A Modern Faucet Experience

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

20 years ago, I needed a new kitchen faucet, stopped by the wholsaler, picked up a decent 2-handle with sprayer ($30). Don't even remember how the old was hooked up, put some copper stuff together, threaded it up and sweated 4 joints.

That old faucet was doing funny stuff, looked muy mucho long in the tooth last week. HD had a Glacier Bay 808-394G on sale for $40. Had 'brass waterways', looked like a comparable unit, so I got one, a couple in-line shut-offs and flexable connectors.

Spent Wed. afternoon knocking rust in my eyes with the basin wrench etc. Got it all in, tested my connections. Turned it on. And the hot leaked. Also goes Clunk-Clunk when I open or increase flow of a valve, hot ot cold. No such noise for 20 years with the old eqp't.

So I employ an allen wrench to remove the hot handle, and remove the cartridge.

The thing looks like garbage. Any experience with these or similar? How much $ for a decent faucet these days? I haven't bought/installed any such eqpt for many years.

Thx, Will

[CJT]

FWIW, I installed what I think was a similar faucet a couple of months ago, and it worked just fine. Maybe you got a lemon.

[Lefty]

It is garbage. The faucet you paid $30.00 for years ago is now $80.00 wholesale for chrome. HD and Lowes are nuts for customer satisfaction though. They will give your money back, no questions asked. Get your self a 80-90 dollar chrome Delta or Moen and you'll do much better. Those faucets have the same guts inside as they did 20 years ago when you bought your previous faucet. That in itself speaks volumes, and due to their competitive nature, they probably both have lifetime warranties now. Make sure you look for it. BTW. Galcier Bay and Price Pfister probably have lifetime warranties too, but you'll wear yourself out using them. :-( Also, if you want a finish other than chrome, plan on paying a good bit more, otherwise you'll take home more garbage with a nice look to it.

HTH, Lefty

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I guess you have to try and figure out what is a "normal price" for an item, so you can recognize when a competing item is suspiciously cheap. I use Moen faucets as my guideline. My Moen kitchen faucet cost about $100, and I consider anything much cheaper than that to be junk. Granted, there may be cheaper items which are decent, but since I'm not a plumber, I don't have the opportunity to install lots of different faucets to see if I'm right.

So, I buy Moen and be done with it. I have better things to do than dick around with an installation more than once.

[stan]

Keep it as simple as possible! Which is why we have avoided anything but separate hot and cold taps, now, for everything. Simple easy to adjust, few/no problems Our one and only experience with a mixing type faucet for the kitchen sink, when we built this second house in 1970 was sort of OK; but the faucet unit only lasted about 12 years before giving trouble. The lever that adjusted the Hot/cold ratio got loose and then the pin securing it broke off! Replaced it with double taps to as single bib which can swing over either of half of the the double sink unit. We used to cater; a lot of dishes been washed through that sink! After 39 years am about to replace the bathroom basin taps, mainly for appearance, (although they work fine if you keep the washers and seats in good condition. Think we paid $15 for them) but also because am replacing the 15 year old sink itself. Almost fooled myself; replacing the bathroom fiberglass/bath/shower unit some 8-10 years ago found that it was designed for a mixer valve, darn it, and had to fiddle a bit to locate the hot-cold tap handles so as to be on flat surfaces! Worked fine since though. Yep; simple is best.

[N8N]

: [e-mail]...

THIS.

I don't know if Delta or Moen really are as good as they used to be, but I wouldn't buy anything else because the rest seems to be pretty much garbage. Paid about $100 a few years ago for a new Moen kitchen faucet with sprayer hose. Actually had an issue with the sprayer hose connection leaking, but once that was resolved it's been trouble free. The guy at the plumbing store specifically recommended Moen over Delta; not sure why.

Or, if you're willing to toss me a couple bucks for shipping and beer, I have the perfectly good 20+ year old single handle Delta faucet that I removed; it was removed because a) I had to replace the sink anyway and b) SWMBO wanted the sprayer, which it didn't have a connection for.

nate

[MLD]

Ditto--Am currently having a stem leak on an 8 yr.old bathroom Delta faucet. Called Delta--no problem, new replacement parts to be shipped out, including unrelated parts (seat and springs). MLD

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Scrub the stem area with a toothbrush and warm vinegar before installing the new parts. Based on my experience, built-up minerals seem to abrade the large O-rings. The vinegar will clean out any caked minerals.

[Yadda]

messagenews: [e-mail]...

How is American Standard these days?

[DanG]

Delta makes/made a very good product. They moved there production to Mexico. We no longer buy or install any Deltas.

[MLD]

Good advice-will do that little thing. Thanks MLD

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

Check.

The thing is, the old one wasn't name-brand. Just something they were selling to contractors. It wasn't fancy, but it **Wasn't Junk** (witness

20 years use). I thought maybe the Glacier Bay might be similar.

That was part of the decision to buy.

Check.

But they don't use "compression" valves anymore?

Chrome is OK with me.

Does anybody know if all these "4 Hole Application" faucets are

8 " center of hot to center of cold?

Are (absolutely) -all- the Moens OK? I almost bought a Moen Castleby 7905 on Ebay this morn for about $45+10.

The Glacier Bay will OUT. I dunno when, but it's going back to HD.

Thx, Will

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Who cares what they use? Moen faucets work, and so do Deltas, according to people here who are happy with them.

The Moen web site has literature online for all their models so you can check these things before buying.

Do you live in or near a big enough town where you could find a plumbing supply store by doing a google search using your town's name and the words "yellow pages"? When I bought my last Moen, a specialty store was $20 cheaper than Home Depot and $10 cheaper than an eBay vendor.

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

I dunno. Anybody who takes an interest in such stuff? :-)

And I'll likely get one of 'em.

Or so you assume.

Wanna take a peek, see if you can find the 8" spec?

"yellow pages" would get me Gawd-knows what all. There's 2 plumbing supply stores locally, I've already checked 1 (no Moen).

What "specialty"? A closeout store??

[Robert Neville]

Two clicks - First on the Guides tab, then on the Product Specification link.

[Lefty]

Moen and Delta both used, and still do use their own different patented washerless technology, no compression.

Sink holes are 4" apart. So a three hole kitchen sink needs a faucet without a side spray. If you have a four hole sink, you can get a faucet with a side spray. or just fill the hole with a soap/lotion dispenser or a c*ck hole cover if need be.

The internals of a Moen are all the same, but be wary of chinsy handles and also large tinny spouts that look like they must be heavy brass but they can't be at such a low cost. I've used the Castleby before. It's been out a couple years. If you want the old standard heavy duty Moen, then look for a Legend. Very little is made just like it was in the old days, and literally everybody is outsourcing to the outer limits.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Another person answered this. No reason to repeat it.

I know this will probably sound crazy, but do you think this might be helpful?

A store that specializes in one category, like plumbing or electrical.

When you view Moen's products online, use the sort filter to list items based on price, lowest to highest. Otherwise, you'll probably faint.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

This is the one I bought. The thing's built like a tank.

Found the receipt. It sold for $104.00 at a dealer I found through Moen's "where to buy" search tool.

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

I dunno I need the heaviest they make. Just something good and solid. I will, however, price the Legend.

Would appreciate a brief mention if you observed any problems with the Castleby. The one on Ebay expired (0 bids) just as I was logging on. If he re-lists, it's conceivable I could get a good price on it.

Much thanks for your help with this.

Will

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

>

Mea Culpa. Expected to find it under "tech specs".

Didn't know it existed. It turned up a few possibilities.

That I had already done.

Was worth a peek. They got more kit. faucets than I can shake a stick at.

Thanks, Will