Kohler Water Tiles

[jmillican]

I am remodeling my bathroom by removing the tub and installing a shower in the tub's former location. I presently paln on using 4, or possibly 5, Kohler water tiles arranged as a plus sign (+) with a 22 nozzel tile in the middle and 4 54 nozzel tiles on the perimeter; but I have not yet determined whether this is the best combination. I also do not know whether there is a optimum configuration for the placement of the water tiles. Lastly, I presently have 1/2" copper pipes in the bathroom and I see that the Moen Exact Temp balancing valves come in 2 sizes, 1/2" & 3/4". The 1/2" valve has more features than the larger valve, so I would prefer to use it for ease of installation as well; however, if I am materially sacrificing the water tiles' ultimate performance, the I would prefer the 3/4" model. I did buy a Captains Quarters 3 head from this site and there seems to be enough flow for it. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly valued.

 

[Bob NH]

Check the GPM capacity of the valves, and the demand of the outlets. Five tiles require 12.5 GPM and a tile running at less than 2.5 GPM is probably not going to be satisfactory. Also, how many other shower outlets will you be using?

In addition to the shower valve, you need to be sure the pipe is large enough to deliver the water you need, and the water heater is big enough to supply the water for the time you want it.

Add up the GPM for each outlet and count the minutes. Does your water heater have enough capacity?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[jmillican]

There will be no other outlets as it will be for my wife and myself only. I just got a new 48 gal. water heater with high recovery. I am already using the Captain's Quarters 3 shower head configuration without problems, so I would be adding 2.5 or 5 gpm to our usage. I do not know how to calculate or determine the capacity of a 1/2" pipe which I currently have.

 

[Bob NH]

Only trying to give you some idea what to expect.

You plan 5 tiles at 2.5 GPM each = 12.5 GPM

Assume no additional "head" shower.

Now someone with experience here has said that you get about 70% of tank capacity before your water starts getting cold because of mixing, but let's be generous and say you will get 40 gallons (83%) out of your heater.

40 gallons/12.5 GPM will give you about 3 min and 12 seconds to enjoy your 5-spray shower.

 

[jmillican]

I see the math, but I can tell you that we are getting plenty of hot water even if we shower in succession with the Catain's shower heads pumping out at a total of 7.5 gpm. Using 40 gallons/7.5 gpm we should only get 5 min and 20 seconds to enjoy our shower, IF we use straight hot water only and IF there is no recovery going on. I know we get well over 11 minutes of showers at the present.

I guess I really need to know what volume of water I can expect from a 1/2" pipe.

 

[HappyHank]

Why not use a 4 tile shower head?

For example:

Kohler K-8030 Rain Shower Shower Head
Manufacturer # K-8030

This item is part of the (WaterTile) Series

http://www.************.com/index.c...d Bronze&CS_010=3148701&CS_003=&CS_003=714704