A Couple of New Faucet Inventions Include...

There are a couple of new techie devices for faucets that are pretty neat:

First we have the "Spring-Loaded Smart Faucet." (shown to the right here) It can attach to pretty much any tap.  You can leave the faucet handles open and the water doesn't run unless you are pressing on the slick chrome vertical bar over there.  This one might be a little over the top for saving money on water, but it can definitely help with hot water savings and what not.  It is basically an alternative for having the motion sensor to turn the water on.

Second, if you really want to work for your water, a designer named Harvey Bewley has come up with the "Twist Faucet" which is this one over to the left.  To get the water out of this thing you have to crank the knob.   It also has a digital read-out that shows how much water you are consuming as well as a water temperature gauge.  This is new age faucet is just a concept right now, so you can't really get this one in the store quite yet.  Still it is a neat idea, and I think temperature gauges are up and coming seeing as how the digital temperature is almost required for the new instant water heaters some  residence have starting installing in their homes.

Fix a Leak Week!

Last week in the Chesapeake bay area was "Fix a Leak Week." Sponsered by EPA's WaterSense® program, the event helps consumers in the mid-Atlantic and across the country save water by indentifing and repair dripping kitchen and bathroom faucets, running toilets, leaky shower heads.\
    
      EPA regional administrator Shawn M. Garvin said "Leaks can add up to more than 10,000 gallons of water wasted at home every year--that's enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.  The EPA created Fix a Leak Week to save water for future generations and to help homeowners save more than 10 percent on their water bills."

Keeping Your Bathroom and Kitchen Faucets From Freezing This Winter

In this new year of 2010, we have had some pretty crazy weather across the country.  Here in the southeast we have gotten more than our fair share of freezing rain and that white stuff on the ground which I have seen before, but it has been a while.  I'm not exactly sure what you call it ,but it looks real pretty.  In the month of January, the southeast had a cold front hovering over it, pushing cold air from the north down here to us in the south, that would just not go away.  Hopefully not to many peoples pipes froze during the cold winter month.  Today, I want to go over a few ways that you can keep your kitchen faucet and bathroom  faucets from freezing over.

Before the winter freeze hits your town, wrapping some kind of insulation around exposed pipes in unheated areas is always a good idea.  Pretty much anything can be used like rags, newspaper, trash bags, or even foam.  Putting the foam or some rags around your water meter keeps the cold from getting to your water since it is probably the only pipe directly exposed to the elements.  Drain and store water hoses indoors or in the garage.  If you have a swimming pool, you can keep your pump motor running, but that will use a lot of electricity so you might want to keep that off, but you need to make sure it is nice and warm outside before turning it back on or it could get quite expensive.

The best advice I can give you about keeping your pipes from freezing while you are out of town is to turn off the water at the shut-off valve under the sink while leaving your faucets running.  This will drain the pipes and you can keep your mind at ease knowing it is very unlikely your pipes burst.

Bathroom Terrorizors in Worcester, Massachusetts

Vandals successfully closed down Belmont Street Community School over the weekend in Worchester.  They reaked havic by throwing paint on the floors and walls, flooding the lavatories by leaving the bathroom faucets on on and also the faucets in the janitor's closets.  They also smashed computer screens and windows causing several hundred thousand dollars in damages reported by Gary Quitadamo,  a local police chief.  Hopefully the vandals will be caught and brought to justice swiftly.

Hopefully the vandals will be caught and brought to justice swiftly.

Water Conservation with your Bathroom and Kitchen Faucets

Recently, we posted an article on our site, TheKitchenFaucet.com, on how you can promote water conservation in your home.  Aerators on your bathroom faucets and kitchen faucets help keep the rinsing power of your faucets while reducing the gallons per minute(GPM) coming from the faucet.  The article is called 10 Ways to Promote Water Conservation in your home.  Next week we will be writing an article on 10 Ways to Promote Water Conservation around the yard.  This article will focus on conserving water around the yard.  We have also recently made a HubPage on water conservation and why it is so important to the future of our society.  It also has some neat polls to see what people are already doing to help promote the conservation of water.

Installing the new Bathroom Faucet Drain Assembly | Part 2

Before we install the new drain assembly for our bathroom faucet, we want to apply a little silicone sealant to the area around the drain at the bottom of the sink.  This will greatly improve the tight seal we need around the drain hole so we don't get a leak.   Using the silicone sealant now in the project means we have a much smaller chance of finding leaks later in the project and will save a great deal of time loosening and tightening trying to stop the leaks later.

Now lets grab the new drain assembly and go to town.  Most modern bathroom faucet kits come with all the components screwed together on the right order so you can see what order the nuts and washers will go in.  Unscrew the parts of the drain assembly and pay close attention to their order.  Put the top part(drain plug) in over the top of the sink and then screw the flange pipe coming in from under the sink.  Make sure you have the large nut, then metal washer(if you have one), then the rubber washer on the flange pipe in that order before connecting it to the drain plug. You also want to make sure the J-Unit plastic nut first then washer are around the flange pipe also before putting the flange pipe down into the J-Unit.  It is a good idea to put some silicone sealant around the threads of both large nuts here. This will help ensure there are no leaks.

If you put everything on the flange pipe here correctly, all you should have to do know is tighten everything up and test the flowing water through the drain pipe.

If you have any questions about this process or are stuck, please feel free to post a comment and ask a question.  We are happy to help and take a look at our bathroom faucets and kitchen faucets to add to your home.

Next, we will start with the fun stuff.  Installing the actual bathroom faucet.

Remodeling the Master Bath

This past weekend, my Wife and I decided we wanted to remodel our master bathroom. We painted the walls a nice green color. I "very carefully" replaced the light switch recepticals. I think that was one of the cheapest ways to make a room look new and fresh. You can get nice white light switches for about $.69 at Home Depot, and the cover plates are even cheaper.

The next big conversion is going to be what? You guessed it. Our bathroom faucet. I think this nice satin nickel center faucet from theKitchenFaucet.com will look very nice in our new bathroom. As soon as I have installed the faucet myself, I will post instructions on how to get one of these installed yourself. Not that I don't already know how to install it :), I just want to make sure I get it right and make some documentation before I dive into a posting.

How it all got started with Kitchen faucets

I first starting learning more about faucets when I became the person in the house hold who alwasy was doing the dishes. I hated seeing the dishes in the sink all the time and thought this could be a good way for me to contribute to my family. I also have to admit that I enjoy doing the dishes sometimes. It has a kind of pieceful busy work to it. Almost like mowing the lawn.

Being the first post for this topic, I thought I would introduce theKitchenFaucet.com This web site will be selling kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, and everyone's favorite, shower heads. Though shower heads are not our exclusive product, people seem to like them so we are going to sell them.

We will also be talking on this blog(web log) about how to install kitchen and bathroom faucets for yourself and also many ways to improve the efficiency of your water usage and even how to improve energy costs. Yea, your asking yourself how are you going to help me improve energy usage through my faucets?? Well there are ways. I guess you will have to bookmark this blog so when the time comes to unvale the big secret. You won't be left in the dark. Ya'll have a good week now. Until next time