[Happysmiles]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Looking for all things bathroom...

Not looking for very expensive stuff. But looking for durable and maintenance free stuff. Any advice would be appreciated, as have to finalise in a day.

The new range of Jaquar is very good.
Here in Pune you need to see the products at the Jaquar display gallery and place order with model number to the local dealer.

The gallery will give you a quote etc. The dealer will give delivery after discount.

I got all taps, showers, washbasin, WC of Jaquar.

For towel racks, toothbrush holders, soap dish etc. I got Perk from the distributor at 25% discount on MRP. Heavy duty 100% brass with chrome finish. Fantastic quality.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Kohler has a great range and at very competitive prices , some of the models are cheaper than domestic competitors , absolutely no issues on quality / durability . Even if you have to factor little higher budget overall will suggest you to opt for this brand going by my personal experience.

Checked out Kohler at Market Yard in Poona. The stuff was way too expensive! The sales lady wasn't really helpful either.

Originally Posted by Happysmiles

The new range of Jaquar is very good.
Here in Pune you need to see the products at the Jaquar display gallery and place order with model number to the local dealer.

The gallery will give you a quote etc. The dealer will give delivery after discount.

I got all taps, showers, washbasin, WC of Jaquar.

For towel racks, toothbrush holders, soap dish etc. I got Perk from the distributor at 25% discount on MRP. Heavy duty 100% brass with chrome finish. Fantastic quality.

Somany showroom at Market Yard told us the same thing - that we have to place order with dealer who will give discount. But even after discount it was somewhat more expensive than Parryware, Hindware (Not as high as Kohler though). And based on the exterior finish I couldn't really justify the higher prices.

Seeing lot of -ve reviews of Hindware on the net. So bit wary of the brand now. Tentatively inclined towards Parryware for now.

Perk is a brand? If it's really as good as you say, I should check it out for sure. Hope it's available in Pune.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Bumping an old thread, as earlier threads discussing brands are very old, reviews/opinions may not be applicable now.

Looking for all things bathroom. Which brands are better for sanitary/ceramic ware? Parryware/Hindware/Cera/any other? Inclined towards Parryware as their closet at least is bit cheaper than equivalent Hindware. But what about quality and durability? What about other fittings like wash basins, mixers, showers taps, etc? Have heard that low end Jaquar fittings are not durable. Is that true? If not Jaquar then what? Do cockroach trap drains really work?

Not looking for very expensive stuff. But looking for durable and maintenance free stuff. Any advice would be appreciated, as have to finalise in a day.

Bathroom fittings - Go for Jaquar, also check Kohler before finalizing.
Sanitarywares - Check Cera/Hindware. Parryware is also good and slightly cheap.

[Sebring]

Is there an online vendor for Bathroom fittings? I'm sure it will be cheaper, but cant risk if its spurious?

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Is there an online vendor for Bathroom fittings? I'm sure it will be cheaper, but cant risk if its spurious?

You get bathroom fittings on popular e-commerce sites, such as flipkart, snapdeal, Amazon and even tolexo.com

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Bathroom fittings - Go for Jaquar, also check Kohler before finalizing.
Sanitarywares - Check Cera/Hindware. Parryware is also good and slightly cheap.

Finally got Parryware closet, besides tiles of some lesser known brand. Still to get other stuff, so still researching. Have used Parry products for about a decade, and it has held out well. Also its a bit cheaper than Hindware, which clinched the deal.

As someone mentioned above, Kohler does seem to have lower end stuff too. Too bad the sales girls seemed pretty disinterested at Bombay Tiles in Shankar Sheth Road, Pune, who seems to be an authorized dealer. So we ended up skipping the brand.

Later, heard good things about the brand "RAK", from v reliable sources. If anyone is looking for very good but not very expensive stuff, consider checking it out. They have a downloadable catalogue with prices on their site.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Later, heard good things about the brand "RAK", from v reliable sources. If anyone is looking for very good but not very expensive stuff, consider checking it out. They have a downloadable catalogue with prices on their site.

Yes, we have 4-5 wash basins of RAK brand, they are good.

[Raccoon]

Some observations, experiences and questions.

Visited a shop that had parts dismantled parts of a Cera and Jaquar tap. Shopkeeper asked us to note that Cera tap was made of brass and Jaquar of "white metal". I have no idea what exactly he ment by white metal, and upon questioning, drew a black. In the lower range, the price of Jaquar are typically just a bit higher than Cera (varies depending on product and models). So according to him Cera is a much better option and Jaquar are using lower cost material and have lowered quality to enter the lower end market. However, upon buying a few Cera items, it is pretty clear that despite being made of brass and feeling more solid due to higher weight, the overall feel, fit and finish of Jaquar is decidedly better. Further, surprisingly, few products of Cera came with scratches right out of the box! Towel rods and such esp. were very disappointing, with more than 3 boxed products of same product at an authorized dealer all had significant scratches and blemishes.

So, the unanswered question that I now have is if the choice of metal between this brands makes any real difference?

Another issue we now have is related to water pressure and showers - do concealed diverters (aka mixers) work properly in relatively lower water pressure? In this case the water tank is two floors above the floor the shower is in (which would most likely make the tank at say about 12 - 15 feet above the level of the shower. Jaquar have what they call a High Flow internal diverter (see picture) which shopkeeper said should be used in this scenario. But how can a part that has no pump or similar help in creating higher water pressure for the diverter and shower to work? Note that the high flow diverter costs somewhat higher than the regular variant. Any thoughts anybody?

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Another issue we now have is related to water pressure and showers - do concealed diverters (aka mixers) work properly in relatively lower water pressure? In this case the water tank is two floors above the floor the shower is in (which would most likely make the tank at say about 12 - 15 feet above the level of the shower. Jaquar have what they call a High Flow internal diverter (see picture) which shopkeeper said should be used in this scenario. But how can a part that has no pump or similar help in creating higher water pressure for the diverter and shower to work? Note that the high flow diverter costs somewhat higher than the regular variant. Any thoughts anybody?

I have a similar problem where my water head is about 20ft from the tap and had similar concerns. I went with a normal diverter which has just one lever to open the tap as well as adjust hot/cold temperatures. There is a button on top which enables water to go the shower instead of down below like a tap.

I suspect the whole problem of low pressure affects this button's operation. Normally this button is such that once you stop the water the button's state is set back to "tap" setting. In very low pressure this does not work well.

However, with a 20ft water head my jaquar stuff is working quite well.

I am not sure but i suspect that the low pressure type diverters don't have a spring loaded type of button to divert water to the shower but have a fixed position which needs to be reset after using the shower back to tap setting.

[Raccoon]

^^^Thanks for the inputs. Really wish manufacturers like Jaguar have proper literature somewhere to shed light on all this. Low and high pressure are very relative terms. And that's likely to cause a lot of problems with all these fittings.

[Chetan_Rao]

@ deep_bang & Raccoon: We had the same issue with the Jaquar shower fittings in our duplex setup at my parents' home. The ground floor shower gets enough water pressure and works flawlessly, but the first floor shower has issues with the shower/tap switch. I filed a request with Jaquar (surprisingly good service even in a Tier 2/3 city like Bhopal) and a technician turned up in a couple hours.

He said the the shower/tap switch needs enough pressure to stay in shower mode, but can also be manually set by pulling up an extra bit and twisting a bit to hold in place (I'm assuming that's Indian jugaad).

The only real solution is to have a pressure booster installed on the overhead tank outlet.

[Raccoon]

^^^You haven't mentioned how high up/which floor the water tank is placed? Is the water tank on the floor right above?

Installing a pressure booster and all just to have a internal divertor does not make sense when the shower was working acceptably on the same floor without any fancy fittings (just mixed using two stop cocks). It seems external divertors/mixers also dont have any issues with lower pressure. Its the internal single lever divertors that seem to have issues... with Jaquar having 2 versions (as mentioned above) for higher and lower pressure, but with no explaination at all as to what they define by lower presure or how it works.

Nobody knows if brass taps have any real advantage, esp., in relatively hard water?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

^^^You haven't mentioned how high up/which floor the water tank is placed? Is the water tank on the floor right above?

Yes, the water tank is placed on the terrace right above the first floor, so that shower is ~15 feet below the tank outlet. Width of the tank outlet pipe will also make a difference I believe.

I'd agree a booster makes sense only in a house with a lot of outlets and the possibility of multiple ones being in-use simultaneously. We're still debating if we need one.

Do keep in mind that a working shower won't necessarily mean a satisfactory experience. Our first floor shower never had enough pressure even with a regular shower setup before we changed fittings.

Reg. brass, it's durable but surfaces tend to oxidize over time. May not affect durability much but is an aesthetic nightmare to maintain irrespective of water type. There may be brass stuff with anti-oxidation coatings or some such jazz, but costs a bunch and durability may be unknown.

[Raccoon]

Jus to know, any idea how much such a booster costs? Works on electricity, obviously?

15 I reckon should be okay for a 'usable' shower? One important issue is number of bends in the pipe, which reduce pressure. Trust plumbers to not bother about such trivialities. Possibly that was the case at your place?

[mayankk]

Anyone has any idea about how to stop showers from getting salt/impurity clogs?
I have a brilliant offer for a full cubicle singing dancing showering system, but in my apartment complex, the water supply is pretty bad, in that, all my showers clog up in about 2-3 months.
Sorry, but did not want to create a new thread, and this seemed like the closest match for a query.