Tip of the day

[Capitol]

If you have a kitchen tap with a pull out hose, be sure that the life of the hose is as little as two years. The kitchen cabinet will flood and you will be so thankful that you sealed the bottom joints of the cabinet with a bead of silicone which keeps the water out of the chipboard/mdf. Yes it was hose fail day again in our household! The kitchen floor is easy to mop up, rebuilding the sink cabinet in situ is a real pain. (Voice of past experience!) I love having spares in stock. The US hoses seem to be better, they use a braided outer.

[Martin Bonner]

I have two kitchen taps with pull out hoses. The one in Germany is about 16 years old and still going strong; the one in the UK is much younger, but even so it's about five years old.

[Capitol]

Just checked my purchase records. The one which has just failed did 2 years and 11 months. It's predecessor did just over 4 years and the outlet spout did about 5 years before failing. The tap before that with a different type of hose did 18 years without failing.