ᐅ Long-term experience with Hansgrohe’s iBox

Hello everyone,
we are planning to renovate our bathroom and have decided to use a concealed installation system with the iBox. Our plumber advises against this system and recommends a surface-mounted system instead (which I don’t like because of the visible bar for the rain shower). He says that the iBox tends to calcify over the years (5-7) and that he has often had problems removing the cartridge from the housing, which then requires opening the wall. We have very soft water (hardness 0) and have never had any issues with our existing surface-mounted system in 27 years.
I would be interested to hear about your experiences and advice.

Regards, Ronald

Here are some more detailed suggestions:

- Please try searching for "Grohe" in the forum portal.. you will find several direct and indirect references.

- Lifespan / Obsolescence:
Limescale buildup is one factor.
Wear-resistant design of plastic parts in the control mechanism is another.
=> After a long discussion, we finally decided 51% in favor of surface-mounted installation.

- There is currently a thread in this forum about the 3-step Select shower head after 5 years… it’s the small (plastic) parts that cause problems, and then you have to replace the entire unit, if the part is still available at all… (Regarding spare parts availability: Grohe appears to be exemplary).

- Unlike other suppliers, Hansgrohe handles the fortunately rare failures quite fairly (in our case the thermostat, which started to drift towards hot after 2 years on its own).

Surface-mounted vs. flush-mounted installation will always be a compromise. A pros and cons list can be helpful.

With a water hardness of 0, the unit should work flawlessly for decades.
We have 24, and I still have everything installed in-wall.
I'm not going to hurt myself in the shower every day just because there might possibly be an issue with the in-wall fitting. And even if some wall channelling is necessary, as long as you have a few extra tiles in stock, it’s not a problem at all.

I have a question about the iBox.
In the shower, it’s not a problem, since it can be installed behind drywall (gypsum board) here. However, at the bathtub, there will be a Poroton wall. Can I install the iBox in that, or will I need to come up with another solution?

RobsonMKK schrieb:
I have a question about the iBox.
In the shower, it’s not a problem because you can install it behind drywall (plasterboard). However, at the bathtub, there will be a Poroton wall. Can I install the iBox there, or do I need to come up with another solution?

I chased out the wall and recessed it into the wall.

I wanted to have the same fitting everywhere.

Yep, that’s no problem. A corresponding hole will simply be made in the wall. As long as it stays under 10cm (4 inches) in depth, it should not be an issue for most wall constructions.