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Vidalux Steam Showers: What to Check Before You Choose a Model
By admin | Uncategorized
By admin | Uncategorized
Before choosing a Vidalux steam shower, check three things first: the model’s footprint against your actual floor space, the minimum ceiling height it needs, and whether your bathroom has the dedicated electrical circuit a built-in steam generator requires. Get those three right and picking a size and finish is the easy part.
You’ve settled on Vidalux… but a steam shower asks more of a bathroom than a plain shower cabin does, and getting one of those extra requirements wrong is an expensive thing to put right after delivery. Here’s exactly what to measure and check before you order, not after: the footprint and ceiling height first, then what the built-in generator actually needs from your electrics and water pressure, and finally what to check the day it arrives.
“Steam shower” and “hydro shower” get used almost interchangeably in search results, and that’s the first thing worth untangling before you go any further.
A Steam Shower has a built-in generator that fills the cabin with hot steam, like a Turkish bath. Like the steam shower, the Hydro Shower has massage jets, hand shower and a rainfall head but no steam generator at all… so if what you actually want is the steam, check the product title for “Steam” before you check anything else about size or finish.
Q: Is a steam shower just a shower with extra buttons?
A: No… the built-in generator is doing real work, turning water into steam on its own electrical connection, which is exactly why the next three checks matter more than they would for an ordinary cabin.
It’s also worth knowing that a steam shower isn’t the same category as a sauna, even though both get filed under “wellness” in a lot of search results… how a steam shower differs from a sauna is the fuller answer if that’s the fork you’re actually stuck on.
This piece assumes you already know what a steam shower cabin is and have settled on Vidalux specifically. If you want the generic ground covered first… what a steam shower cabin actually is, the basic buying checklist that applies across every brand SPW sells… our full steam shower buying guide is the place to start before coming back here.
This is where most steam shower regret actually starts, and it rarely starts with the shower itself.
Buy for the room you’ve got, not the one in the photo. The live Vidalux steam shower range on SPW runs from 800mm up to 1400mm, across quadrant, offset and rectangular shapes… Essence, Clearwater, Fusion, Miami, Serenity, Selsey and Tempest all sit inside that footprint band, just built differently around it.
The Essence 900, as a worked example, sits in the middle of that range… a 900mm quadrant cabin that needs the same floor-space discipline as any other model here: measure the actual clear space, not just the tray dimension printed on the product page.
Q: Does a bigger steam shower always mean more comfortable?
A: Not if it doesn’t fit the room properly… a well-measured 800mm cabin beats a squeezed-in 1200mm one every time.
Worth knowing… the footprint on a product page is the tray size, not the space you need to assemble and install plus ensure you’ve allowed room to get past a nearby toilet or vanity unit
If you’re still weighing shape against footprint… quadrant versus offset versus rectangular… the different types of steam shower available walks through what each shape actually buys you inside the same floor area.
Everyone measures the floor. Almost nobody measures the ceiling, and it’s the one that actually rules a model out.
Here’s the bit people miss… the shortest Vidalux steam shower models need at least 2,250mm of ceiling height, and Vidalux doesn’t currently offer a steam shower that fits into a space with only 1,800mm of clearance. That’s the clearance the cabin itself needs, and it’s separate from how much headroom you actually get standing inside it: the Essence 900 and Essence 1000 both have an internal height of approximately 6’4″, which is the figure that tells you whether you’ll be ducking under the shower head once it’s fitted.
Fitting adds two more numbers to check, not just the ceiling itself. Installers need at least 40cm of clearance all round the unit to fit it in the first place, plus a further 15cm above the cabin specifically to fit the overhead monsoon shower… neither of those is optional, and both get missed by anyone who’s only measured the footprint.
Q: Can a low ceiling be worked around by choosing a different model?
A: No… every current Vidalux steam shower needs the same 2,250mm minimum, so a genuinely low ceiling rules out the whole category, not just one cabin.
Stan’s take: measure the ceiling before you fall in love with a model… it’s the one people skip.
Measure twice, order once.
The generator is the part buyers worry about most, and it’s also the part with the least left to actually decide.
On a Vidalux steam shower, the generator comes built into the unit as standard, not sold or sized as a separate kit the way Vidalux’s standalone steam room generators are. Exact placement inside the cabin varies by model… on the Essence 900, for example, it sits on the back of the central column, but Vidalux’s own guidance is to check your specific model’s installation manual rather than assume a fixed location. What that means for buying is simpler either way: sizing a generator isn’t a decision you make model by model the way it is with a standalone steam-room generator kit… the cabin and its generator already arrive matched to each other.
Q: Does a built-in generator mean less choice than a separate kit?
A: Less setup decision-making, not less performance. The trade-off moves from “which kW rating” to “is my bathroom actually ready for it,” which is a planning question, not a spec question.
A steam shower’s only as good as the generator inside it, and what that generator asks of your bathroom is a proper electrical supply. All electrical connections for any powered unit must be performed by a Part P qualified electrician by law, to maintain warranty validity. Per GOV.UK’s Approved Document P, that’s the statutory guidance covering electrical safety in dwellings… design, installation, inspection, testing and notification all included, not just getting a cable to the unit.
Water pressure matters just as much as the electrics. Vidalux recommends a minimum of 1.5 to 3.0 bar for optimal performance… below 1.5 bar, the generator may struggle to fill and the massage jets will run weak. Water Regs UK (the body behind the WRAS approval mark) sets out the wider fittings regulations your plumbing needs to meet before any of that can be confirmed.
Getting the model right doesn’t end the checklist… the order itself and the day it arrives both have their own way of going wrong.
That last one is worth stating plainly, because it’s the mistake with the most expensive fix: do not book plumbers, installers or fitters until your item has been delivered and inspected… booking tradespeople prematurely is a delay you’ll be covering yourself, not something Vidalux can be held liable for.
Bottom line… getting one of these checks wrong before you order is the expensive way to find out. One general UK cost guide (MyBuilder) puts a full steam shower, unit and fitting together, at roughly £2,500–£10,000 depending on the model and the complexity of the electrical and plumbing work involved… a rough frame for the stakes, not a figure SPW is quoting itself.
Cheapest first, best-fit second is how returns happen.
Smart Price Warehouse is family-run, and in its own words is one of the longest established re-sellers of steam shower products in the UK… which is a long time to learn what actually goes wrong when someone skips a measurement.
Once the footprint, ceiling height, electrics and water pressure are confirmed, choosing a specific finish is genuinely the easy part left. Browse the live Vidalux steam shower range to see the current Essence, Clearwater, Fusion, Miami, Serenity, Selsey and Tempest line-up against the checks above.
If you’d rather see the wider picture first, the wider steam showers range covers every brand SPW stocks, side by side.
Q: What are common problems with steam showers?
A: The most common regrets are picking the wrong footprint for the room, missing the ceiling-height requirement, and not planning the dedicated electrical circuit a built-in generator needs. All three are checkable before you order… none are a fault with the unit itself.
Q: What is the best brand of steam shower?
A: SPW doesn’t rank brands with invented ratings… it stocks several established UK ranges, including Vidalux. This piece covers what actually decides whether a Vidalux model fits your bathroom, not a “best brand” claim.
Q: How long should you sit in a steam shower?
A: Vidalux steam sessions are capped at 15 minutes maximum by design, to let the generator’s sensors reset and cool between uses. Beginners should start at 5–10 minutes and build up.
Q: What ceiling height does a Vidalux steam shower need?
A: At least 2,250mm for the shortest models… Vidalux doesn’t currently offer a steam shower that fits under 1,800mm of clearance. Measure this before the floor footprint, not after.
Q: Does a Vidalux steam shower need an electrician?
A: Yes… every powered Vidalux unit’s electrical connection must be fitted by a Part P-qualified electrician on its own dedicated circuit, by law, to keep the warranty valid.