Earlier I learned that the new mandatory flow restrictors that are now in all sink faucets make certain faucets leak. Like the American Standard faucet in my bathroom, which I thought I would have to replace because it leaked inside the assembly.
When the faucet is off, all is well. Turn the faucet on at low rate and I get small, sporadic amounts of water coming down through the center hole (following along the pop-up pull and dropping to form a puddle). Turn it on at a higher rate and the same sporadic leak is present but the puddle forms quicker.
Almost like the faucet can’t handle the flow rate and is leaking extra water inside the faucet which has no where to go but down through that center hole? I don’t know enough about how faucets operate to know if that’s a plausible explanation.
Thought I had a bad faucet so bought a 2nd one (different brand) with same results.
While the plumbers knew that the aerator was creating water pressure that the cheap-ass faucets can’t handle, the real problem turned out to be the flow restrictor:
I read the comment that it might be a defective faucet, but I did not believe that.
I finally found the problem: The aerator is poorly designed (if designed at all). It lets the water flow in through a very small hole (about a tenth of an inch in diameter). If you have any sedements or scale enter the hole, it makes the problem even worse. The effect of this tiny hole is that water pressure inside the faucet, even when the water is turned on, is high and about the same as in the water line; it should be much less. This high pressure inside is what caused the small leak. This is simple hydraulics which the designer of the aerator ignored.
I threw away the lousy aerator, and voila! The problem was solved!
I am a retired civil engineer and I still remember basic hydraulics.
Leave it to a retired engineer to figure out a problem caused by government bureaucrats in cahoots with greedy MBAs.
I pried the silly flow restrictor out with a sharp point, and now everything works fine and doesn’t leak. I was ready to replace the whole faucet (which is a piece of shit anyway) but now I don’t.
American Standard. A once fine American company ruined by environmentalists, MBAs, and outsourcing.Bastards all! They are ruining the building industry, the trades, and the country.
They’ve even got plumbers arguing over whether their duty is to help customers, or make them save water!
Plumbers are the protectors of the water supply.
Gag. What a sanctimonious horse’s ass. Bet he belongs to a government union.
If people are using too much water, why not simply charge them more? If water is a scarce resource and it is being “wasted,” then it is certainly fair to make heavier users pay more. But this silly one-size-fits-all thinking is what has led to flow restrictors, which only decrease efficiency and make people use more water or leave it on longer. Or (as the WSJ documented) simply remove the damned things so they can take a normal shower.
Those who take baths have no such problem. They simply wait till the tub is full. I’m surprised there isn’t a movement to criminalize bathtubs.
Comments
3 responses to “Crimes against water”
Fully 80% of my water bill is composed of fixed-price taxes. OK, they’re not really fixed-price, since they go up every year, but they don’t depend on my water usage. Only 20% of my “water bill” is actually fees based on the amount of water I use.
I’ll believe there’s a water crisis when they start acting like there’s a water crisis.
Of course, by then I’ll be distilling my daily water requirements from the water vapor in the air.
80% My bill is the same every month, because I am charged the minimum amount. If I save water, I don’t save money.
If I go out of town for a month, my water bill is unchanged.
It has been this way for a long time.
So, since you insist. I use a lot of water. (Orders of magnitude more than when I lived on my boat and had to make do with the 80 gallons in the tanks.)
I can scrimp and save on water when I have to, when I have to pay by the gallon for RO water in the islands, you would be amazed at how little you can get by with. (Turn the water off while you soap your hair, is the easy one….) But when you make it a moot point, well, so be it.
“I’m surprised there isn’t a movement to criminalize bathtubs.”
Because more women take baths in a tub, so only Rethuglicans who War on Women would want to restrict them. Duh!