Fitting a mixer shower is a pretty straight forward procedure. Mixer valves are basically a mixer tap with an in-built thermostat. The theory behind a mixer shower is simple. Hot and cold water is fed to the valve from two separate pipes, the shower valve then mixes the hot and cold water via the temperature control valve.

Fitting this type of shower is pretty straight forward, firstly channel out two channels in to the wall where the shower is going to be installed. These channels are for the hot and cold supply pipes, normally they are around 150mm apart. Ideally the shower unit should be fitted to the tap end of the bath, because it makes the plumbing a lot easier.

Looking at the shower from the front, the left hand pipe is normally the hot supply and the right hand pipe is normally the cold supply, now the easiest way to do this is to plumb straight into the hot and colds supplies that supplies the bath taps, this can be a little difficult as space is limited.

At the shower end of the pipes, fit a 90 degree/15mm elbow this can be done with either a soldered elbow or a compression joint. Now fit a short piece of pipe into the elbows, about 100mm long. Make sure the distance between the pipes is correct so the shower body will fit easily.

Next step of the operation is to plumb into the hot and cold supply pipes underneath the bath, firstly turn of the water at the mains, this should stop the hot and cold water supply. Now cut into the pipes and using an equal tee fit the shower pipes to the hot and cold supplies. The pipe size may vary, it could be either 15mm or 22mm.

Now it’s time to fit the shower, most of these showers are supplied with special fittings to connect the shower valve to the pipes, firstly connect the fittings to pipes and then fit the shower to the fittings tighten up the fittings and the shower is fitted.