It’s very difficult to determine how to purchase a steam shower on eBay (or anywhere on the net, for that matter). Reviews are almost impossible to come by, descriptions are highly biased, and manufacturers’ names are never given. In this review I’m going to try to give you some information to help with your buying decision.

I purchased a steam shower on ebay in the fall of ‘06, and while the experience wasn’t awful, there was a lot of information I wished I’d had prior to making the purchase.

It won’t surprise you to learn that just about all of the steam shower offered on ebay are made in China. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that (almomst everything is made there these days), the problem here is that the manufacturers do not have a US presence. This means you are at the mercy of the seller for warranty coverage, or if something goes wrong during installation. Because of this you should not expect feedback for sellers of steam showers to be reliable. Similarly, don’t believe quotes of list prices in the high thousands.

The shower I purchased was a 53″ quarter round (installed in a corner) shower/steam/whirlpool unit with the manufacturer’s name listed as “Koral” in the auction. However, there is no mention of the manufacturer anywhere on the product or the meager manual that came with it. I suspect this is a name made up by the seller. The shower ships in several cartons (the largest holds the tub, but the heaviest is the door glass). When I received I was at first impressed by the build quality, but this lessened as I unpacked further.

The movement of the doors on the tracks is not as smooth as a high-end shower door, but it’s better than the base models that you get at Home Depot, and is more likely to stay on the track because it’s locked in place. The tub is fiberglass, but the material is relatively thin. Construction quality is not nearly on par with a smaller Koehler whirlpool tub I have. Interestingly, the tub has several legs that need to be leveled; this is different than a standard tub which just sits on the floor or on some sort of aggregate. This is probably an advantage since you can adjust for uneven floors. However, again, the frame is fairly cheaply made. The walls sit on the edges of the tub (be sure to caulk) and then the cover sits on top of the walls. I had a contractor do the installation (part of our whole-house renovation) so I wasn’t around for most of it, but here are a few notes (note that these will apply only to the tub I have, but hopefully you can extrapolate some useful info):

1) This tub required a 30 amp, 120V circuit. I am a dedicated DIYer so had no problem running a wire, but if you’re putting this on the second floor and your circuit breaker panel is in the basement, it could be an issue for you. I believe larger tubs require a 220V circuit, which is really no more difficult to install. I highly recommend a GFCI circuit breaker, since you’re mixing water and electricity here.

2) The drain connection is nonstandard, and probably isn’t to US code. With a standard tub you plumb a 2 inch drain directly to your plumbing underneath the tub, using a P-trap. This drain connection has a flexible hose (similar to the type that is used with aboveground pools, but thinner) which will not connect up to any standard US plumbing without some creativity. I discovered that the inner diameter of the hose was the same as the outer diameter of 1″ PVC pipe, so I connected a short piece of PVC to my drain system. However, due to the thinness of the hose, it does take a bit longer to drain than a standard tub. This the first bad design issue. It would not be possible to install a standard drain in this tub, at least not without a LOT of modifications.

3) All plumbing runs through the steam generator. Connection to your plumbing is via thin hoses with FIP connections. While it’s not really standard for shower hookups, you can find the correct valves at Home Depot. However, here is bad design issue number two: since the hoses are fairly thin, it does not provide enough pressure to run the steam generator and the shower at the same time, which means you get a burst of hot water through the showerhead every time the steam generator turns on (about once a minute). If you think you’re going to want to run the shower and steam generator simultaneously, I recommend running a separate cold water line (the steam generator uses the cold water supply) for the shower and capping off the output to the shower head from the steam generator.