Pot Fillers - EPA and Lead? Leaks? pls tell me!

13 years ago

Debating about the pot filler. I've read here about the

EPA lead warnings of water sitting in copper pipes more than 6 hours need to be flushed before using the faucet?

Also - been reading reviews of pot fillers - so many people

complain of leaks and ruined range-tops - do any of you

have a style that does not/has never leaked? Which make/model do you have?

I make pasta/stock/soups alot - and tho my sink isn't that far away - it sure would be nice to have this.....

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Comments (9)

cat_mom
13 years ago
Don't know about lead or sitting water. We have a Grohe pot filler faucet. I use the water from it to fill or add to pots/tea kettle and then boil anyway.

Whether I should be or not, I'm really not concerned; I like having our pot filler faucet.
sue36
13 years ago
My understanding is there is no lead in copper pipes but lead can be incorporated inproperly by the use of lead solder. If you get a pot filler faucet make sure it has two valves. That way if one has an issue the other prevents a leak. I have forgotten to turn off one of the two valves and the one in use held just fine.
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Datura-07, from Ccoombs1's link: Do not consume water that has sat in your homeÂs plumbing for more than six hours. First, make sure to run the water until you feel the temperature change before cooking, drinking, or brushing your teeth, unless otherwise instructed by your utility. (emphasis mine) I would add, that what actually happens is that the water temperature changes twice b/f its ready to use.... I seem to recall reading somewhere that for a house w/the "average" amount of piping for water to flow through it takes somewhere b/w 1 & 2 minutes But, that was a long time ago so I may not remember correctly. I use the water temperature method. You can collect that water & use it to water plants (inside & outside)...that's what I usually do, especially in the summer when I have containers on the back deck & front porch. One thing to remember is that even if you have PVC piping, there are probably copper pipes leading into/out of your hot water tank and possibly the intake from your well or public water source. I think the person who put in a small chef's sink had a good idea. The pot filler wouldn't have to be right over it, as long as it could reach it easily it would be fine...so you get the look & functionality of a pot filler with the safety net of a drain. For leaks inside the wall...yes, there is a possibility of this and it's like a shower head that also comes directly from a wall... But, if you have access from the other side of the wall you may not have to disturb your tiled backsplash for repairs. That's assuming, of course, that your pot filler is on an inside wall. Oh! That brings up another point... If your pot filler is on an outside wall, be sure it is very well insulated to prevent the pipe from freezing & bursting! [For those of us who live in areas where we have below freezing temperatures.] BTW...it's not just pot fillers that are at-risk for overflowing...I did that once when I filled a pot next to my prep sink. The faucet head was docked on the edge of the pot to fill & I got distracted. The advantage I did have, though, is that w/the sink right there I could dump the excess water from the pot and "sweep" the overflowed water into the sink.
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sombreuil_mongrel
13 years ago
Plumbing solder has not contained any lead for about 10 years. Unless you tie into an old line with lead solder, you should have no problems. If the tied-into line goes to another tap that's used regularly (like a kitchen or bathroom) then there won't be any sitting water.
Casey
kaseki
13 years ago
Lead only leaches out of lead solder if the water is acidic. Municipal water suppliers have been required for some time to make their water supplies alkaline.

And how does the pot filler differ from any other faucet with respect to the plumbing and any possible lead content?

A pot filler not only provides the advantages (and some disadvantages) widely discussed on this site, but also provides an outlet for reverse osmosis water, if one is so inclined to install a system. RO filtering will remove practically everything from the water. For filling pots, the RO system will need a sufficiently large storage tank.

kas
sy308_aol_com
13 years ago
I came to this website via 'google' to trouble shoot our leaking Grohe potfiller! Yes, very attractive and convenient. My hubby theorizes that the cook top heat contributed to the degradation of the unit. Second valve shut off hasn't prevented the leak. So disappointed. I don't know where to begin.
davidro1
13 years ago
Something is missing in this discussion about lead.

Brass leaches out lead, no matter how little lead is in the brass. Or something like that. We need a technical discussion about brass, or a link to it. Many faucets are made of brass made before the low-lead requirements began to apply to new faucets sold.

There can be a lot of leaching happening in pipes too because most pipes are older than ten years old, and solder can be low-lead too. Solder with lead is still available for drain pipes, and workers might use it in the wrong places, too, so even new pipes ...

Reverse osmosis water generates a lot more lead leaching than non-RO water. I,ve read this often in forums run by Master Plumbers. E.g. Terry Love's forums.

Since pipes going to pot fillers have more standing water than the pipes going to a kitchen sink faucet, the original post makes some sense. Flushing lines is good.

Hth
sombreuil_mongrel
13 years ago
Brass contains lead? Silly me, I had read that is was an alloy of copper and zinc (just as bronze is copper/tin). But if zinc is recognized hazardous as lead is, better not make any countertops from it, any more than you'd make a sheet lead C/T.

Casey
davidro1
13 years ago
silly you, my dear sir, you are completely wrong. Web search and come back to this thread with more arms. Brass is as you wrote, an alloy mostly of those two metals, and it also (can, may, often does) contain lead too. A small amount of lead.

This (even if very small) amount of lead leaches out first. That's what I know or think I know based on reading and learning. When I wrote that "Brass leaches out lead, no matter how little lead is in the brass" I made a real point. It appears that your uninformed comment about zinc being dangerous is just an attempt at denigration and sarcasm. Zinc is not leaching out of brass. Now I'm all for sharing what you know, and vice versa, but I hope you have something significant and factual to add too if you want to jab and barb.

Just f.y.i. for the general reader: alloys often contain lots of ingredients other than their two main ingredients. For example, there are many recipes for stainless steel (different types), and these variations have numbers attached to them. Brass never needed to be codified as much as stainless did so it never got that numbering work applied to it.

Hth
sombreuil_mongrel
13 years ago
cite?
didn't think so
BS

Pot Fillers - EPA and Lead? Leaks? pls tell me!

Comments (9)

cat_mom

sue36

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