We just purchased a new kitchen faucet set with a soap dispenser. The problem is there isn't a hole in the sink to mount the soap dispenser. There is another hole but it has the dishwasher and garbage disposal vent mounted in it.
How does a person add a hole to the sink without chipping out a huge hunk of porcelain? It seems like it would be too tough of a job for a hole saw.
I watched a friend do it with a holesaw. He ended up standing IN the sink for leverage while he drilled. Once the saw cleared the porcelain, the drilling thru the soft cast iron was easier than I'd have thought.
BTW, they dont vent DW/disposals with the typical Air Gap gizmo around here. Dont know why but I never liked them anyway. R
Just to add- there is a special carbide-tipped hole saw available for drilling ceramic tiles (even HD has them); should work on the porcelain too.
Some cities mandate an air gap for sanitary reasons; if that's the case where OP is, he'll have to retain it.
Jim
On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 17:11:00 -0700, Ike scribbled this interesting note:
On some kitchen faucets, the single lever kind, you can mount them without using the baseplate. This allows you to use the other two (former) mounting holes. One would be for a sprayer and one would be for the soap dispenser.
Buying the right faucet would eliminate the need for drilling into your sink. Perhaps you could return the one you already have?
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 17:11:00 -0700, Ike wrote (in message ):
I successfully drilled my porcelain kitchen sink for a water filter dispenser. To make the 1/4" guide hole for the hole saw, I used a glass bit to start, then a carbide masonry bit, then a high speed steel bit to go through the cast iron. All were lubricated with cutting oil. I then used a
1-1/4" carbide abrasive hole saw to make the larger hole, also lubricated with cutting oil. I recall using fairly heavy pressure and a slow cutting speed to avoid heating the work. It took quite a while, but worked fine.
I failed to mention that our sink is a porcelain clad steel sink that is five years old. From what I've been able to glean off the Internet, these sinks are the toughest to drill a hole through. They chip very easily. Stainless are the easiest, cast iron second and clad steel the hardest to do.
The wife is the one who wanted this particular faucet knowing full well that we may not be able to mount the soap dispenser. She's willing to compromise on the dispenser knowing that there is a good chance I could ruin the sink. It's not worth throwing away a five year old perfectly good sink and buying a new one with five holes.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I think the wise thing to do is take a pass one this one.
Maybe you can test this idea on various scrap materials: If you use cutting oil and run a hole saw backwards briefly, you should be able to etch the porcelain surface so as to not crack it when you reverse direction to do the actual cutting. This isn't much different than the way you'd make a ring on both sides of a door with the hole saw when installing a lock set, so you don't chip the wood when the saw comes out the other side. I know....porcelain's not fibrous like wood, but intuitively, I think this idea's worth some thought.
Doug
I had a problem like that and I took the sink to a glass company and they were able to drill a perfect hole with no problem at all.
Good Luck
????? Please elucidate. Since when is there a vent to room air for the D/W/Disposal? Doesn't the drain hole in the sink take care of any needed venting? I grew up in residential construction in the midwest, and I have NEVER seen anything other than knobs, spouts, squirters, and dispensers visibly mounted on back edge of sink. Not doubting your word, I'm genuinely curious. Can you post a jpeg somewhere and list the link here?
Maybe you could reroute the vent elsewhere, or put the soap dispenser through counter next to sink?
aem sends...
I'm not a plumber so I have no idea what purpose it serves. The wife says soap bubbles come up through it when the dishwasher is emptying and she drains the sink of dishwater at the same time. We live in Vegas and all new construction has the vent on the sink. I think if I tried mounting it under the sink I could end up with a real mess at some point.
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