One million TECE shower channels in use
Competence: Design & Creation
Shower channels remain an important element in modern bathroom design
A clear sign of high customer satisfaction - one million TECE shower channels sold up to now. At the beginning of the 2000s, TECE adapted this drainage technology, which had originally been developed for commercial kitchens and swimming pools, to the special requirements in the private bathroom - and welcomed a product into its portfolio that has been developing extremely successfully to this day.
As a result of the use of shower channels, today the shower area has become a bathroom design highlight. Not only are floor-level showers possible, but small platforms or steps also create nuances for visual differentiation in the bathroom. They open up diverse design options that also excel thanks to unified tiling patterns. Linear drainage also ensures direct and fast water drainage without water accumulating on flat areas. When it comes to slip resistance, the shower channel, in combination with the matching tiles, offers an aesthetic alternative to the anti-slip mats that are still so common in shower trays.
The TECEdrainline shower channel success story starts with a predecessor stainless steel model produced in the 1970s as used in swimming pools and commercial kitchens. The extreme long-term stresses in such locations, such as temperature changes, mechanical influences and aggressive media, but, above all, the high hygiene requirements in this sensitive area, require a continuous sealed anti-capillary edge that reliably prevents the penetration of run-off or standing waste water under the tiles. U-shaped grates are used as covers. They are inserted in the channel without additional fastening components and are simple to remove for cleaning.
The TECE designers took relevant features of this robust, hygienic technology, proven in practice over the years, and transferred them for use in the bathroom. Analogous to use in commercial kitchens, they developed a sealing system based on Seal System sealing tape as the connecting element between the composite seal and the channel construction. Numerous combination checks were undertaken for different composite sealing products with the shower channels. The result: combinations with over 50 composite sealing products from renowned manufacturers were successfully tested and certified by an independent testing institution. So systematic, safe sealing is not restricted to a single sealing product, but covers all of the common composite seals on the market. This means tilers can use the products they trust. For the end customer and the specialist tradesmen involved, this brings assurance, especially at this critical interface between the work of two trades and thus offers great benefit.
On the subject of hygiene: The cover for the TECE shower channel can be lifted out without problems and the channel can be cleaned easily. Besides dirt, unpleasant odours also have a hard time, even if the bathroom is rarely used: An additional two-stage membrane odour trap is optionally available.
The shower channel covers offer customers a wide choice with regard to design and material. The covers can be supplied in safety glass in different colours, and in stainless steel with different designs and surfaces. Especially interesting are the versions with a tileable channel or the natural stone channel, which can, apart from a narrow perimeter drain slit, optically disappear into the floor. In this way the effect of the flooring material remains undisturbed. Apart from the standard sizes, made-to-measure products from 300 to 1,500 millimetres long enable individual design of bathroom architecture. The positioning of the shower channel can be in the middle of the room, near to the wall, or right next to the wall. In the latter case it is fitted with a shaped wall flange. The wide range is rounded off by a corner version. In older houses too, the use of this drainage technology is possible, because the shower channels are available in installed heights starting at 65mm (up to the upper level of the floor covering). For larger water volumes, versions in several grades are produced up to a height of 148mm.
In a multi-generation bathroom the TECEdrainline shower channel is also a good solution, because where otherwise a shower tray would mean a step, a completely barrier-free bathroom without stumbling blocks is created - the bathroom is also safe for the older generation to use. Additional room to move is provided through the use of hinged folding doors as a shower wall.
