Opening Direction for Faucet Handles?

[Jeff Wisnia]

Do the major plumbing fixture manufacturers have a uniform standard for which way the handles on two knob fixtures should get turned to "open" them?

I got to wondering about that when we stayed at a hotel last weekend and the two bathroom sinks in our room had fixtures which appeared to be identical to those on six sinks in our home.

At home, every fixture operates the same; CCW to open the cold, and CW to open the hot. That provides a natural feel when I go to open both at the same time, my wrists twist in oposite directions. (Well, natural for me at least, maybe a southpaw would feel different about it.)

But, the turning direction needed to open the hotel fixtures was different on both of the sinks, one had both cold and hot turning CCW to open, and the other was completely opposite to the ones in our home, CW to open the cold and CCW for the hot.

Not a big whoop, but I got "fooled" every time I went to use a sink for those two days, and it took more fiddling to adjust the water temperature that I'm used to.

I put it down to indifferent installation or maintenance with someone swapping parts or not having the right parts and using what was on hand, which got me wondering what the fixture manufacturers' position on the subject is.

Jeff (Who clearly has way too much time on his hands today...)

P.S. Is the opening direction opposite below the equator?

[Art]

We were in a hotel in San Jose and the shower single knob control was installed backwards. We mentioned it on check out and the hotel said they were in the process of fixing them.

[Jeff Wisnia]

That sounds to me like the installer reversed the hot and cold inlets, but what do I know, maybe single handled shower valves are available in two types to make it easier to plumb them in when they are on opposite sides of the same wall?

Jeff

[Bill Gill]

As far as I know the standard is for them to open the way yours do at home. CW for hot, CCW for cold. I thing they usually come from the manufacturer that way. For some faucets, particularly ones with a swivel spigot, it is quite easy to get them in backward. I did in the kitchen. I fixed that easily enough by swapping the cartridges.

As far as have them both turning the same way. That is probably a repair job. One time I needed a new cartridge for the hot water side. I went to the store and bought a new cartridge, which was marked for hot or cold use. When I got home it was a cold water cartridge, and turned the wrong way for hot. I took it back and went to a plumbing supply house and got the right one. Apparently, in order to reduce their stock a lot of suppliers stock just one, which will work, but will turn the wrong way for one side. This of course makes things work all wrong.

Bill Gill

[Walter R.]

all single faucets in my house open CCW (Delta Faucets)

[haklesup]

"Righty Tighty Lefty Loosy" works for faucets as well as screws.

AKA "the Right Hand Rule" and I believe is the standard in any country using the international plumbing code or codes based on it.

[John]

Or more likely just installed the cartridge backwards. Fixing a reversed single knob shower/tub control can be a simple matter of reversing the cartridge.

[Nick Hull]

In Central America "C" means Calliente, (Hot) and the other one (H) is obviously Cold.

[John]

Or any place where Spanish language is dominant. Guess what letters they are in French speaking places? Hints: chaude, froid

[Percival P. Cassidy]

.. . . despite the near-universal agreement that clockwise rotation of a rotary control (or upward or rightward movement of a slider) should INcrease whatever it is controlling (volume, frequency, temperature, etc.) and counterclockwise rotation should DEcrease whatever it is controlling.

As for whether things are different in the Southern Hemisphere -- ISTR that in both UK and Australia "taps" ("faucets" to Americans) opened by counterclockwise rotation (as in USA) but their position was reversed: cold on the left, hot on the right.

Perce

On 06/28/05 06:08 pm haklesup tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

[maradcliff]

This reminds me of something I did several years ago, as a prank. My elderly parents kept asking me to fix the drippy faucet on their bathroom sink. I went there to fix it, and while I was there, I realized it was April 1 (April fools day). I couldn't resist. I swapped the supply hoses, putting the hot on the right and cold on the left. Then I switched the little tabs that say H an C, so the H one was on the hot side and C on the cold. Then I left and wert home to wait for the phone to ring. Sure enough, I wasn't home 5 minutes when mom calls and says "There's something different about the sink", and she goes on trying to explain. I am trying not to laugh. I tell her to go turn the one with the H on it, and ask her if it's hot. She comes back to the phone and says "yes". I tell her to do the same for the C and see if it's cold. She gets bacjk and says "yes". I said "so what's the problem". She said "something just seems different, but like you said, it's right". We get off the phone. Sure enough,

20 minutes later she is on the phone again. "Dad said the faucets are backward, is that possible". I just played along and kept saying "the H turns on the hot, right? She says "yes", I say "so what's the problem?" Several hours later, dad calls and insists the faucets are backwards. I just played along and did the same thing as I had done with mom. An hour later, after discussing the faucet nearly the whole time, I told him to put mom on the phone. She gets on, and I said "guess what..... APRIL FOOL. Now tell dad...... We all got a good laugh out of that. However, I told them I could not reverse it until April 2.

Mark

[Phil Munro]

[TPutmann]

Which way does YOUR knob turn ????

[Harry K]

No particular post to tie this to so...

The 'hot on left, cold on right' convention is solidly ingrained in peoples expectation.

I replumbed my basement years back. Somehow I got the hot/cold piping to an old laundry tub reversed. 'No problem' sez I. 'I only use it occasionally and will remember'. Nope. After getting it wrong several times I finally bit the bullet and crossed the pipes coming out of the ceiling. Ugly looking mess but at least it is back to standard. Wasn't room to re-do it in the ceiling.

Harry K