I am new to this forum, and I am completely amazed by the tenacity of all of you. I read your first thread and cannot believe that you worked like crazy all through Christmas! I think Bill and Mongo are brilliant, and Flyleft is amazingly funny and resilient, and so is Ivette and Monica; and that this forum is a Godsend. That being said, I looked at your "New Plan." Is it possible that you could use the Panasonic Whisper product that is the Light/Vent or Heat/Light/Vent variety? If you use the Whisper Warm that is the Heat/Light/Vent, you might eliminate the need for the QMark heat lamp that you show as a product choice. I am thinking of switching from the Nutone prduct I have roughed in to the Whisper Warm because so many users on this forum have said how quietly and warmly it performs. Then would it be possible for you to place this product just outside your shower so that the light could be cast into the shower while bathing, and the heater provide comfort once you step out? Naturally, the fan could be used in warmer months to remove humidity as you showered. I don't know if your venting system will allow you to place this fixture close enough, however. I think that kob's suggestion of a remote to turn off the light is a good one, I have used such a remote in a tall cabinet, they're great. I'm not sure if it would work on a shower light, however. Also, in Nutone's heat/light/vent combination, all three switches are housed in a box that fits into a single switch; the 3 are just arranged vertically. That was one reason I liked the Nutone because the 3-function switch fit into a single switch plate (box). I do not know the configuration of the Panasonic switch box. The Nutone is a little noisy in the heat mode, though, as I have it in another bath. I am not familiar with the "tow" lights kob referred to in his post. Can any one expound? Good Luck, Lisa. You are a woman to be admired. Mommielady

Rainhead. The term "rainhead" has sort of been corrupted over the years. You really need to feel the output yourself and figure out what type you prefer. In my own shower I wanted a traditional rain head. Simple water droplets, so to speak. Mine is a 12" head, and I do consider that to be the smallest size for a decent rain shower, and without a doubt, that is my personal opinion. You want the head away from the wall, so if you have a large rainhead, consider a bracketed or support arm of some sort, the added support can come from the wall or from the ceiling. Something along the lines of this: For your hand shower, have a hose long enough so you can spray down the corners of your shower. Body sprays. The same. Good showrooms have spray displays where you can feel the spray of water. Once upon a time I was intrigued by body sprays, Then I tried them and thought them to be the silliest thing ever. Some folk put in two heads, stacked vertically, one one wall. It's a little more common to want four body heads. Usually on two opposing walls, stacked vertically. You don't want them spraying towards the door. Usually chest and waist height, so figure that out when plumbing. You will have to figure out flow and hot water supply issues, from your water heater to the shower drain. Shower supply valves allow a certain amount of "pass through". You need to make sure each valve can actually supply the water needed to feed the heads that you want it to supply, or you could end up with insufficient flow. With body sprays, I recommend a "loop" supply to feed them, so the last head has pretty much the same flow as the first head. For your shower drain, it needs to be sized to the number of heads you have in the shower. Doesn't matter if only a few of them can or will be on at one time. It's a simple counting of the shower heads. A 2" drain can accomodate a shower with up to three heads. With four or more heads, plan on two 2" drains or a single 3" drain. If your plumber says you don't need to upsize to a 3" drain with four or more heads, he's not complying with code. If you want a "car wash" shower with five or six heads going at once? Your half inch pipe may not be adequate. Sure, with adequate feed pressure behind it it might be able to feed all those heads. But high water velocities through the tubing can actually erode copper from the tubing, potentially resulting in leaks. It's not just a matter of the 1/2" tubing being able to supply the needed water volume. You can crank up the water pressure and get volume. But cranking up the pressure to get the volume increases the water's velocity through the tubing, and again, too high of a "feet per minute" flow through the tubing can actually erode the tubing away. So do be wary if your "contractor" tries to soft talk away all of your concerns. Half-inch supply tubing can work. But it should work because your shower was designed to work with 1/2" tubing, not because, as your contractor told you, "everybody else is doing it". You can help yourself by drawing out a diagram of your shower. Doesn't have to be fancy. Each body spray and each shower head will have a GPM rating. Same with each valve. Make sure the valves and/or diverters that feed those heads can pass through the needed volume of water. Very basic numbers here, but 1/2" can comfortably flow about 5gpm. For hot and cold, that's 10gpm combined. For a comfortable temp out of the shower valve, that gets derated to about 7.5gpm of shower-temperature water. If your body sprays are 1.8GPM, four sprays is 7.2gpm for the body spray set only. You can figure different GPM combinations. Then figure that GPM out of your water heater to see how long your heater can maintain shower temperature. Oh lord. I need coffee...good luck! Edit: I never proof read this after posting it. Egads. Edited to clean up the weird formatting too. This post was edited by mongoct on Tue, Oct 21, 14 at 17:47

Wow its been so long. I took this head out of my old house not long after this review and replaced it with a niagara low flow 1.5gpm head. The 1.5 and 1.25 are great shower heads and are cheap and available everywhere. The old house shower door was only about 5'8" high or so and the aqua helix blows water everywhere, including over the top of the doors. So just moved into a new place. 4 bathrooms. The main floor has a huge shower in there so I took it over. The shower heads were 90's vintage deltas which are high flow junk. I put niagaras in my master shower and kids' bathroom, but I put the aqua helix into my shower. The doors are about 6'6" high, the tiles go almost to the ceiling and the hot water heater is also close by. Water pressure is fine as long as no one flushes. I do really like this head. The pressure may be strong for some, my 7yro daughter complained that it pricks her too much.

I hate the feel of hair on my body -- gives me duck bumps! -- so I wash my hair in my extra large MBR sink. I *could* easily wash it using the hand-held Grohe that can be positioned 'wherever' on its vertical pole. There's *plenty* of water pressure through this. The house is 14 now; no slipping, sliding, or other problems with the hand-held. (We had an old Speakman head in our condo until recent remodeling. Minimal difference.) OT: One of my favorite things in this house is the recirculator on the hot water line. This provides hot water in seconds at every hot water tap in the house. Now that I think of it, even with that fast delivery, I push the hand-held shower spray away from me for those few seconds and flip it back when the water is hot. We should start a thread on how long you spend IN the shower, after all the debate about the water delivery system!