (approx 3m head) 1 bar (pumped) 3 bar (pumped) 5 bar (pumped)
NT 902-T 150mm 5.10 11.80 17.75 21.33
NT 904-T 165mm 5.16 11.13 16.97 21.80
NT 907-T 130-170mm 5.40 8.20 15.40 19.90
NT 908-T 138-145mm 8.20 11.60 23.80 30.70
NT 909-T 138-145mm N/A 7.00 10.00 12.00
NT 911-M 96mm 7.20 11.79 17.77 21.33

Note: All flow rates in litres per minute, using handset without flow limiters (where supplied). All outlet temperatures at 30 degree C.

 

If you have a gravity fed water system and you wish to consider boosting the performance of your shower, you may want to visit our sister website new-team-pumps.co.uk , here you will find a whole hose of useful information for selecting the right pump for your requirements and a selection of shower booster pumps to suit most applications.

 

If you need more information, help or assistance choosing the right pump for you please contact our technical helpline on 0843 658 0062 we are here to help.

 

We would like to thank Bristan for their help and assistance with the information and images provided on this page