Steam showers are an exciting way to update and upgrade your bathroom.
In addition to the proven health benefits of steam, most steam showers include
features such as ceiling rain, water jets, massagers, digital sound, and more.
Choosing which type of steam shower you want in your own home can be a difficult
decision. A custom walk-in steam room made from stone can cost upwards of
$20,000, whereas a modular bathroom shower enclosure tends to cost between $2000
and $6000, depending on the size, features, and quality of manufacturing.
Unfortunately, it is impossible for a modular steam shower to be a true walk-in
shower that does not require opening and shutting a door. If you demand a
doorless entry bathroom shower, then you will have to build a custom unit.
Thinking about building a steam shower? A custom steam shower must be built from the ground up, because it is virtually
impossible to retrofit a tiled in shower to have the proper plumbing and piping
to hold, conceal, and operate a steam generator. In general, I rate the
appearance of tiled in custom steam rooms higher, but rate the functionality
and reliability of steam shower kits as vastly superior to a custom unit.
My name is Adam Simmons, and I have 30 years of plumbing/electrical experience
on the Chicago area. I have built dozens of custom steam rooms and
approximately 50 modular steam showers. Bad knees and a bad back have
ended my career of contracting, but I figured I would share my knowledge on the
web because I get so many questions on the subject. I will try to answer
any questions I receive at
adam.simmons@steamshower.net. I tend to share frequently asked
questions on the website.
Electricity: Most residential steam shower units require a dedicated 30 amp, 110 volt hard wired
electrical connection. To be an ETL approved steam shower, the shower must
be setup to require 220V power. There are a few exceptions where a
110 volt steam shower has been made ETL approved. In general, you should make sure
to talk to the manufacturer about the electrical requirements before you order
the steam shower. Whatever you do, make certain that the electrical wiring
to your steam generator is done by a professional licensed electrician.
The steam shower wiring is extremely simple -- you just connect a positive,
negative, and ground wire -- so it can be tempting to do it yourself. I
feel strongly that you should not do this. Here is a picture of a typical
steam generator electrical wiring.
Plumbing: The majority of steam showers connect to standard American plumbing (the
same plumbing that connects to your washer and dryer). You will need to
setup incoming hot and cold water pipes (every steam shower I have ever seen has
the same hookups as American washer/dryers. These are flex pipes, meaning
that your hot and cold water source can be located anywhere behind the shower.
This is what the hot/cold water
hoses will look like. They are generally very long. The hookup on
your wall will look exactly like a washing machine hookup.
Drainage:
Steam showers tend to come with "flex hoses" below the drain,
meaning that your drain system can be located anywhere underneath the shower.
The same flex hoses exist for the incoming water, allowing your hot/cold in
pipes to be located anywhere behind the shower. Again, this is common but
not universal and you should speak with your manufacturer about this.
Flexible steam shower
drains typically look something like this. The top left portion of the
drain (labeled A) is a 1.5 inch (40mm) connection that will connect to your home
plumbing system. This is the same type of drain found in washers/dryers
and almost all existing bathtubs and showers. The right portion of the
drain pipe (labeled B) connects to your steam shower. This pipe can expand
to be about 4 feet long, allowing your drain to be placed just about anywhere
underneath the shower.
What other features are common?
The most common features seem to be ceiling rain, moveable hand showers, foot
massagers, chromotherapy steam shower lights, water jets, water jets, accupressure jets, blue
glass, am/fm radios, iPod hookups, stereo sound, telephones (some phones allow
only incoming calls, some allow you to make and receive calls), ozinators, steam
temperature control, steam timers, alarm system (I have never understood why
this is necessary)
Water Pressure: Most steam showers require about 60 PSI (pounds per square inch) of water
pressure to operate. Water pressure does not differ much around the United
States. Unless your home has noticeably low water pressure, a modular
steam shower should work in your house.
Leaks: Most of our recommended steam showers are setup with hoses and plumbing that
are unlikely to leak within 20 years of installation, but even a small leak
behind a steam shower could lead to mold, which can be difficult if not
impossible to remove from the fiberglass backing. We recommend scanning
behind the steam shower for dampness once in a while. Cheaper steam
showers are far more likely to leak with time. If you aren't sure about
the manufacturer you are ordering from, ask them to email you a picture of the
water hoses built into the shower and explain the material they are made from.
I have had problems with this from certain manufacturers, so do your research or
buy from a major steam shower provider (check out my recommendations at the end
of the article).
Installation: Just about any licensed plumber/electrician can install the steam showers.
They are simple to put together, but before the contractor leaves make sure
everything is working properly. Test the functionality and make sure there
are no water leaks yourself. Steam shower kits will leak water if not
installed properly, this is not a design flaw - they just require correct
installation or they won't be completely waterproof (especially behind the
shower.)
Assembly Guide: Ask for a copy of the assembly guide before you order your shower. The
quality of the English in a steam shower instruction manual will tell you a lot
about the company you are dealing with. You don't want to see a sentence
like "For Make Build Steam Shower Model Z87 Must Insert Base Acrylic On Stone
Floor"in the manual.
What steam shower should I buy?
There are many things to consider when choosing your steam shower. Do
you want a bathtub? Do you want room for more than one adult? How
big is your bathroom? Do you want a color other than white? Very few
manufacturers produce non-white steam showers. Are you building a
new bathroom, or is this for an existing bathroom remodel? If you are
building a new bathroom, I advise getting the biggest steam shower you can find.
You'll appreciate the extra space, trust me. If it's an existing bathroom
remodel, then you will probably want to find a steam shower with dimensions
similar to your current shower.
I have installed products by
American Standard Bathrooms,Wasauna Steam Showers, Kohler Steam Rooms and Grohe.
All four companies have great products with excellent quality. I have had
very bad experiences with other steam shower brands, but I don't want to get
into naming bad companies, so I will leave it at this: Be *very* careful about
Internet only brand showers. Many of them do not offer good warranty
support or stock parts, and the companies tend to know little to nothing about
the product. Of the many off-brand steam showers I have installed, a large
majority of them have had after installation issues and many have to be removed
or constantly repaired, even leaking water behind the shower, causing mold and
fungus and other issues. Please, please, please: do not buy a steam shower
on eBay. You will get a cheap shower, no service, and end up wasting your
money.
Ask for a picture of the shower in a real bathroom: It can be hard to see what a steam shower really looks like from the
pictures on most Internet sites. Try to get your seller to send you a
couple pictures of the shower in real bathrooms.
Double Check the Dimensions: Some of the steam showers are smaller than they look. Measure your
existing bathroom shower, and make sure that your order one at least this size,
unless you know that you will be comfortable with something smaller.
Accessing the steam shower internal components once the shower is installed: This can be done in 3 ways.
1) Moving steam shower away from the way. This requires you to
physically move a 500 pound shower, which is not the easiest idea.
2) Installing a control panel behind the steam shower that allows access
from outside the house or a closet in another room. This requires some
foresight, as well as making a hole in your wall and finding a way to create a
good looking panel. It's best to do this inside a closet. The bigger
the panel, the easier it will be to mess around inside the back of the shower in
the future.
3) Purchasing a steam shower that has an access panel built into the
shower.
Option number 2 is the most practical. Most steam
shower enclosures do not include a built-in access panel, and it is usually
small even on those that do. Moving your steam shower away from the wall
is difficult and impossible if you have tiled in the steam shower and anchored
it to the ground.
Steam Shower Steam: Of course, steam shower rooms do not really produce steam. Real steam
is so hot that it would burn you and probably kill you.
This is what the hot/cold water
hoses will look like. They are generally very long. The hookup on
your wall will look exactly like a washing machine hookup.
