Some time in December of last year, I had to contend with having near-cold showers daily (more like lukewarm, really). It appeared that something was not right with my thermostatic shower, and this was confirmed by the British Gas HomeCare plumber who attended to it a few weeks ago.

It’s been a while since I had to go through all this rigmarole of finding a plumber, and on Googling for one, I came across this site:

I saw someone who had an almost perfect score with regards to positive feedback and within a couple of days the plumber gave me a ring. Came to inspect the shower and we had a brief chat on whether the shower I found online would fit, all was sorted. All I needed to do then was give him a ring once the shower unit arrives. And the best thing, with this chap was he works Saturdays.

I chose a hansgrohe shower, which is German-made. It is good quality stuff, and I should know as the shower that broke was a hansgrohe too. It was there when I bought the house, and it did look like it should be almost 20 years old now. Which is not bad going, I think.

Thanks to a mate of mine, this particular shower unit was found via Google. This was the cheapest in their Showersense range and its RRP was GBP290. The good thing was that they knocked down the price to GBP180. It did look a bit like the existing shower, although the wall bar was longer, and this one had a soap holder.

The plumber came about half one yesterday, and in less than an hour, it was done. The job was spotless and you’d never think a tradesman had been, and all that for fifty quid. I was well impressed and have in fact lined up another job for him – replacing the taps in the bathroom.

As for the hansgrohe shower, the slight difference was that the Croma shower head was bigger than the old one. Also, there is a shut-off valve controlled with a Ecostop button where water consumption is limited to 10 litres/minute. Nevertheless, the water pressure was such that it felt really good. The temp is limited by the safety stop to 40 degrees C.

Next home project: re-visiting the long forgotten kitchen? Watch this space.