Need to replace faucet - what are good brands?

[tlbwriter]

The cheap Delta 2-handle faucets in our bathrooms are leaking, and replacement of the O rings only slowed the leaks. And I think they're ugly anyway, so this is a good excuse to replace them. :-) I found posts recommending Moen, Price Pfister, and Delta, but then I've found just as many posts complaining about them. I know to look for metal parts instead of plastic (but I don't really know *where* to look for plastic). And we have hard water. I'd prefer to keep it under $100 - I know a $19.99 faucet isn't going to be the best quality, but I also know a $500 faucet isn't necessarily better than a $100 faucet. Would we have better luck with better Delta faucets - did ours fail because they're Delta, because they're cheap, or because of our hard water or some other factor? Any brands/types I should consider, or avoid? Thanks Tracy

[Doug Kanter]

Every faucet has to have some sort of soft parts, whether rubber or plastic. I never had any problem with Moen products, even though the internal part which they call the "cartridge" is made with plastic. In fact, minerals in water are less likely to cling to plastic. As far as cost, the cheap Moen faucet in my basement uses the same internal parts as the fancy one in my kitchen (also a Moen). The difference is purely cosmetic. The company stands behind their products, too. A few years back, the dip tube in my water heater began to send hard little plastic crumbs into all the pipes. Some of them mangled the cartridge in my Moen shower faucet. I went to the Moen site to email them and ask for the correct cartridge model, since I'd lost my instruction sheet. They responded the next day and said they were shipping me the right part at no charge. I wrote back saying that the problem was in no way related to a defect in their product. They said "We just want you to fix the problem quickly and be happy", or something to that effect.

[Art]

My house if full of delta faucets. Every time one goes bad I replace it with a Moen. With a Moen you just replace the cartridge and Moen will send you one for free if you ask. With Delta, you got the ball, little pieces of rubber and springs. The moen just seems to be better engineered in my opinion.

[Ross Mac]

Another vote for Moen here....My house is all Moen as was my last house. The only problem I ever had was when a housecleaner forced one of the knobs and broke the plastic stop inside the stem. I had no problem finding the part and repairing it. I have never been a fan of Delta....good luck, Ross

[Art]

I'll tell one anti Delta story. I had a Delta faucet with the pull out hose in the kitchen. In other words no separate sprayer. Starts leaking and I follow the instructions for dissassembly that comes with the bag of parts. Well they made no mention of special procedures to follow if it had the pull out nozzle so I immediately ruined the hose thanks to their lousy instructions. I ripped out the faucet and put in a moen. The moen hose is connected so it cannot be ruined if you follow Moen standard disassembly instructions.

[Travis Jordan]

I have all Moen faucets in my home, and haven't had to replace more than a couple of cartridges (free from Moen) in 15 years.

[Richard J Kinch]

Delta faucets are excellent. Put in the right maintenance parts and they should be fine.

[tlbwriter]

Given that we have three faucets leaking (despite replacing the O-rings) and all are less than 6 years old, I'm not inclined to say

*all* Delta faucets are excellent. I know of at least three that are not. ;-) But these are probably the very cheapest Deltas (builder's model).

So, do all Moens have a cartridge? I was looking around on the Lowes website and some models specifically mentioned the cartridge, some said they had ceramic disc valves, and some didn't say anything at all. Tracy

[Doug Kanter]

What's the diff? You're not going to find a faucet which contains only metal. And if you could, why would you want it? Metal is more easily etched by the minerals that build up around the various surfaces.

As far as the Delta faucets vis-a-vis hard water (or any faucets, for that matter), there are water supplies which are SO full of minerals that expecting more than 5 years without faucet maintenance is simply unrealistic. Without knowing what yours is, it's impossible to predict how any faucet will endure.

From my local water authority's web site (Monroe County, NY): Hardness Water hardness is a measure of the mineral content of water. Our water, which has a Total Hardness of between 5.6 and 7.6 grains per gallon, is considered "moderately hard". By way of comparison, before they switched to MCWA, many local communities used ground water supplies with Total Hardness values of more than 20 grains per gallon.

Any idea about the actual hardness level of your water?

[Roger Shoaf]

I really like the newer ceramic disk faucets. These use two ceramic disks that have holes in them to meter the flow of water rather than using washers and O-rings to effect a seal. They are excellent in hard water areas as the ceramic disks are harder than the calcium.

I installed one in my bathroom about 8 years age and still doesn't leak a drop.

See:

Careful for the wrap. This will explain the ceramic disk valve.