Translating…
The showering experience is solely dependent upon one component, the shower head. Your valve should be in good operating condition, if not performance may be affected, for this essay we will take for granted that the valve is in optimal operating condition.
There are several types of head designs and functions, for now we will address two types and their required installation methods, the most common types of installation are wall and ceiling mounted. A wall mounted is your typical shower arm coming out of the wall positioned above the water valve, the ceiling shower head is mounted using a shower arm installed in the ceiling. With a wall mounted head you may use the existing arm, should the choice be a ceiling mounted you may be required to install new piping that will penetrate through the ceiling in order to install the proper shower arm. There is a limit to the size to the size of the head you can mount on the wall due to the cut-off angle at which you can direct the water, if the head is too large the water will simply fall within a short distance of the head due to gravity and may not effectively reach the bather. On the other hand a ceiling mounted head has no limit in size; its performance is dependent on the design of the head, gallons per minute flow can affect performance but is usually sufficient should the head be designed to perform. There are a number of features you should be aware of when considering either option.
When choosing a wall mounted head try to keep its size in perspective, don’t try to go over 5 inches in diameter, this will ensure that the spray will be adequate for the bather, over 5 inches will decrease its effectiveness. There are shower heads available up to 8 inches that work very well when wall mounted, 8 inch square and round heads offered by blvd Products is one to consider if you want to push the size issue. Choose a head that has silicone jets, these can be easily cleaned if there is a calcium build-up due to questionable water quality, metal jets easily clog and become difficult to clean. Jets that are nothing more than holes found in the bottom metal spray plate will also build-up deposits and may discolor or fade the finish. Gravity is the deadly sin to a wall mounted shower head, especially if you are considering design and appearance over performance, the smaller you go with a wall mounted shower head the better the spay. I recommend not choosing a Bell Head, a Victorian style head, they are gravity fed and will not perform well if used on a wall.
When choosing a ceiling mounted head, there is no limit to size. Do not choose a small head like 6 to 8 inches, the smallest size you should consider is 10 inches, if smaller than 10 inches your bathing experience will be similar to a wall mounted head and it will look out of place with regard to visual perspective . Square, round or other shape considerations do not play into the product’s performance, I highly recommend nothing less than silicone spray nozzles for a large shower head. The main consideration when choosing a large ceiling mounted head is its profile, the profile is the thickness of the shower head, the thinner the profile the more dynamic the performance, a thin profile permits the water to channel to the spray nozzles more efficiently and unobstructed , what I call the “matrix”, the “matrix” are the channels through which the water flows inside the head. There are two types of ceiling shower heads, those that spray and those that are gravity fed. A Spray Head sprays the water with adequate force offering a refreshing bathing experience, gravity fed heads are traditionally hollow and fill with water, when the head reaches its minimum engineered capacity gravity takes over and the water spills from the head like a light or heavy rain in droplets.
If you choose a ceiling shower head I recommend having the ceiling shower arm offset in the stall, do not have it installed in the center of the ceiling, unless you have a huge foot print, if centered it will leave you with little space in which to bath without being in the spray path of the head. There is nothing that compares to the bathing experience of a large ceiling mounted head, you may want to consider, especially for the female bather, installing a hand held wall mounted body spray with a two position diverter valve, should the bather not wish to wet her hair during bathing. The diverter will permit control functions between the head and the hand spray, use a sliding bar or wall bracket to mount the hand held body spray, the user can choose to use it as a hand held or a shower. You will also need not only the hand held spray but must include the wall support choice (sliding bar or wall bracket), wall watter supply elbow and the hose, if you choose to add a hand held spray to an existing shower you will require additional piping for its installation.