Have you ever wondered how your water flows in your bathroom faucet? It is good to know what makes up our bathroom faucet fixtures, how they operate, and how to fix problems when they arise.
Your bathroom faucet includes visible fixtures that bring water to you for your use and then dispose of that water. Think about it. Plumbing is needed to both bring the water to you and to remove it away from you. That can be a lot of plumbing!
There are many variations on the type of bathroom faucet fixtures in use. In general, you have one or two valves that control the temperature and pressure of the water you want. In other words, hot or cold and when used, we normally want a combination of both to our liking.
Some bathroom faucet fixtures have one valve that controls both hot and cold mixed water. That is called a handle and it includes a swivel device that allows you to get the pressure and temperature you wish by moving it to the desired position.
Your bathroom faucet fixtures also include the hidden plumbing under your sink that is part of your indoor plumbing system of pipes. The pipes to your bathroom sink include one for hot water and one for cold and a return water pipe. Near the point of contact with your faucet fixtures, the hot and cold water pipes each have a hose that is fitted with mountings to attach to your equivalent hot and cold bathroom faucet fixtures.
Your sink collects and then disposes used water that flows through your spout. Most sinks also have a drain stop that allow you to fill the sink for whatever need you might have and dispose of the water later. The drain stop is a plunger that you pull to stop the drainage of water and push to open the sink drain. The drain stop is typically located between the hot and cold water valves or is part of the spout and handles assembly.
Over time, your bathroom faucet fixtures can leak or cause water temperature and flow issues. These are caused by the wearing out of the cartridge in the hot or cold water valves, the exit screen assembly for the spout, or the mounting area under the sink for the hot or cold hoses to the fixtures. The main cause of failure of parts is hard water mineral deposits. A cartridge issue is most evident when you are not getting the right temperature of water you are used to getting. Water flow issues are part of scale and mineral build up in exit screen assembly. The exit screen should be checked and cleaned now and then. The cartridge repair can be more involved and you might wish to have a plumber do that or seek advice on how to change the cartridge for your particular bathroom faucet fixtures.
The spout exit screen assembly can be checked and cleaned without the need for tools. This part is important to keep free of mineral build up from hard water. You can disassemble the exit screen from the end of the spout with a clockwise turning motion. Before you do though, close off the sink drain so that you do not lose any parts that might come off when you remove the screen. Observe how the screen is configured, what parts go where. Then look to clean any deposits of minerals. Before replacing the screen, make sure all parts are together in the order you found them. Turn the screen assembly counterclockwise to a good hand tight pressure. Do not over-tighten these on your bathroom faucet fixtures. Finally, make sure the water flows without any leaks.
