Kitchen Faucet Flow Rate, Part II

Me | 2/4/2024 | Paul R.

[Paul R.]

As a follow up to my thread* discussing (among other things) wimpy kitchen faucet flow rates, I stumbled across this single temperature (almost always cold water) faucet at my local Menards:

https://www.menards.com/main/kitchen/kitchen-faucets/plumb-works-reg-single-handle-drinking-water-faucet/5146ss/p-1444429309019-c-8509.htm

That's more like it, as the faucet has a flow rating of 4.94 gallons per minute (18.7 liters per minute) at 60 psi. Now, that's getting somewhere!

Somewhere on Amazon I found a somewhat similar unit from so "never-heard-of-'em" Chinese brand, said faucet rated at 6.something"gallons per minute. Unfortunately I did not save the item to my Amazon "list" or cart "save for later", and now I can't find the darn thing!!

However, I'm more comfortable buying the faucet locally from Menards, as I believe this is Menards' house brand, has a lifetime limited warranty, and problems or parts needs should be a little easier to deal with than an "no-name" seller on Amazon. (Granted SOME such sellers on Amazon have been responsive when problems arise, some are not.)

So, we have a couple "pros" (flow rate, local seller).

Cons:

Menards' house brand, ok, yeah, that's still not a great quality / durability indicator.

It's single temperature, so it'd have to be added alongside the present (brand new) faucet. But... I don't have a good place to mount this, unless I bore a hole through the left-rear-top of the cast iron sink itself, or, use the existing hole for the sprayer. Then we have no sprayer, unless... I "could" bore a hole in the Formica-over-wood countertop to the rear-left of the sink for the "fast" faucet. Overhang of the sink would be minimal, though, less than an inch.

Better might be to put this faucet where the spray hose goes, and put the sprayer in the new hole in the Formica-over-wood countertop to the rear-left of the sink. That leaves the sprayer hose a bit short reaching the right side of the (double) sink though. (It's already barely long enough.) So, I might have to figure out something for a longer sprayer hose.

I dropped by Menards and looked at the faucet: There is no aerator and no provision for one, and the orifice / exit is only about 1/4" ID, maybe 5/16" inch. At anything over 1 GPM or so, this thing is REALLY going to fire the water out in a hard stream. At this sort of GPM you really need an exit more like 3/4". The idea is not to have a water-knife! I could probably Frankenstein an adaptor on the end and give up a bit of faucet height.

Hmmm...

*Previous thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4214530/posts

[Varda]

Not all laundry faucets are wall mount and I think usually have no low flow regulators. Here’s a very good brand (Kingston Brass) that’s inexpensive and good flow rate, 4 gph.
https://www.build.com/kingston-brass-kb247-nml/s1558501?uid=3675845

A simple search on high flow rate faucets gets multiple hits on various styles.

[GOPJ]

I complained to my plumber about the low flow in a faucet last time he was out - and he said, ‘I can fix that’ and a few minutes later the flow was fixed. I should have asked him what he had done...

[Pocketdoor]

All of the new faucets I have installed have stupid 1/4” (might even be smaller than 1/4”) supply lines built onto them. They get plugged often. I disconnect them from the angle stop and disassemble the faucet and Blow them out with high air pressure into a container from the faucet side. Then I bleed the supply side into a bucket and observe for any debris.

[steve86]

I haven’t read thru the threads but I recently put a “laundry sink” faucet in. It has no restriction on flow. And no aerator, of course, but has the threaded spigot (redneck!!! 😂).

[catnipman]

tuscany is a menard’s store brand only ... store brand plumbing fixtures are a total no-go in my book ...

[Paul R.]

I found a good number of roughly 4 GPM 4” centers faucets, but... This usage is a kitchen sink faucet with 8” centers.

At this point my only option is replace the brand new faucet with something like what I linked above (and try to figure out something for the side spray) or put a single hole single temperature “drinking water faucet off to the side.

Well, I guess I could really hillbilly it and rig up something from under the sink with a water hose...

[samiam5]

I recently replaced the faucet in my office washroom. The new one wouldn’t flow enough to activate my tankless water heater.
I thought I’d just remove the faucet aerator screen, but the entire outlet of the faucet was an assembly with a flow restrictor and aerator all in one. Running the faucet without that assembly splashed water all over the place.
Careful application of a hot soldering iron melted a hole in the flow restrictor. It was kind of nerve wracking because one false move would ruin the whole thing.
I put it all back together and now it works great.

[Paul R.]

I was able to do much the same with a shower head, many moons ago. :-)

Unfortunately, while the aerator in my new faucet is easy to entirely remove, it doesn’t affect flow rate much. No splashing with it out though (due to the slow flow.)