Kitchen Faucet
My wife and I (and our step dog) live in a five years old house. Most people would agree it is a relatively new home. All the faucets at home were manufactured by Delta. They are mid line models. We have them in the laundry room, kitchen and bathrooms.
About six months ago the one in the kitchen sink started leaking. The leak was coming from the connection between the hose and the head of the unit. Sadly there was a small leak so we were not able to notice it until we had a water stain on the ceiling on the lower level. At least the water was clean.
My wife and I shopped around for a replacement faucet and decided to get a similar Delta faucet at Home Depot in Apple Valley, MN. Home Depot does not install. They sub contract with a couple local plumbing companies. After a few days without an operational sink the plumber stopped by and replaced the entire unit including the liquid soap dispenser unit. All was good.
Earlier this week my wife and I finished breakfast. I was washing the service in the kitchen sink when a loud noise followed by an interruption on the water flow from the faucet occurred. I heard some water leaking under the sink. Immediately I shut off flow on the faucet.
After clearing the cabinet I took a look under the kitchen sink. Hot and cold water flow on two separate plastic hoses into the valve housed in the body of the faucet. A valve with a handle are used to open and close flow and mix them in order to get the water to the desired temperature. The plastic hose goes to an adaptor that is held together by a black plastic clip. The water pressure was pulling the connection apart and the clip was not able to hold them together. Water was splashing all over.
Went to Home Depot and after some explaining they gave us a part from a new set so we could swap it in hopes of solving the issue. Drove back home and swapped parts. No joy.
Drove back to Home Depot and provided them with an update. This time we spoke with a different person who sent us back to the resident kitchen expert. After explaining what happened he suggested for us to purchase the same faucet and have it replaced by the plumber. They would reimburse us when we returned the defective faucet. While talking with the expert I noticed that the Delta faucet was manufactured in China. I mentioned to him that perhaps we should get a different faucet manufactured somewhere else given that the model at hand had too many plastic parts and two different ones have failed in a period of five years.
Faucets used to provide decades of service. Perhaps is the new manufacturing in China or the current way of developing and producing products by American companies in which goods are designed to last just a few years so the consumer must continue to purchase products over and over. Some ‘bean counters’ must have suggested such policy decades ago so today American products in general are poor.
Last summer my sister was getting done some remodeling around the house. I recall her getting some relative expensive German faucets. She mentioned that the ones that she had looked at from American companies were not worth purchasing. At the time I thought she just wanted to get something unique and different. How can faucets not last decades of service? In the past year my opinion has shifted considerably.
Hopefully companies like Delta will think about what they are doing and change their ways. Having their products designed and manufactured in China is neither good for the economy of our country nor for their survival as a company. One of these days we will see faucets that look quite similar to the Delta models manufactured in China but under a different company name. Such faucets will be the same Delta products with perhaps very few modifications but costing a fraction of the price and competing with Delta. When all is said and done Delta and the US will both be out of business.
