Caroma Showers

What the Caroma shower range covers

Caroma is an Australian brand with more than 80 years of bathroom products behind it. Its showers cover every common setup: rail showers with a sliding hand shower, rail showers with an overhead rose, twin sets, fixed overhead heads and rain heads, hand showers and handsets, and the arms that carry them. The collection holds the Caroma shower pieces sold here across its ranges. It is the starting point if you already have Caroma tapware and want the shower to match, or if you want to compare the ranges before you choose.

Two things shape the choice: the range, which sets the shape and finish, and the type of shower, which sets how you use it. The sections below take the ranges first and the types second. For the brand-neutral guide to each type, see showers.

The Caroma ranges: Luna, Urbane II, Contura II, Liano II and Riviere

Caroma sells its showers in ranges that match its tapware, basins and accessories, and each has its own character.

• Luna is built around soft curves and clean lines, a safe, versatile style. Luna showers are offered in chrome, brushed nickel, brushed brass and matte black. See Luna shower heads.
• Urbane II is contemporary, with flat rounded lines, and has the widest choice of finishes along with Liano II. See Urbane II showers.
• Contura II is soft, organic and sculptural, and puts shape ahead of colour variety. See Contura II showers.
• Liano II is architectural and design-led, with several PVD colours. See Liano II showers.
• Riviere sits between heritage and modern, with graceful contours that suit coastal, traditional, farmhouse and Hamptons rooms.

Caroma rail showers: what is in the set

A rail shower is the most popular Caroma configuration, and the sets differ in what they include. The Urbane II universal rail shower includes a load-rated 800 mm rail, the shower head, a twist-lock slider and a wall elbow. It uses VJet technology, which lets you vary the spray from a firm, invigorating setting through to a soft one. It comes with a smooth 1.5 m anti-twist hose, and the hand shower is fitted with a dual check valve for back-flow prevention. It is rated 4 star WELS at 7.5 litres a minute.

The Luna multifunction rail shower with an overhead has a brass rail, a handset holder that slides to suit whoever is showering, and a 200 mm overhead with a built-in diverter. The handset has three spray functions, the nozzles rub clean, and a top water inlet makes it easier to retrofit. The overhead is rated 4 star and the hand shower 5 star. Contura II and Liano II offer the same idea in their own shapes. The Contura II rail shower with overhead has a VJet hand shower with dual check valves, and the Liano II sets pair an architectural microphone hand shower with three spray functions to a 300 mm rain shower on a gooseneck arm. For more on how rails work and how high they sit, see shower rails.

What you still need to buy with a Caroma shower

A Caroma rail set carries its own diverter when it has an overhead, and it brings the rail, slider, hose and wall elbow, but the mixer is not included. Pair a rail with a bath shower mixer for a complete installation, and check compatibility with your existing tapware. Fixed heads and rain showers come as the head only, so the arm is a separate purchase. A hand shower on its own needs a hose, a bracket and an outlet to connect to unless the box includes them. The box contents are the checklist. See Caroma taps for the mixers in the same ranges.

Twin sets with an overhead

A compact twin set keeps an overhead and a rail-mounted hand shower on a single frame. The Urbane II compact twin is built around a 300 mm overhead and a VJet handset, with a diverter that switches between them, so you can keep your hair dry or take the full drencher. It has a top inlet that makes a retrofit over existing plumbing straightforward where an old shower is coming off the wall, and a smooth silverflex hose that stays easy to wipe down. The Contura II, Liano II and Riviere ranges each have a compact twin of their own. Compare the two-head options across brands at twin shower heads and compact twin showers.

Overhead and rain showers

Caroma overhead heads come as 200 mm, 250 mm and 300 mm faces, in round and square. The Luna overhead is a 200 mm head in brass with one spray function and a WELS rating of 4 star at 7.5 litres a minute. The Urbane II 300 mm round rain shower is brass with one spray function, rated 3 star at 9 litres a minute and available in chrome, matte black, PVD brushed nickel, brushed brass, gunmetal and brushed bronze. The Riviere rain shower is a 250 mm head in stainless steel with a PVD finish, rated 4 star at 7.5 litres a minute. Flow regulators in the heads keep the flow consistent across a range of water pressures, and the nozzles are silicone and rub clean.

Most of these heads are sold without an arm. If the box reads shower head only, choose the arm separately. Wall arms come in right-angled 415 mm and upswept 460 mm lengths, and ceiling arms in 200 mm, 300 mm and 500 mm lengths. Match the arm to the height you set at rough-in and to the weight and size of the head. See Caroma shower arms for the arms by range and finish. For the pressure and size rules for large faces, see rain showers.

VJet: the variable spray hand shower

VJet is a spray control, not a pressure booster. It reshapes how the water leaves the head, and it cannot add pressure the supply does not have. Compare it with the three-function handsets in the Luna and Liano II ranges, where you select a fixed spray setting, and choose the control you will use. For the choice rules between hand showers, see hand held shower heads.

Hand showers and handsets

Caroma hand showers include the Luna multifunction hand shower, the Urbane II and Contura II hand showers, the Liano II and Riviere microphone handsets, and the Tasman II. A microphone handset is a slim, straight body that sits neatly in the hand. The handsets state dual check valves to prevent back-flow, effective against back pressure and back siphonage. The Riviere microphone handset is ABS with a chromeplated finish and states an operating pressure of 150 to 500 kPa. Hoses are smooth silverflex or anti-twist, and the box typically lists the hand shower, wall bracket, hose and fixing kit. For more on choosing a hand shower, see hand held shower heads.

Water efficiency and pressure

Most models are rated for an operating pressure of 150 to 500 kPa. A 10 litre bucket that fills from the shower outlet in under 60 seconds indicates good pressure, and a large rain head wants good pressure to feel right. A head cannot raise your mains pressure, so choose the face size for the supply you have. The Caroma flow regulators are designed to keep the flow steady across a range of pressures, which helps, but they do not add pressure.

Finishes

Caroma showers come in chrome, matte black, brushed nickel, brushed brass, gunmetal and brushed bronze, depending on the range. The PVD finishes are designed to resist wear and hold their colour. Chrome is the standard and the easiest to match. Luna is mostly offered in chrome, brushed nickel, brushed brass and matte black, while Urbane II, Liano II and Contura II add gunmetal and brushed bronze. For a closer look at a finish, see chrome showers, black showers, brushed nickel showers, brushed brass showers, gunmetal showers and bronze showers.

The controls matter as much as the shower. See Caroma taps and shower mixers for the mixers that match, and Caroma shower shelves for niche accessories.

Fitting a Caroma shower

Most heads and arms use a 1/2 inch BSP connection, so a like-for-like swap is a small job. Loosen the old head by hand, clean the thread, wrap thread seal tape three or four times, seat the washer, hand-tighten and check for drips. Changing the arm, the mixer or the pipework needs a licensed plumber. Many sets have a top water inlet, which suits a retrofit over existing plumbing. Heights follow the usual rules. A fixed head sits at 2000 to 2100 mm to the centre of the arm outlet, a ceiling-arm rain head at 2100 to 2200 mm, a wall mixer at 1000 to 1100 mm and a rail top at about 1800 to 1900 mm. Settle them at rough-in, before tiling. Each set comes with its installation sheet.

Looking after a Caroma shower

The nozzles are silicone, so rub them clean. Rub them with a finger every few weeks to lift early scale. For a deeper clean, soak the head in warm water with a few drops of mild dishwashing liquid for 30 to 60 minutes, scrub with a soft toothbrush and rinse.

Brushed brass needs one extra check, because some brushed brass is PVD coated or electroplated and other products are lacquered. Confirm which one you have. Do not polish because polishing may alter the colour or remove the protective coating. In hard water areas, drying the product regularly prevents visible water marks and limescale building up. On matte black, water marks, soap residue and limescale show more, so wipe early and keep a soft cloth near the shower. Never scrape limescale or use an abrasive pad. The safe default is warm soapy water. Acetic acid, hydrochloric acid and chlorine bleach are the agents to avoid, and a mild citric-acid cleaner is the safer choice for descaling.

If you want to compare with other brands, start from Phoenix showers, Nero showers, Fienza showers and Meir showers.