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From oh-so-chic to water saving designs, these are sure to make a splash
Today’s shower heads are easy to fit, easy to use, and incredibly clever, offering multiple spray patterns which can be changed with the flick of a switch or the press of a button. And we’re not talking about wall-mounted controls either – a growing number of shower heads have headset controls, making it ridiculously easy to fine-tune your shower power.
We’ll try and keep the technical talk to a minimum, but the majority of wall-mounted shower heads have universal fittings, which means they’ll almost always be easy to replace. However, we’d advise keeping a pair of pliers to hand, some WD40 (if your old shower head refuses to budge), and a roll of PTFE tape, which can be used to wrap around the thread of the new shower head to ensure a watertight fit.
It’s also worth thinking about the GPM (grams per minute) although frustratingly, it’s rarely listed. The GPM relates to the water force, and most UK showers have a GPM of around 2.5. A shower head with a lower GPM is generally considered a water-saving one. However, make sure you consider the placement of the nozzles. Some shower heads feature nozzles placed at angles that help to create the sensation of a torrential downpour without using ridiculous amounts of water.
Another nozzle-related tip? Take a second to think about how hard your water is. If you’re in a hard water area, concealed nozzles are more likely to become clogged with limescale, while protruding, rubber-coated ones will be easy to clean. If limescale is a big concern, look for a shower head with coatings made from hydrophobic polymers, which can help to resist limescale build-up.
So how did we test? With a lot of showering, to put it simply. And while we’re probably cleaner than we’ve ever been in our life, we also put in the hours, unscrewing and screwing on heads and hoses and obsessing over nozzle placement, size, and depth. In summary? You can guarantee these shower heads won’t let you down. In fact, we’re pretty sure baths will look rather boring from this point on.
Certain shower heads are indeed designed to help increase the water pressure because they speed up the process of drawing water from the pipe. The top pick in this review, the Croydex aqua air varone 5 function shower handset, really impressed us in terms of the power of the water spray, which was most notable when it was on the massaging setting.
Croydex’s aqua air varone 5 function shower handset looks fantastic, does everything that other far more expensive shower heads do and is effortlessly easy to install. And then there’s Red Candy’s roarsome dino shower head, which cranks up the fun factor without compromising performance. Finally, there’s Triton’s surprisingly beautiful iris shower head, which blasts out a wide, powerful spray guaranteed to blow away the cobwebs in record time.
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