Shower Manufacturing Product Breakdown
This product sector incorporates four distinct categories – electric showers, mixer showers, digital showers, and power showers.
Electric Showers
Electric showers operate by taking cold water from the mains and heating it as it passes through the shower unit.
These showers require an electrical connection to heat the water and are sometimes referred to as ‘instantaneous’ showers.
Also available are pumped electric showers with an integral pump within the unit; these are useful in applications where mains water pressure is low.
Mixer Showers
Mixer showers operate by taking hot and cold water from an existing supply and mixing it to produce the temperature set on the control.
The majority of mixer showers have thermostatic control. Options include recessed or surface mounted controls, with either single or dual shower outlets.
Mixer showers are operated with either a single sequential control or by dual control.
Shower Controls
Single sequential control operates both flow and temperature. This type of control is sometimes also referred to as concentric or central control.
Dual control has separate controls for flow and temperature. These include bar mixers where the controls are at opposite ends of a horizontal (or vertical) bar.
Digital Showers
Digital showers operate in the same way as a traditional mixer shower but are installed with the mixing unit hidden behind a wall cavity or under the bath.
The controller can be positioned within the shower or elsewhere in the bathroom, with either a wired or wireless connection to the mixing unit.
Options include digital showers for gravity-fed or mains pressurised water systems, ceiling-fed or rear-fed water supply, single or dual shower outlets.
Many digital showers also offer smart features such as app control, customisable temperature settings, warm up-mode and shower duration settings.
Power Showers
Power showers can either be a separate shower pump installed with a mixer shower (or shower panel) or be an integrated ‘all-in-one’ power shower.
This type of shower operates by taking hot and cold water from an existing supply and mixing it to produce the set temperature.
An integral pump in the wall -mounted unit then boosts the water flow to create a more powerful shower.
Enclosures, screens & trays
This product sector incorporates a wide variety of products including shower enclosures, wetroom panels, shower cabins with integrated shower/body jets, steam cabins, shower pods, over-bath screens, and shower trays.
Shower accessories
This product sector is divided into three broad categories – shower-related products, enclosure related products and shower extras.
Shower-related products including overhead showerheads, shower arms, handsets, shower kits, slider or wall bars, riser rails, hoses, in-shower storage, integral soap dishes and dispensers. Also included are fittings such as clamps, holders, remote controls, flow restrictors and body jets.
Enclosure-related products including shower curtains, rails, poles and tracks, curtain hooks, replacement seal kits, duck boards, glass cleaners & protectors, wiper blades.
Shower extras including shower seats, grab bars, handrails, safety mats and push-on shower hose.
For the purpose of this report shower accessories covers those items that are typically bought separately from a shower or enclosure. These tend to be a replacement or additional rather than an initial purchase.
Shower control manufacturers themselves designate products as accessories even though they are simply optional extra items such as digital remote-control units or body jets.
