Blue Ocean 52" Aluminum SPA392B Shower Panel Tower System with 8 Adjustable Massage Jets and Rainfall Shower Head & Tub Spout

First, let me say that this thingy is really beautiful. To quote Penny (Big Bang Theory): “It’s HIGH techy-techy”. And functional. Yes, you can run virtually every nozzle at once but, unless your home plumbing system is hooked directly up to a fire hydrant somewhere, expect it to loose pressure in direct relation to how many spray features you activate at a time.. But the typical user will only use one or two features at a time in any event so it’s probably not an issue for most folks (our house water pressure is 40 psi for context). Install was straight-forward and quite easy. Just make sure you take really careful measurements. We were lucky to have had easy access to the back of the tub wall that really simplified things. BUT . . . there are several issues that you really need to be aware of:1. Yes, you can switch the display from C to F. The directions given are poor but all you have to do is remove the cover of a small circular opening, approximately 1 in in diameter, held by two tiny screws – don’t drop them! You’ll need a microscope to find them! The opening is located on a plastic display mounting box immediately behind the display on the backside of the unit. Inside the 1 inch round opening you’ll find a pair of tiny DIP switches. Slide both switches to “ON” to set for F.2. When I received my unit, the display wouldn’t work on battery (tho it did work with the water running). Naturally, I checked the batteries and they were fine, but the battery “ON” button on the face of the unit did nothing. I started tracing the wires in the back and found the small black connector on the lead to the battery box was disconnected at the wiring harness near the middle of the unit. Hazzah. Found the problem. Or not. While it clearly was “A” problem, it wasn’t the only problem. I then traced the wire back from the harness to the battery box and found, hidden in a corner of the box, a disconnected positive wire. It’s not that it had broken off of the terminal; it had never been soldered during manufacture. A quick session with my soldering iron fixed the problem and the display works fine now with the water not running. Clearly a one-off mfg error. Pressing the button with the water OFF will light up the display for about 30 seconds then shuts itself off – although I’m not sure why you’d want it on with the water off. Still, I paid for it and I wanted it to work!. (And I shouldn’t have HAD to fix the thing!) Display stays on continuously with the water running, without the need to press the button. Finally, on the digital display issues, at 90 deg. F, the color changes from a bright blue to a pretty dim orange. The description says it will switch from blue to orange or red. That’s fine. What it DOESN’T say is that when it does it will dim by perhaps 60 percent. It’s not so much that it’s defective; it’s just what it is. Not a real problem and the digits are still legible when orange – just really dim.3. Note the size given is overall, and not the actual “footprint” of the unit. The size is given as 52"H x 10"W x 3.5" which is only SORTA right. The unit has a flat glossy black glass face (and it’s actually quite beautiful) that is, in fact, nearly at the given dimensions (height and width). BUT, (and here’s the issue), the SIDES of the unit are curved UNDER the glass face panel in a convex semi-circle, so the actual “contact footprint” of the unit on the shower wall is, in reality, only 8.5 inches wide by 49.25 inches high. Because the sides are curved into a convex semi-circle, they lift away from the wall as they curve out and up, then back under the glass face. The outward “bulge” of the sides, at their widest matches the width of the glass face, or nearly so, but the “contact point” of the curved sides, where the unit’s frame actually contacts the wall, is only 8.5 inches wide. This is a very important point, since many folks are placing this unit over old valve access holes in the shower/bath wall and want those holes covered by this new unit. If that spacing is any more than 8.5 inches, the old valve holes will show on the sides. Mine were spaced 9 inches from outer edge to outer edge. I covered the holes with small, thin metal “hole-cover” plates (available on Amazon, for example: “Danco 80830 1-3/4-Inch Kitchen Faucet Hole Cover” – there are many others). In my case, with only about 1/4 inch of each old hole showing on each side, the little bit of metal cover disk that’s exposed looks like it’s part of the unit. Height is also a potential issue. The “extra” height between my measurement given here and the published height (nearly 3 inches difference) is that of the glass face that extends about 1.4 inches above and below the frame of the unit, and it’s the FRAME that comes in contact with the wall. Mine JUST barely covered the existing tub spout hole vertically where I wanted to place the unit. So . . . if you’re measuring to cover pre-existing holes, (or for any other reason, for that matter), the better dimensions to use are the “footprint”, or frame-wall-contact measurements of 8.5 inches wide, by 49.25 inches high.4. This unit has an automatic temperature control. That means that you can set the temperature once with one knob and leave it there, using a separate knob to switch the water flow on or off. Once set, during subsequent showers all you have to do is switch the water on and it will automatically mix the hot/cold water to that pre-set temperature. Nice feature. But . . . be careful about your hookups. Our old house has some wacky plumbing (even tho this place was built in the 70’s, I’m thinking that the folks who built it out here in the country still considered the whole idea of indoor plumbing to be something of a big-city novelty), which happened to have the somewhat novel feature of reversed hot/cold water hook-ups, opposite the standard, in this one bathroom. I didn’t think to check/remember that during the install. My bad. So I incorrectly hooked up the hot water line to the cold water inlet and ditto with the cold to hot. In a regularly valved system, this would be fine, just needing to get it in your head which knob you would have to grab at any given moment in your shower to prevent surprises. Here’s the problem with this thingy: when the lines are reversed, the automatic temperature valving won’t work properly, providing only full hot or full cold, no mixing. Good for waking you up in the morning, but not really what we want. Apparently there’s some kind of temperature sensitive wax or something like that that reacts to the incoming temperature, expecting (and only working with) hot on the hot side and cold on the cold. When I realized the temperature setting knob was acting backwards, I simply reversed the hose connections, and viola, problem fixed. Now, when (for example) set to the 38 deg C marker on the temp knob, the readout is exactly 100 deg F as it should be and stays there (or any other temp I happen to choose to set it at). Like I said: Nice feature. So just take note of the connections on install. Also, some reviewers have suggested that the temp control won’t let the water get hot enough. Note that there is a safety detent on the temp valve knob stopping it from turning any hotter at 38 deg C, as marked on the knob. Simply press the red button on the side of the knob to release the detent and turn farther to get higher temps. Finally, on the water control issues: The on/off water flow knob is reversed from what I would expect. To turn on the water, one turns the flow knob to the left 1/4 turn; to shut off the water, turn it to the right 1/4 turn. Not a problem. It just seems backwards to me (and yes, I know, one normally opens a faucet valve by cranking it to the left, and off to the right – it’s just that the way this panel is set up, particularly with only 1/4 turn full travel, it functions more like a switch than a valve, and, normally one would turn a switch knob to the right to turn it on/up; to the left to turn it off/down – think of an old style radio on/off/volume knob). Not a problem; just a personal observation/idiosyncrasy.5. Finally, the supplied connection hoses might be a little short for some applications. In my case, they were EXACTLY the right length, as if they had been custom made for my application. One inch shorter, or had I mounted the unit one inch higher on the wall, I would have had a problem. Not an unsolvable problem, just a nuisance. The hoses are standard flexible plumbing connection hoses, with standard fittings at both ends, already connected to the unit, and can be replaced with longer ones if necessary, available at any big-box store. My only concern had I needed to go down that route was that the hoses come pre-connected (who knows how tightly) to valves that are attached from the back through the glass face. Applying excessive force removing the supplied hoses that were already attached, or tightening the replacement ones, could possibly crack the glass panel. So if you have to go that route, go gently!Bottom line: This is a beautiful, rich looking, and functional unit with only a couple of issues to be aware of. None are deal-breakers, or even close to it. It appears to be well made and solid in its construction (notwithstanding the minor mfg quality control issue on the battery box already noted). We love it and it really topped off our bathroom remodel/modernization. The seller got the thing to us unscathed in only 3 days. We would purchase this thingy again in a heartbeat (and just might for our other bathrooms!), and would decidedly get it from this supplier.

I'll first mention I have a couple of issues with this - I'll update my review and score based on what I hear from the vendor.This is an excellent shower panel. I note there are multiple types available, this one is the thermostatic panel - that is, you have an on/off pressure control and a separate control for hot/cold. This is a great idea, you set the shower temp you prefer, and (assuming your spouse likes the same temp) you just leave that control in place forever. Then you just turn the shower on and wait until it warms to that temp. Wonderful!This is actually my second shower panel. Honestly, even though my first one worked as advertised, and had multiple types of sprays, etc., none of them were at all satisfying. I started hating to take a shower. This one feels fantastic!Since I had installed one before, the installation of this one went pretty smoothly. I was able to easily swap out the inlet hoses for shorter ones, available on here or at big box home improvement stores, so I could hang it at a good height for my 5'2" wife (pretty bad if it were hung at a level where the sprayers hit her in the face). No problem hooking it up to my water supply, again already in place. Note, the inlet lines are 1/2" MIP connectors. When I installed my first one, a reviewer said they were standard washing machine connections (which are 3/4"). Wrong! So I had to get 1/2"-3/4" adapters. But since those were already in place, I was ready. The real difficulty is drilling holes in the tile shower wall - requires a diamond bit, water cooling, and a lot of drilling and patience! I didn't have a bit that quite matched with the included anchors, but everything eventually worked out.Again, once mounted and set, the water flow is excellent!There is a single control for where the water comes out. There are 5 settings, overhead shower, upper 4 jets, lower 4 jets, hand sprayer, lower faucet. And the jets adjust between massage inner jets to misting outer jets by turning the outside of the jet. To answer a couple of questions I have seen, if you set the control halfway between overhead shower and upper jets, you get spray from both. If you set it between upper jets and lower jets, you get spray from both. Pressure is reduced some, but it does work, so long as it is two adjacent selections on the knob.Another good thing is the shower head is a standard head, and can be switched for a different one, like if you want a multi-function head or something else.Ok the two issues. First, one of the nuts (or the threads) on one of the jets is stripped out. It will not hold the jet flat against the panel. I could probably fix this with some clear super glue, but I shouldn't have to. This does not affect anything but that one jet, and it sprays water just fine. Second, the display is supposed to be powered by water flow and display the temp. Unfortunately, this does not work. It does have a battery option that displays for a few seconds when you push the button, so it is quite usable. Nevertheless, you expect everything to function on a new panel that you spend a lot of money on. This is the opposite experience of another reviewer, where they reported it would not work with the push button battery option. I have sent a message to the vendor, depending on their response I will adjust the rating up or down.Bottom line, though, this is a great shower panel, and I am very pleased with it.UPDATE: Vendor action was amazingly quick. I have upgraded my score to 5 stars based on just their quick action.On the first issue, that the temperature does not continuously display when the water is running using water flow to generate the display... the vendor reports that this feature is no longer present. I have suggested to them it be removed from the product description.On the second issue, the loose jet, the vendor has immediately shipped out a replacement jet.The vendor responded and shipped the replacement part within a few hours of my sending them a message!

We had a bath remodel and our contractor thought he was saving us money by ordering a "similar" panel system. Of course it ended up springing a leak and flooding our interior walls and basement, so I ordered this as a replacement based on other reviews. Right out of the box, the quality difference is evident. We did notice one of the jets was a little out of place during shipment, but we were able to pop it back in with a little pressure and it works fine. All the hoses and attachments in the back of the panel are sturdy and look like they should last with hopefully no leaks (see photo). The exterior is beautiful. The different jets are very relaxing and make me feel like I am at a spa. If you are wondering if this is worth the extra dollars over one of the many cheap panel systems, I would say it absolutely is!

Fun shower options from body spray jets to rain shower, hand/ Phone shower and variable flows with temp. readout and controls.I bought the unit about 10 years ago, and my only issue was a slight peeling of the backing paint on the panel. I purchased the unit at an even crazier price than currently shown.

I have this in my master bathroom for over a year and love it. Still runs great. Easy to use, looks nice, and love that the shower head is adjustable in two places. I can get the height and angle just the way I want it. The box was missing a part and the seller sent out the part I needed asap so that was wonderful. We don’t really use the massage parts the way I thought I might, but that just is. Maybe someday I will be glad to have them.