Is there Lead still coming out of our Faucets?

Even though the government regulates and monitors how much contaminates are allowed into the water supply, do the water treatment plants really get everything out of the water?  Recent health studies have shown that even very low levels of lead in the water can still be dangerous.  Problems such as kidney disease, reduced brain function, and hypertension.  In 1986, the government enacted a federal law to reduce the amount of drinking water in our plumbing.  Even so many faucets still sold today still contain up to a quarter pound of lead in them and still be deemed "lead-free"  .Under this federal law, faucets are allowed to have up to 4 percent of lead when they are manufactured.  With the average kitchen faucet weighing around 7 pounds,  that leaves enough lead in the faucets to still do some harm.

California as we all know, is always on the forefront when it comes to the environment.  Congresswomen Anna Eshoo has introduced a federal bill to try and eliminate lead from our plumbing for drinking water.  The bill, named H.R 5289.  This bill has already been approved by Governer Schwarzenegger for the state of California to have the strictest lead standard of any state.  The bill also adds protection to make sure the faucet companies actually comply with the strict standards.  To help ensure that the H.R. 5289 bill stays strong, contact your local congressman and tell them you want H.R 5289.

What Could Be Even Cooler Than A Touch-less Kitchen Faucet

There is a new type of electric faucet in town and they are calling it the hybrid faucet.  If you haven't heard, the new thing in bathroom and kitchen faucets for home use is the ability to be able to tap your faucet with the back of your hand or forearm in order to turn it on or off.  This comes in very handy when you have been handling food and would rather not get actual faucet all dirty by getting your food covered hands all over it.  These new faucets have electric parts meaning they use electricity.
      The conventional way of handling this is by having a couple of C or D batteries under the sink.  Having a touch-less faucet is great, but I'm not sure it is worth the added hassle of having something else in your home that requires changing out batteries all the time.  Well now their is a new system that uses the hydro flow of the water through the pipe to generate electricity and recharge those batteries.  The hybrid-energy system faucet has been tested by the manufacturer to help the batteries last up to 30 years.
     The new product is currently only available for commercial use, but when it hits the market we will have to put up a couple of these bad boys for sale.  For now check out our line of discount bathroom faucets and discount kitchen faucets we have today.
  

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.

New Touch Sensor Kitchen Faucet by Newform

The Italian based company, Newform, has used the marketing stradegy called the Closs Follower technique.  They have come out with there own touch sensor kitchen faucet similar to Delta's Touch2O faucet.  It features a chrome finish with a contemporary look.  Unlike Delta's touch faucet, which only allows the ability to turn the faucet on and off with the touch of a wrist, this kitchen faucet has an integrated panel on the nozzle to regulates the faucets flow rate.  The four sensors on the panel allow you to change the flow rate as well as the temperature.  This faucet also features a pull-out nozzle.


We hope to be carrying this new faucet on our website soon.  Until then check out all our discount kitchen faucets at TheKitchenFaucet.com