Wet room for disabled customer

[Guitarist]

Just a quick pick of your brains, guys.
Elderly disabled customer having a wet room installed (was a room with just a toilet but being extended a little). Firstly, it has quite a large window so is there any actual requirement for an extractor fan? Secondly, I will be fitting a standard 9.5kw shower but was wondering if this should be one specifically for disabled persons with anti-scold etc?
Many thanks.

 

[johnboy6083]

Would a call to help the aged ect help? They may even pay out some of the cost, saving the lady some money.
These people are vulnerable and need people to keep an eye on them. I'm glad your taking this job seriously mate.

 

[ruston]

I would fit an extractor as the customer may not be able to open it. I seem to remember a shower with an upper temp limit but I can't remember the manufacturer, but yes seems a good plan.

 

[needasparks]

Hi fella, I've done many disabled bathrooms for our local council but they are all spec'd, all have what you have said and are all the same.
Don't think they have bells and whistles if this is a private client and building control not involved but i would think you should give them the option and benifits of it.
We have to fit the mira temp stable jobbie (not cheap about £250) as it has the easy use handle and easy find lit on/off as it can control a waste water whale pump conected direct due to not always having a dropped waste fall but Triton have just brought out a similar one but the same moneyand a humidistat fan. Alot of other niknaks go in also but as said its council spec.

 

[Swicade]

Same as needasparks says really.

Do the electrics on afew shower room installs around here for a builder all on council or disability allowance type grants. Thier specs always have an extract fan fitted (council are timed,they ditched the humidistat type awhile back due to problems over time) and special showers. They've started speccing a Triton shower now (wiring one up tomorrow so will get the details of it), used to spec a different make but had issue's with those so i'll try to findout info on the dodgey shower aswell.

 

[Fin170]

We do a lot of council wetrooms, they normally always spec a fan (ours still say humidistat and we're always on call backs)

Mira showers are also specified, but personally if their is another similarly designed shower I'd op for that. We're having nearly a 1 in 10 failure rate at the moment

 

[mark80]

Agree with Fin170 ^^^ The mira advance showers we use for this scenario are terrible for reliability! Cost the earth and you're doing well if they last a year

 

[Kamikaze]

We do a lot of council wetrooms, they normally always spec a fan (ours still say humidistat and we're always on call backs)

Mira showers are also specified, but personally if their is another similarly designed shower I'd op for that. We're having nearly a 1 in 10 failure rate at the moment

We too used to have a high failure rate of Mira Advance showers until one of them went bang big time and there was an investigation into it. Turned out to be the way the plumbers were connecting the water feed in. Too much heat transfer when they were soldering too close to the incoming joint. It was destroying components within the shower unit. They now solder their pipes before the unit goes on the wall and surprise surprise, no more failures.

 

[Guitarist]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I have to stress, the disabled person does not live alone. His wife is with him all the time, and so could open windows/set the shower going, etc. I was merely wondering if there were an building regs I had missed.

 

[Swicade]

The shower that used to be specced was the AKW Luda....but they started to have many issue's with the PCB meaning many callbacks.

They've now moved onto the Triton T100E care range they allow us to fit.

Cant think of any particular building reg regarding extract fans but knowing how councils etc dont like spending money i'm guessing there's something somewhere for all the councils (going by above posts) to spec extract fans to be fitted.

 

[UKMeterman]

Hi,
You may wish to use RCBOs for the supplies to this room, so any faults in this room do not cause issues elsewhere in the property.

 

[KevinS]

You really need to be careful what type of shower you fit. As a lot of posts have already stated the usual is the Mira Advance.
the reason this shower is used (spec of the health people - not the council) is because these showers have a large water tank inside them, this prevents water temperature fluctuations, as a disabled person may not be able to move out of the water flow if it suddenly gets hot, which normally happens on most showers when the toilet is flushed, washer fills, etc

 

[tomo8163]

hi my preference there would be to use a mira advance, but be careful when priming/commissioning the shower and follow the manufacturers instructions. I know by experience that a full-ball valve should be used instead of a penny valve for isolation to the water. If you dont follow the manufacturers instructions it can shorten the life expectancy of the shower and also void the warranty. i had a rep. from mira to give a demonstration of how to install the shower correctly

 

[rsp84]

We too used to have a high failure rate of Mira Advance showers until one of them went bang big time and there was an investigation into it. Turned out to be the way the plumbers were connecting the water feed in. Too much heat transfer when they were soldering too close to the incoming joint. It was destroying components within the shower unit. They now solder their pipes before the unit goes on the wall and surprise surprise, no more failures.

Thats just plain poor workmanship, they should always first fix, then connect the last fitting (compression or plastic speedfit) as theyre placing the shower on the wall, its just asking for trouble.

 

[Super Dragpack]

Firstly, credit to the OP for thinking of these points. It takes a good guy to think about things which would normally be taken for granted.

Secondly, and this will upset you all, the Competent Persons Register (www.http://www.competentperson.co.uk) now states that most bathroom refits are notifiable under Building Regs. Visit that site and download the little brochue. This shocked me as I owned one of the souths largest bathroom installation companies for many years.

In reality - it just ain't going to happen!!!!!!

In my humble view, just keep planning each job properly and don't make assumptions and you'll be fine.