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Time to work on the shower enclosure


Kendorr

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In the next couple of weeks I'll be putting up the walls and building the shower enclosure. Initially the hot water will come from the calorifier, although I am thinking of fitting something like a Murco instant water heater - I've put the gas line in and the plumbing ready for this, should I decide to use it.

I'm looking at the shower mixer bars in Toolstation, there's about a dozen of them ranging from £45 up to just under £200. Part of the price hike is due to the shower head, but is there much difference in the mixer bars?

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Bathrooms/d270/Mixer+Showers/sd2946

Any information, or advice would be welcome.

Thanks folks

Kevin

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Cheap ones have some plastic parts which fail in a frost or wear. Then they fall apart and leak badly.

Proper ones are all brass. Personally I buy Grohe, German quality. You would only need to buy one.

Fancy shower heads are a waste of money in a boat, they use too much water, you can't pump it out fast enough, then it runs out of hot water.

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There was another thread re this subject last week. you will get conflicting views as much does depend on the item you buy. I never fit thermostaticly controlled stuff as I have had problems in the past. My present setup is a single mixer tap moved left or right for heat and outwards for flow. It works without fault and keeps a precise temperature each and every time from the cauliflower.

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

There was another thread re this subject last week. you will get conflicting views as much does depend on the item you buy. I never fit thermostaticly controlled stuff as I have had problems in the past. My present setup is a single mixer tap moved left or right for heat and outwards for flow. It works without fault and keeps a precise temperature each and every time from the cauliflower.

 

Can you tell me which mixer tap you have please?

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11 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Can you tell me which mixer tap you have please?

Sorry, just been for a look at it and here are no marks. The only thing in the shower cubicle is the single tap on the bulkhead. The pipework is behind and boxed in. I will have a look  on line and see if I can find it.

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Jumping into the hornet's nest again -

I've learnt over the years that the old computer  adage of KISS is essential on a NB.

Morcos ar rarely (if at all) fitted on a nb, methinks for reliability and BSS regulations. If you've got a calorifier and a method of heating it - why not stick with that.

Running separate lines for the Morco and the calorifier - not difficult - but why? I believe Morcos are fussy about water pressure and they don't like an back pressure - caused by the showerhead. After all they are designed just to discharge into a sink - not to run a whole hot water heating system.

Quite happy to be contradicted. Ask yourself "why are Morcos not more widely used in recent boats?

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I can't speak for Morcos, but our Paloma has been brilliant for 20 years.Supplying shower and taps on a daily basis. It has required no new parts to date, and was second hand when we got it of unknown age.

 

We also have a calorifier with immersion, but the Paloma is used in preference.

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19 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Jumping into the hornet's nest again -

I've learnt over the years that the old computer  adage of KISS is essential on a NB.

Morcos ar rarely (if at all) fitted on a nb, methinks for reliability and BSS regulations. If you've got a calorifier and a method of heating it - why not stick with that.

Running separate lines for the Morco and the calorifier - not difficult - but why? I believe Morcos are fussy about water pressure and they don't like an back pressure - caused by the showerhead. After all they are designed just to discharge into a sink - not to run a whole hot water heating system.

Quite happy to be contradicted. Ask yourself "why are Morcos not more widely used in recent boats?

I don't think your assertion that gas water heaters are rarely if at all fitted to narrowboats is in any way accurate. Rusty has one and so do I. An old Morco D51b in my case. I renewed my BSS earlier this year and I specifically asked my surveyor about the need to replace it. He said there was no requirement to do so and that it still functioned fine for my needs. Like Rusty I haven't experienced any problems with its ability to supply a shower. I don't have a calorifier so it's my only source of hot water. The advantage is that the amount of hot water isn't limited by the amount that has been heated and stored by running the engine.

 

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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34 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Morcos ar rarely (if at all) fitted on a nb, methinks for reliability and BSS regulations. If you've got a calorifier and a method of heating it - why not stick with that.

Running separate lines for the Morco and the calorifier - not difficult - but why? I believe Morcos are fussy about water pressure and they don't like an back pressure - caused by the showerhead. After all they are designed just to discharge into a sink - not to run a whole hot water heating system.


I'd argue with most of that.

Morcos, (or other similar brands instantaneous LPG water heaters like Palomas), have been fitted in huge numbers in narrow boats for years.  Once they were virtually universal.  Please take "Morco" in what follows to mean any suitable brand of intantaenus LPG water haeter.

Why arrange to heat whole tanks if water, if you can actually just heat the water you need as and when you need it.?  No wastage - no tank fulls of hot water sat around to lose heat before you want to use the water.  (Calorifiers are great when cruising if you can use heat from the engine that would otherwise be wasted, but when that's not the case, they are a slightly odd way of doing things on a boat, where costs for your energy source are usually higher than in a house.

There are few reliability issues with then, and certainly less than if you rely n something like an Ebersapaacher or Webasto to heat water in a tank.

 

Your comments that say "I believe that...." indicate you probably don't have practical experience.  Morcos used on boats are explicitly multipoint water heaters designed to feed multiple sources including showers, you are confusing them with single point types to feed only one sink.

There are no issues with the BSS and Morcos in private boats.  They are fully allowed, even as a retrofit.

The same may not be true for the RCD and new build boats - that's not an area I have experience in.  The main issue is that it seems hard, (possibly almost impossible?), to find GasSafe, boat qualified, fitters prepared to install them.  However for many of us a DIY fit by a competent person is an acceptable alternative.

 

29 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I can't speak for Morcos, but our Paloma has been brilliant for 20 years.Supplying shower and taps on a daily basis. It has required no new parts to date, and was second hand when we got it of unknown age.

 

We also have a calorifier with immersion, but the Paloma is used in preference.

 

15 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I don't think your assertion that gas water heaters are rarely if at all fitted to narrowboats is in any way accurate. Rusty has one and so do I. An old Morco D51b in my case. I renewed my BSS earlier this year and I specifically asked my surveyor about the need to replace it. He said there was no requirement to do so and that it still functioned fine for my needs. Like Rusty I haven't experienced any problems with its ability to supply a shower. I don't have a calorifier so it's my only source of hot water. The advantage is that the amount of hot water isn't limited by the amount that has been heated and stored by running the engine.

 

JP

 

Two very sensible replies, IMO.

Edited by alan_fincher
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I'm obliged gentlemen,

I was under the impression (reading too many threads on various fora) that a Morco was a yesterday's solution, no longer made and unreliable.

I don't have the experience - as we built our boat for cruising, thus the engine always provides lots of very hot water and a tankfull will last two days.

Best if I stay away from commenting on gas water heating in future....

Thank you.

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