Faucet Repair

This issue can have a few causes. One of the main causes for homes with bathtub faucets installed since the year 2000 is the pressure balancing cartridge inside the faucet that mixes the hot and cold water. For around 20 years, the code has required pressure balancing faucets to be installed for bathtubs as a safety measure. All single handle bathtub faucets made today in the US are pressure balancing. This type of faucet equalizes hot and cold water in the event of a pressure loss on one side. The pressure will equalize to the lower side in the event of a pressure difference between the hot and cold. For example, if someone flushes a toilet while a shower is in use on the same plumbing system, the cold water side at the bathtub faucet will lose some pressure. A pressure balancing faucet will adjust accordingly to that pressure difference to keep the temperature of the water on the bathtub faucet consistent to what the user had prior to the toilet being flushed. When the component that controls that balancing fails, it can get stuck on the cold side and not allow hot water to flow properly.

Usually, this is repaired by replacing the faucet cartridge with the OEM part. Even on older faucets without balancing spools, they can get fouled up or clogged with deposits and won't allow both sides to flow properly. Most issues on bathtub faucets, from leaks to inconsistent flow, can be fixed by replacing the cartridge on single handle faucets, or stems, if it is a two or three handle type faucet.

The short answer to this question is a resounding, YES. The reason it matters is because of future repairs and customer support.

There are literally thousands of faucet brands available on the market today. All are not equal and all are not easy to get parts for when needed. Most name brands like Price Fister, Moen, Delta, Kohler, American Standard, and Symmons have been around for many decades and their replacement parts are typically readily available online or in hardware stores.

We always recommend getting new faucets from an official distributor and not from an overstock company or third party distributor. This is mainly because the manufacturer will often not offer the same warranty and you may get a faucet that is missing parts or is used. Purchasing faucets made in other countries can also be problematic when it comes to getting parts and those parts or hardware do not always match American plumbing connections without special adapters.

The brands listed above offer lifetime warranties on many of their products. Once you purchase the faucet and register it, it is in their system. Then, any time you need any replacement parts, you only need to make an easy phone call and the CSR will have your information on file along with the model numbers of your faucet. For those with more particular taste and want a more designer look for a faucet, the listed manufacturers all have higher end lines under different names but still with the same simplicity of getting replacement parts.

The main thing to consider is doing research on the faucet to make sure they have replacement parts available and have a good track record for service.

Faucet repairs can be expensive for a couple reasons. One reason is not all manufacturers put their brand name in plain sight, or at all, on their product and there is not a one-size-fits-all part for any faucet out there. They all have proprietary parts made by the manufacturer or by approved manufacturers of older model faucet parts, but you have to know who made the faucet and know the model.

For common brands like Delta, Moen, Price Pfister, and Kohler, they all have the brand name stamped somewhere on their products. Once you know the brand name it is not so difficult to find the needed part. But that is not the case with many other brands, especially the more designer brands.

The other frustrating part is finding the part needed, especially if it is an older model faucet. Tracking down parts for these can take a lot of time with phone calls and searching online.

Another reason the cost is high for repairs is the replacement parts for some faucets cost more than the faucet did originally, especially if it is an older model. Many of the manufacturers do not keep many parts in stock for older faucets or they only make them a few times a year on their assembly line, thus the price is higher for those parts. We have waited up to six months for hot and cold stems for a 1990s American Standard bathtub faucet for this reason. Also, some manufactures discontinue certain parts for their faucets and there are no alternatives.

All these reasons are why it can be expensive to repair a faucet. The upshot is usually a faucet only needs repairing once every ten years or so, so simply replacing can be the best option.