One of the first questions anyone has when considering a shower filter is, "Will it fit my shower?" The quick and simple answer to the question is; "Yes".
Yes a shower filter should pretty much 99% of times fit your shower.
Whether you have a shower that has a hand-held shower head, or if you have a shower which has a fixed shower head or even if you have an electric shower - your shower is most probably suitable to fit a filter.
This is because 99% of showers here in the UK (and also all over the world) are installed with standard sized piping, this means that manufacturers of shower filters all over the world and manufacturers of shower fittings all over the world do not need to manufacture fittings like shower heads or hoses for specific shower brands and they can simply manufacture products which will fit all showers.
In the UK we classify the 'thread-size' of pipes that are used in showers to fit shower heads and hoses, as 1/2 Inch BSP.
BSP stands for British Standard Pipe, but do not be fooled by the use of British in the name, BSP is actually a standard that has been adopted to be used internationally.
Apart from one place in the world, the USA - where pipe thread sizes are standardised into NPT (they always have to be different, don't they?).
Even though there are two different names for these pipe size standards, they still closely match each other, so in actual practicality it does not matter if a fitting is 1/2 Inch BSP or 1/2 Inch NPT - they are both equivalent.
So you can be pretty much sure that the pipe in your shower that currently holds your shower head, or the shower hose that currently attaches your hand held shower head is of a standard size of 1/2 Inch BSP.
If you want to be triple sure that your shower pipes will fit a 1/2 BSP filter you can measure the male end of one of the shower pipes (with the shower head or hose removed) and it should measure approximately 21 - 22mm.
When fitting new plumbing devices in the shower it can sometimes seem daunting at the amount of jargon that plumbers and some websites might use.
So below we have explained in simple language the most common jargon you will read: BSP - British Standard Pipe : This acronym denotes a standard adopted internationally (apart from the USA) that classifies the sizes of pipes.
Pipe sizes can also be called 'thread sizes'.
In the case of shower thread sizes the majority of showers all over the world use 1/2 inch BSP, so most shower filter and shower fitting manufacturers make their showers pipes 1/2 inch BSP to ensure that they are compatible with the fittings out in the market.
NPT - National Pipe Thread: This is an American standard which again denotes the size of pipes.
In this case 1/2 inch NPT is equivalent to 1/2 inch BSP - so we do not need to worry if American shower fittings can be used in the UK (or Europe) because we know that they are of the same size.
Thread size: The thread of a pipe is the end portion of the pipe which has concentric grooves.
When placing a 'male end' and a' female end' of two pipes of the same thread size together and rotating in a clockwise direction, the threads grip into each other and pull the two pipes together.
Thereby making a seal between the two pipes.
Pipe size is another name for thread size.
Male end of pipe: The male end of the pipe is the end of a pipe which has the threads exposed and fits into a corresponding female end of a pipe of the same pipe / thread size.
Female end of pipe: The female end of a pipe is larger than the male end and has non-exposed threads, it functions to allow a male ended pipe to be screwed inside it thus connecting two pipes.
Hand Held Shower Head: A hand held shower head is usually fitted to a shower hose and then is placed in a shower cradle, so that when showering one can remove the head from the cradle and it can be held in the hand to shower.
Fixed Shower Head: A fixed shower head is a shower head that is fixed onto a pipe that either comes from the wall or the ceiling and cannot be removed whilst showering.
We hope this article has been informative and has demystified some of the issues around how to fit a shower filter and the terminology used to explain their fittings.
Yes a shower filter should pretty much 99% of times fit your shower.
Whether you have a shower that has a hand-held shower head, or if you have a shower which has a fixed shower head or even if you have an electric shower - your shower is most probably suitable to fit a filter.
This is because 99% of showers here in the UK (and also all over the world) are installed with standard sized piping, this means that manufacturers of shower filters all over the world and manufacturers of shower fittings all over the world do not need to manufacture fittings like shower heads or hoses for specific shower brands and they can simply manufacture products which will fit all showers.
In the UK we classify the 'thread-size' of pipes that are used in showers to fit shower heads and hoses, as 1/2 Inch BSP.
BSP stands for British Standard Pipe, but do not be fooled by the use of British in the name, BSP is actually a standard that has been adopted to be used internationally.
Apart from one place in the world, the USA - where pipe thread sizes are standardised into NPT (they always have to be different, don't they?).
Even though there are two different names for these pipe size standards, they still closely match each other, so in actual practicality it does not matter if a fitting is 1/2 Inch BSP or 1/2 Inch NPT - they are both equivalent.
So you can be pretty much sure that the pipe in your shower that currently holds your shower head, or the shower hose that currently attaches your hand held shower head is of a standard size of 1/2 Inch BSP.
If you want to be triple sure that your shower pipes will fit a 1/2 BSP filter you can measure the male end of one of the shower pipes (with the shower head or hose removed) and it should measure approximately 21 - 22mm.
When fitting new plumbing devices in the shower it can sometimes seem daunting at the amount of jargon that plumbers and some websites might use.
So below we have explained in simple language the most common jargon you will read: BSP - British Standard Pipe : This acronym denotes a standard adopted internationally (apart from the USA) that classifies the sizes of pipes.
Pipe sizes can also be called 'thread sizes'.
In the case of shower thread sizes the majority of showers all over the world use 1/2 inch BSP, so most shower filter and shower fitting manufacturers make their showers pipes 1/2 inch BSP to ensure that they are compatible with the fittings out in the market.
NPT - National Pipe Thread: This is an American standard which again denotes the size of pipes.
In this case 1/2 inch NPT is equivalent to 1/2 inch BSP - so we do not need to worry if American shower fittings can be used in the UK (or Europe) because we know that they are of the same size.
Thread size: The thread of a pipe is the end portion of the pipe which has concentric grooves.
When placing a 'male end' and a' female end' of two pipes of the same thread size together and rotating in a clockwise direction, the threads grip into each other and pull the two pipes together.
Thereby making a seal between the two pipes.
Pipe size is another name for thread size.
Male end of pipe: The male end of the pipe is the end of a pipe which has the threads exposed and fits into a corresponding female end of a pipe of the same pipe / thread size.
Female end of pipe: The female end of a pipe is larger than the male end and has non-exposed threads, it functions to allow a male ended pipe to be screwed inside it thus connecting two pipes.
Hand Held Shower Head: A hand held shower head is usually fitted to a shower hose and then is placed in a shower cradle, so that when showering one can remove the head from the cradle and it can be held in the hand to shower.
Fixed Shower Head: A fixed shower head is a shower head that is fixed onto a pipe that either comes from the wall or the ceiling and cannot be removed whilst showering.
We hope this article has been informative and has demystified some of the issues around how to fit a shower filter and the terminology used to explain their fittings.
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