Currently I’m in the process of having a new boiler fitted and a new shower. The first thing I needed to do was find a decent plumber. And to make sure you don’t end up with a rogue plumber who doesn’t know what they are doing, visit our new CheckaTrade checklist and also as it’s a boiler and needs someone experienced with Gas, make sure they are a current member of the Gas Safe Register. 

Ideally make sure they are nearby too – just in case there are any issues. For example, as I live in a small village, I have chosen a plumber whose house I can actually see from my own! This makes it easy for them to pop over and fix anything that goes wrong.

And when choosing a boiler, you need to make sure you give the plumber details of:-

1. How many radiators you have
2. The number of bathrooms
3. Number of people in the home
4. Type of shower you want
5. Anything else you fancy fitting, for example I’m after a steam shower

All of these things will affect the job. For example the more hot water you need, the more powerful boiler you will need to have and the more powerful boiler you need to have, the bigger the pipework into your home is required.

When choosing a boiler, you need to make sure it’s also one your plumber is familiar with. A few years ago, mine was recommending Baxi boilers as they had gone back to using copper fittings, but now Baxi seem to have lost the market and switched back to plastic, causing all sorts of problems, so he has switched to New World boilers as they are investing heavily and are quite cost effective. However from my perspective I like a good old name such as Worcester Bosch. They may be more expensive, but they’ve been steady over time. I’d rather pay a bit more and be sure it’s going to work than buy the cheapest and hope it works on-going.

What to think about when choosing a shower

The first thing you must do is make sure you have a shower which is thermostatically controlled. Why? Well if someone flushes the loo or puts the washing machine on when you are in the middle of your shower, it won’t go freezing cold! So it is definitely worth the money.

The second thing to think about is whether you want electric, water heated or both. I am lucky enough to have two showers, so I have one of each. This way if something happens to the water heater, then you can still have a hot shower via the electric one.

Next, think about the size of the rose you want if it’s mains fed or if the shower is electric and then make sure the boiler you have will be big enough to supply water to the size of shower you have chosen.

Finally, it’s a good idea where possible to have a shower which has it’s main workings on the outside – rather than built in behind your tiles. This way if something goes wrong it’s really easy to fix, rather than taking off the tiles and ending up losing several days of showers due to re-tiling and grouting.

Read and print our checklists to help you work through the key steps to:-

• How to avoid a rogue trader
• How to replace a boiler
• Maintaining your home