Drippy kitchen faucet

[japple]

A couple years ago, I hired a plumber to replace my kitchen faucet. Nothing fancy, just a basic bar sink faucet so I could easily fill buckets in my sink. They installed a Price Pfister model that has cartridges in the hot and cold handles. I didn't think anything about it and it worked fine for awhile. Now, it seems that the faucet starts dripping every few months and I have to call them out to replace the cartridges. Finding the cartridges has also become a problem because the company has gone out of business and I cannot get replacements at Home Despot or Ace Hardware. I can get them online (for the time being, don't know how long that will last) but, would I be better off just getting the plumber to put in a new name brand faucet? Does all new plumbing hardware have a life span of a year or two?

[Permanut]

1. What a pain in the butt..

are you able to replace it yourself?

[CountAllVotes]

2. Just went through this with a MOEN faucet

It was 10 years old and needed new cartridges and was rusted out.

They replaced it at no cost to me with a "new improved" (no water pressure hardly at all to *save* water is the idea) model. ha!

I had to hire a plumber to install it as the unit they sent me was not the same and had a sprayer on it and the bypass valve was stripped and they did not send that part with the rest of the unit.

The plumber finally got the thing installed and the sprayer is now UNDER the sink and still attached/working!

I am not happy with any of this and it cost me over $200.00.

I would NEVER buy a faucet with a cartridge on it again! NEVER!

BEWARE!

[Comatose Sphagetti]

3. A good faucet will last way more than a year or two.

I have a Moen in my kitchen sink that has been there at least twenty years, if not longer. It has never leaked.
It is not a top-of-the-line Moen and it does not have cartridges.

[LunaSea]

4. You need not replace the entire assembly

Just the rubber/plastic disc at the bottom of the 'cartridge'. It's called the seat and usually gets gummed up with tiny bits of debris from your water supply. Sometimes you can get by with simply cleaning it, or in some cases flipping it over. It's the part responsible for stopping the water flow. Sometimes they'll get deformed from repeated tightening and lose the shape required to make a seal. It's not too difficult a repair if you have an adjustable wrench and a screwdriver. Turn the water supply off first or you will be very sorry.

Like many foreign manufactured home products, the quality of materials has been in decline for some time now. Steel and brass have been replaced by more brittle forms of zinc and other cheap metals. Having parts suppliers fold up and disappear on a regular basis means yes,
sometimes you end up replacing the entire assembly.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. When I remodelled my kitchen I put in a cheap stainless sink and a cheap faucet.

No "cartridges", just basic old-school proven technology. So far it has lasted 15 years without a problems.

Go for cheap and simple, and do it yourself. It's easy. (YouTube is your friend.)

[pansypoo53219]

6. PRETTY is over rated. i want durable. those high arching facets are messy.

[CountAllVotes]

7. Yep

That is what I have over a super-sized sink as I have no bathtub being the bathroom was remodeled for a disabled person -- tub had to go.

So I have this *arrangement*.

If I have to change it again, I'll get a different faucet and to hell w/MOEN.