Brand new Thermasol Steam shower equipment not working properly.
Paul F.
2 months ago
last modified: 2 months ago
My house was damaged by fire and I'm in the middle of renovation. The one extravagance that I personally footed the bill for, not insurance, was a top of the line Thermasol steam shower with LED wifi video screen, lights, sound... you name it. It was $10k for the entire thing not including installation.
The setup includes a 'digital' valve controller that controls the showerhead, the wand and the body sprayer. Problem is that when you change the valve to the body sprayer and use a low setting, you get a dribble of water. The medium and high setting seem fine so clearly it's not my plumbing. The shower head and hand held wand works fine on the low setting, it's just the fixed body sprayer. Thermasol support initially sent a new valve which cost me $300 to change out. The new valve has the same problem but maybe with slightly more water dribbling out.
I had to cause quit a stink with them to get them to do anything else. They eventually sent out a local steam shower installer to verify the problem for them. He saw the problem immediately and told me that the valve was likely not calibrated properly at the factory and told me he would not accept it either. He let Thermosol know it was not operating properly while I was standing right there next to him.
Guess what Thermasol did about it? Nothing! Unbelievably, they have stopped returning my calls entirely! Even the local installer they sent out won't return my calls now either. Apparently, their solution is to stonewall me into accepting the uncalibrated valve. It's bizarre such a big company would do this, no? What would you do in this situation? Just use medium and high and drop it? Am I overreacting? I'm worried that they won't honor the warranty on the whole setup in the future.
The $2400 digital valve is the thing on the bottom right.
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Paul F.
2 months agoRelated Discussions
Converting shower to Steam Shower - N E 1 out there done it?
Comments (11)bicoastal, Unless it's detailed with a full vapor barrier from the start, it's very difficult to turn a "regular" shower into a steam shower with just a little remodeling. Traditional showers are normally built with a drainage plain behind the tile/cement board...it might be tar paper, it might be polyethylene sheet plastic...but it's usually "lapped for drainage" instead of being fully sealed at the seams, and it's usually a partial wall installation instead of being floor-to-ceiling and ceiling. Or there might not be any barrier at all. Just tile over backer board over framing. A steam shower can drive moisture through natural stone, through grout, and into the wall. If there's not a fully inclusive vapor barrier on all six sides of the steam room cube, then moisture vapor can be driven through the wall and into the wall cavities. When warm moisture vapor cools, it'll condense...wetting and saturating the insulation and/or the wood framing. Not good. That's why with steam showers it's best to have a fully integral vapor barrier on all sides of the cube. A small yet important point, is that "waterproofing" does not necessarily mean a "vapor" barrier. You can use a waterproofing membrane, and it'll shed liquid water. That's good enough in a traditional shower. But vapor can pass through some waterproofing membranes. Again, that's not good in a steam shower. Moisture vapor would destroy your green board over time, green board is moisture resistant. Not waterproof. Not vaporproof. It's been recognized for at least the past 20 years by good tile mechanics that green board is an inferior tile backer in wet areas. Building codes finally caught up to common trade knowledge and banned green board as a tile backer in wet areas in 2006. That said, in a typical shower green board can perform fine or 30 years or fail in 3 years. In a steam shower it'd be a short-lived installation due to repeated vapor drive. The nice thing about having a topical vapor barrier applied to the face of the tile backer board (between the backer board and the tile) is that the only thing that can get "wet" in a situation like that is the tile and the thinset. The membrane stops the moisture from penetrating into the backer board. With no deep wetting, the steam shower can dry more quickly than otherwise might be possible. While there are several materials out there that perform fine, you'll see Bill and I mention Kerdi. It's not the only material that can do the job, but it's a warm-fuzzy for me. It's been my membrane of choice since way back in the 20th century. Wow, that's over a thousand years!...See Moreamerec vs mr steam vs thermasol steam shower
Comments (97)I don't understand the last post to this thread? Thermasol offers a 5-year replacement warranty on all their controllers. Why would you pay to replace it? Maybe you had it more than 5 years? If so, then it's too bad it failed but how long do you expect it to last? I doubt you could expect a car to last reliably with no problems longer than 5 years, so why expect that of your steam shower. I have a PRO-395 that I installed 14 months ago. It just failed tonight. Not sure if it is the controller board or the heating element, but it stopped producing steam. Called tech support and they are shipping me a new replacement unit tomorrow and paying for the install, all at no cost. I am going to call them tomorrow to talk to them about the fact that it failed so soon. They are supposedly the best and charge a premium for their product. I am curious how they will explain that it failed so soon. Will update this post if they say anything interesting. Update: Spoke to them this morning and they are sending me a new unit, and pay for installation charge. One other thing. Someone in the tread above talked about making their shower with a 10 ft ceiling. Don't do that! That is just dumb, and will affect the experience of a good steam. If you ever want to make your steam shower bigger, do it in the length or width but never in the height. My house has 10 ft. ceilings, but my shower has a 7.5 ft up to an 8 ft. ceiling and that is plenty high enough. The 7.5 ft part is over the bench so the fact that it is lower there makes no difference because you are sitting down....See MoreAdvice on Steam Showers?!
Comments (13)In my opinion, the actual tilework including waterproofing and all materials shouldn't costy more than $10.000 to $15,000 max. The plumbing work shouldn't exceed $5.000 to 10,000 max since you'll provide amost everything the plumber needs. I am not sure how much work it will be to build/frame the actual shower from scratch, however, I thing it shouldn't cost more than $10,000 to $15,000 including Material. So, all in all it shouldn't cost you not more than $30,000 to 45,000 Here is my suggestion for you: When you have done your research to find the right contractor(s), request detailed estimates from them. The estimates should be AT LEAST devided in cost for labour and materials. Ask your contractor(s) how long it will take them to complete their work. Depending on the overhead a contractor has and what "live style" he practice, he'll most likely carge you between $500 and $1000 per day, material not included. So, when he says he'll finish the job in 5 days and he charges you $10,000 just for labour, you will pay him $2,000 per day. Lets say he will worke all togehter 10 hours including travel time each day, he will charged you $200 per hour. Compare these rates with other services in your region e.g. your Dentist or car dealership or roofer etc..., and you'll get a pretty good picture how much $$$ seems to be OK but also if someone tries to take advantage of you....See MoreRequesting steam shower feedback
Comments (10)As for tiling... how about outside the shower? Specifically, using marble or other natural stone on the floor of the bathroom? Any ill effect in the long run? Any recommendations for paint in bathroom? A bit of a long-winded answer... You can tile to your heart's content outside of the steam room with whatever materials that you choose. I usually recommend asking the seller about the iron content in the marble. With the proliferation of marble sources now available, high-iron marble is being sold without being identified as such. While any marble (even low-iron) in a steam shower can have moisture issues (dinginess) over time, high-iron marble could "rust" due to moisture penetrating into the stone and wetting the iron content in the marble, causing some pretty nasty orange blotching as the iron oxidizes. Even outside the steamer in the bathroom I recommend addressing the issue of possible iron content in the marble with the seller, and make known your concerns about rust stains. Make it known, get in on paper, and it protects you down the road. So the short answer? Use whatever you want on the surfaces outside of your steam shower, vetting them as you would any other material. Regarding paint? The more gloss, the more resistant to moisture issues. You don't have to go overboard with a true gloss, but I recommend semi-gloss on painted cabinetry and trim, and on the walls, a satin-level sheen. You can go with a higher gloss on the drywall surfaces should you desire, but the higher the gloss, the more the paint will show any imperfections in the wall's surface and the more reflections you'll get from light sources. Reflections can be good...or bad. If you did want to paint the walls with a gloss paint, make it known ahead of time to the wallboard installers and they can give you a better finish. We are planning on looking into the Panasonic fans... Good choice, I recommend Panasonic and FanTech. Consider a remote fan that draws air from two grates in the bathroom. One just outside the shower/steamer, the other over your tub in in a central area....See More
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