Master Bath

Three separate comfort systems share this room: the steam shower (occasional-use, needs a warm-up), the heated floor (thermostat-controlled, can run on a schedule), and the heated towel rack (simple on/off or timer). None of them require each other.

Running the steam shower

1. Start the steam generator from its control (a wall panel/keypad in or near the shower — exact control model to confirm at walkthrough; the generator itself is documented on the Steam Generator page). Steam generators need a warm-up: expect roughly 10–20 minutes before steam is flowing well, so start it before you undress.
2. Close the shower door or curtain fully before and during the steam cycle. A steam shower only works if the enclosure is sealed — steam escaping through a gap is both wasted heat and lost humidity.
3. Set your session length on the control (most generators run on a timer, commonly 15–45 minutes) and get in once steam is flowing.
4. Use the rain head and/or handheld sprayer for a normal rinse before or after the steam cycle — they run on the home's regular hot water, independent of the steam generator.
5. Cool down gradually before you get out: let the steam cycle finish or shut it off yourself, then take a minute standing in cooler air/water before stepping out onto a dry floor.

Door and vent etiquette

• Keep the enclosure sealed while steam is running — an open door lets steam escape into the rest of the bathroom, fogging mirrors and pushing moisture into places it doesn't belong.
• Run the bathroom exhaust fan after every steam session, door open, until the mirrors clear and the room feels dry to the touch. This is the single most important habit for keeping the room mold-free — see Maintenance below.
• Don't block the steam outlet or the exhaust vent with shampoo bottles, wash cloths, or anything else — both need clear airflow to work as designed.

Heated floor

The floor thermostat is a SunTouch SunStat Connect (model 500875), mounted on the wall near the towel rack — a WiFi-capable touchscreen control (now discontinued) that sets and schedules the floor temperature independently of the room's air thermostat, using a sensor embedded in the floor tile rather than room air. Tap it to check or bump the current setpoint; use its schedule feature if you want the floor warm before you get up. See App & account and Maintenance for programming, and whether it's actually joined to WiFi.

Heated towel rack

The wall-mounted heated towel rack runs independently — turn it on when you want warm towels and off when you don't (or leave it on low in cold months). Confirm at walkthrough whether it has its own switch/timer or runs continuously.

The steam control (a Mr. Steam iTempoPlus) and the towel rack are standalone wall controls with no app. The floor thermostat is different: it’s a SunTouch SunStat Connect, a WiFi-capable touchscreen model built to pair with the Watts Home app — but the model being WiFi-capable doesn’t prove it was ever actually joined to WiFi. Confirm at walkthrough whether the thermostat is on WiFi and linked to a Watts Home account — if so, note the account here and see the account-transfer runbook.

Steam room habits

• Squeegee the walls and glass/door after every use — this is the single biggest thing you can do to keep tile grout and glass looking new and to cut down on mildew. A cheap shower squeegee kept on a hook inside works fine.
• Run the exhaust fan for 20–30 minutes after each steam session (longer than after a normal shower) — steam showers put far more moisture into the room than an ordinary shower, and that moisture needs somewhere to go.
• Leave the door cracked between uses (once the room has dried) so the enclosure isn't sealed and damp between sessions.
• Wipe down or re-seal grout lines periodically — ordinary tile/grout care, just more important here given the humidity load. A stone-look porcelain tile like this is generally low-maintenance and doesn't need the sealing that natural stone would.

Steam generator descaling

Steam generators need periodic descaling (removing mineral buildup from the water tank) to keep producing steam efficiently and to avoid error codes — this is a generator-side maintenance job, not something you do from the bathroom. See the Steam Generator page for the descaling schedule and procedure once the exact model is confirmed.

Heated floor thermostat

• The SunStat Connect runs a floor-sensor probe embedded in the tile, not just room air — the displayed "floor" reading is the actual slab/tile temperature. Program a schedule (e.g., warm 30–60 minutes before your usual wake time, cooler overnight) rather than running it at one temperature all day; this is both more comfortable and cheaper to run.
• No filter or bulb to replace — radiant floor heat is essentially maintenance-free electrically. The only real failure mode is the thermostat itself or (rarely) the heating element/cable in the floor, which would need a flooring contractor.
• This exact model — the SunStat Connect (500875) — is discontinued. A failed unit isn’t a like-for-like swap; a flooring/electrical contractor would replace it with SunTouch’s current touchscreen line instead.

Towel rack

Wipe down periodically; if it's hardwired (no visible cord), there's nothing else to maintain. Confirm hardwired vs. plug-in at walkthrough.

• No steam / weak steam: confirm the generator control shows it's actually running and that the door/enclosure is sealed — an open door is the most common reason a steam shower "doesn't work." If the control itself won't start a cycle, that's a generator issue — see the Steam Generator page.
• Steam smells musty or the room won't dry out: almost always insufficient post-session ventilation. Run the exhaust fan longer, and check that the fan itself is working (see the HVAC/exhaust fan notes once that page exists).
• Rain head or handheld pressure/temperature is off: that's the house's normal hot-water and pressure system, not the steam generator — see the Plumbing & Hot Water page.
• Floor doesn't feel warm: check the thermostat's setpoint and schedule first (it may simply not be scheduled "on" right now); a floor that never heats regardless of setpoint is a job for an electrician/flooring contractor who works with radiant heat.
• Towel rack stays cold or won't turn off: check for a dedicated switch near the rack or at the light-switch bank before assuming it's faulty.

• Mr. Steam — safe use guidelines for steam showers
  General, brand-agnostic safety guidance for steam bathing — session length, hydration, who should check with a doctor first.
• Mr. Steam — best practices for using and ventilating a steam shower
  Why sealing the enclosure and running the exhaust fan afterward matters.
• Mr. Steam — iTempoPlus control product page
  Official product page for the in-shower control identified from a 2017 photo — confirms the temp/time/aroma/chroma/two-preset feature set matching the photographed keypad exactly.
• SunTouch — SunStat Connect (500875-SB) product page
  Official SunTouch/Watts product page for the exact model identified from the 2017 install photo. Now a discontinued product line.
• SunTouch — SunStat Connect installation & operation manual (PDF)
  The model-specific manual for the 500875, official suntouch.com — supersedes the SunStat Command/Pro II manuals this page previously archived on a guess.
• SunTouch — underfloor heating installation & operation manual (PDF)
  General SunTouch floor-heating system (cable/mat) manual, official Watts source — separate from the thermostat manual above.