Sooooo… where we left off… I found the box and the receipt. I haven’t called about getting a replacement yet because I really wanted to get some sort of filters or screens to keep the crud from crudding up a new faucet. I tried several plumbing places and no one had a simple screen, just big filter contraptions, and only one of them was made for hot water and it was like $200. I need to filter both the hot and cold inlets -- or at least I think I do -- I’m not sure if the crud is only coming from one side.

While looking at stuff at my one decent hardware store, I came up with an idea… they make washers with a screen cone for garden hoses. I got some of them, but the screen is really coarse. Old-fashioned faucet aerators have a couple of brass screens, which is where the crud accumulates in my kitchen faucet. If I can get some of those at the inlet, problem solved. You can’t just shove them into the fitting for the supply line, but a garden hose style fitting would work.

So, I got some adapters to go from 1/2" male pipe fittings to male and female hose fittings. I got some aerator screens. The problem is that the screens are about the same size as the internal diameter of the adapter. I could carefully set them in, but I wasn’t really happy with the arrangement.




I tried all the usual plumbing places again to find some larger-diameter screens. All anyone had were the 5/8" ones for aerators. You used to be able to get screens in several sizes, but I sort of recall that years ago, the potheads figured out that they work great for bongs and pipes, and I heard the plumbing stores stopped carrying them so they wouldn't be accused of selling drug paraphernalia. So, where to find larger screen? At the drug paraphernalia shop! A packet of 5 screens was ONE DOLLAR. The faucet aerator ones were like $3 apiece.


I put two screens in each assembly, and aligned them to get an effectively finer mesh.


The washer holds them in place nicely.


A bit of Teflon tape just to be on the safe side.


The shortest 1/2" to 1/2" supply line I could find was 16 inches long. With a 12 inch line on the other end, the whole affair is at least twice as long as it needs to be. But it should work fine.


Viola! No leaks. And I can quickly pull the filter assemblies out to clean out the crud a couple times a year.


Tomorrow's project: Call Delta and see about getting a new faucet.

Well, the saga has ended, I think.

We were at Lowes and bought a Moen. Basic single-handle faucet with a side sprayer. Moen was the only brand they had that has a cartridge instead of the 60 year old design with the ball with the holes in in. They did have the exact same Delta I've been fighting with.

Installed it. It works fine. The only hiccup is that it has permanently-attached supply lines with 3/8" connectors, so I had to put a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter on my filters. In doing this, I added another set of screens, so now they are two-stage filters! By the way, there was a lot of rust and crud in the filter, and just some tiny particles in the aerator. So, the filters are working!


Today, I was out running errands, so I threw the old Delta, with its original box and the original receipt from 2018, in the car. I stopped by Home Despot. I just told him it has a lifetime guarantee, I have been trying unsuccessfully for a couple years to get it to stop leaking. He refunded the entire purchase price on a Home Despot store credit (I no longer have the credit card I originally used).

Not that I planned to ever buy anything from Home Despot ever again, but at least I returned the beast and got something back.

From pj

quote:

Today, I was out running errands, so I threw the old Delta, with its original box and the original receipt from 2018,

Wow, you are a hero. I try to throw everything I can out. Still have too much carp.

Buy once. Cry once.

https://www.chicagofaucets.com...rcial-faucets/manual

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:

Not that I planned to ever buy anything from Home Despot ever again, but at least I returned the beast and got something back.

Sounds to me like Home Depot treated you pretty well.

Why wouldn’t you want to shop there again?

quote:

Originally posted by markj:
Buy once. Cry once.

https://www.chicagofaucets.com...rcial-faucets/manual

I didn't know Chicago Faucets was still around.

The original faucets in our bathtubs were Chicago. They were the only residential faucets I've seen with replaceable seats. A quarter-inch square drive would unscrew the seats for replacement.

I got rid of them in favor of pressure balancing valves from American Standard during a renovation project to install backing board and tiles in the bathrooms. The pressure balancing valves avoid unpleasant surprises when someone elsewhere in the house uses water while a shower is in progress.

Big Al

Home Despot is the largest by far (I think it was like three times the next largest) corporate contributor to congresspeople who have been complicit with I-1’s election lies and the attempted coup on Jan six and its aftermath.

I am not giving them any more of my money.


Yes, the service was good. The company isn’t.