Best faucet valves according to redditors

You also need to buy this too

Mandle last step before calling a plumber. Could use a beam clamp, small U-bolt, or small visegrips.

Edit: Drill bit stop collar

What do you want to know?

I will give you 3 pointers if you buy this particular unit, though. I only bought this because it's the cheapest 4 stage you can get, and I know I don't need all the bells and whistles (in-line TDS, etc -except one that I will mention in part 2 below) that come with the ones that cost way more.

1. If you want to make serious quantities of water, and you don't have the patience of a saint, get THIS MEMBRANE and just keep the included 50gpd membrane as a spare. The dow filmtec membranes are the best you can get. They're the only ones that really produce anywhere close to their stated GPD rating. The 75GPD membrane is great too. Honestly it's just a more convenient, and longer lasting membrane either way. I've gone through a shitload of RO membranes. Whenever I need a replacement, the filmtec 75 is what I buy.
   
   
2. If you're installing it on a bathroom sink that has easily accessible male threading (after you remove the aerator), then get one of THESE. It's much easier to just divert the faucet water to your 1/4" tubing than having to detach and reattach the included plastic faucet adapter every time you want to make water. If you want to cut the faucet out of the picture altogether (my preferred method) then install a SADDLE VALVE straight to your 1/2" copper pipe (cold water pipe ONLY - never connect an RO/DI to hot water) and a SHUTOFF VALVE in-line between the pipe and your RO/DI's supply port. That's what I did today. Tapped into the copper pipe behind my bathroom sink; drilled a hole in the wall just above the sink and ran the tubing into the bathroom; installed shutoff valve there; drilled holes in undersink cabinet to accommodate supply, waste, and clean tubes; mounted the filter unit inside the undersink cabinet. Now I have a convenient on/off switch just above my bathroom sink. The tubing for waste and clean are coiled up between the cabinet and my tub. When I want to make water I just snake the waste line down my bathtub drain, pop my water sprayer in the tub and fill her up. No worries of spills/overflow. No hassle of connecting/disconnecting plastic fittings that are prone to thread strip.
   
   
3. Doesn't hurt to install a BACKFLUSH. This is the one 'bell and whistle' that I think is actually really useful. Especially if you have really hard water, It's good to flush heavy solids out of your membrane occasionally.

No worries. Those are precisely the style of angle stop that would create the issue I described.

A good way to test this theory would be to shut the stop off, disconnect the supply line, attach a new supply line, open the stop slowly and run it into a 5 gallon bucket. If the hammering persists then you've found your problem.

If that does turn out to be the problem I would advise replacing both angle stops with Brasscraft 1/4 turn angle stops.

Sounds like it might be a built-in shutoff setting. Some people (such as myself) use an in-line shutoff valve in the shower pipe to save water. You get yourself wet, shut the water off to just a trickle, then soap up. Turn the water back on to rinse off.

A shutoff valve is different than just shutting off the water, because you're still getting warm water delivered--just at a very reduced rate--and you don't have to wait for it to get warm again when you turn it back on.

Even when we're NOT in a drought, saving water is a sensible thing to do.

The radiators in the hot rooms need smaller vents so they take longer to heat up, and/or the radiators in the cooler rooms need larger vents so they heat up more quickly. Some steam vents have a dial you can adjust like this, others have a replaceable orifice like this one - I got two of them last year and in spite of their low price they work perfectly. If a vent is not adjustable you can replace it with another vent.

Also, the headers in the upper floors may have undersized vents. My house has two headers. One is a short headers supplying 5 rooms, the other is a long header supplying 2 rooms. The rooms supplied by the long header took a long time to heat up, so I replaced the slower header's vent with one of these and it heats up much faster now. It cost me $75 if I remember correctly, but it was well worth it. It has much more venting capacity than anything with a similar price.

One last thing: see the diagram here: https://www.gorton-valves.com/products In general you want small capacity vents for radiators near the boiler/with short pipe runs and large capacity vents further away/with longer pipe runs so the system vents all the radiators at about the same time. It's part experience and part trial and error.

You could do things like you're planning but I would add in a water-valve to cut the water in addition to the power (you want to cut both so the washer doesn't run while it's dry). I would also use Home Assistant instead of IFTTT, since it will be faster and won't rely on your internet being up to work. If you go with ZWave device, you'll need some kind of hub, which Home Assistant can act as (with a ZWave USB stick).

However, unless you want to tie this particular issue into a large home automation system (getting text messages when the leak sensor is triggered for example), you might be better off with something like this, which is an all-in-one system for exactly your use-case: https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Detector-Shut-Off-Stopping-Detection/dp/B0742N3KHF/

Personally, I'd go with that kit, otherwise you're looking at:

• $60+ - Raspberry Pi for Home Assistant
  
• $45 - ZWave USB Stick
  
• $100 - ZWave Water Valve
  
• $90 - ZWave Heavy Duty Switch
  
• $30+ - ZWave Water Sensor
  
  That's already 3x the cost of the kit, not including your time to learn what you need to in order to get HA running & doing what you want it to.

https://www.amazon.com/WaterCop-Z-Wave-Shut-Off-Actuator-Prevention/dp/B07C91B69P/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=zwave+switch+water&qid=1555101934&s=gateway&sr=8-16

pretty sure zwave works with home-assistant

This is what I was going to recommend too.

Surprised they were able to bust them. I used this one and although they try they haven't been able to bust in yet.

I live downtown and they were using mine to shower with.

as others have said, do let management know.

if they don't fix it, or give you an unreasonable timeline, you can fix it yourself

https://www.amazon.com/Sloan-3326009-MIX-60-Mechanical-Lavatory/dp/B001BO8TWA/

this lets you bleed cold water into the hot leg of the faucet. it attaches with a few more of the flexible hoses.

this type of mixer is required for anti-scald code requirements in day cares.

-

this one has a check valve, which is a better thing to have, but the price is ridiculously low

https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Temperature-Control-Thermostatic-Automatic/dp/B07CF7JRLQ/

so it may be garbage.

This is most likely the new Pfister shower cartridge. The part number is 974-3210. They only came out with this cartridge a couple of years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Pfister-9743210-Universal-Pressure-Cartridge/dp/B01NB1JO1U

So I've been trying to find something similar to https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012BFNCJ2/ but that would accomidate my bottle washer & wort chiller so I wouldn't have to lose access my sink during washing & chilling. Does anyone know of a similar product or other option?

I feel like this falls into the category of "common sense" tips. Like...the kind of thing where I would genuinely be concerned for a person that didn't consider this if they cook near a sink and have issues with the water level?

But then again, why do you have issues with the water level? Is there a legitimate reason to waste water like this? (because it IS wasteful). As opposed to simply covering the container? i've done probably one long cook (48-72)/ weekend since I got my anova for christmas, and I've never once had to refill or even touch the water. Both saran wrap + foil and the cooler hack give me nearly identical results too...

That said, if you really wanted to go for it, you could probably just get a diverter valve and then connect it to some sort of drip apparatus with a controlled drip speed. I'm thinking the type of stuff we use for drip systems for potted plants/hydroponics...but you'd need such a slow speed i don't even know if that exists....

A water main z-wave shutoff and some z-wave leak detectors could save the day. Pricey, but so are candy cabs.

https://www.amazon.com/WaterCop-Z-Wave-Shut-Off-Actuator-Prevention/dp/B07G7FLMCD/

Mixing Valve, 3 Way DN20 Thermostatic Mixing Valve Male Thread Brass Mixing Valve for Domestic Hot Water,Small Floor Heating Circuit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VQZXX8Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FP.IDb9SEWAQ7

If he already has a 1/4" copper line add one of these valves on it than a short piece of copper than a 1/4" compression Union than a refrigerator flex all done

http://www.usplastic.com/mobile/item.aspx?sku=58305&gclid=coijvmtn_80cfqgoaqodjj4g6q


Or this compression valve on the copper than a refrigerator flex from the valve to the fridge

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008E33VA6/ref=pd_aw_sim_60_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=411vX%2Bz8GDL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL100_SR100%2C100_&psc=1&refRID=0N8EMNKP16V290SCHRW2

edit, do you mean 3/8" nominal Cu pipe or 3/8" OD Cu tube?

You can likely use something like this for 3/8" OD Cu tube.

http://www.amazon.com/00084-060604-Compression-Tee-Reducing/dp/B00C04VY40/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1452542194&sr=8-4&keywords=3%2F8+1%2F4+reducing+tee+compression

then use a small piece of 1/4 tubing to connect the reducing tee to a valve

http://www.amazon.com/LASCO-17-0995-4-Inch-Compression-Brass/dp/B008E33VA6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452542253&sr=8-1&keywords=1%2F4+compression+valve

If for some reason you have lots of money and want nicer products you can pick these up from Swagelok or McMaster-Carr instead of generic stuff from Amazon.

I think a 3/8" Cu pipe has an OD of 1/2" So you can just get a 1/2" compression fitting and use that instead of the 3/8" fitting:

http://www.amazon.com/Aviditi-90809-2-Inch-Compression-Reducing/dp/B00AZEOUBG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452542716&sr=8-2&keywords=1%2F4+1%2F2+compression+reducing+tee

MAID O'MIST 0220-5L ADJ Angle Steam Valve https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003DV3AGE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_f0i1CbW4MPZP0

Buy this Dramm shutoff valve and this Dramm water breaker nozzle and you will be golden. I used this on a farm where they had them for many many years of heavy use. The shutoff valve is heavy brass with a stainless steel ball valve. You will have these for the rest of your life.

EDIT: I don't work on that farm anymore but I have 2 sets of what I have linked above at my house. One for the hose in the front of the house and one for the back of the house. I wouldn't live without them. I also have a number of friends who have purchased this at my suggestion and are so damn happy not to have to keep replacing their crappy nozzles.

This. After having so many of the zinc nozzles split open, it's nice to have something decent that feels like it will last forever.

I would combine it with a nice ball shutoff valve, ideally this one. Not cheap, but it'll probably outlast you and you'll feel good using it. (E.g., nice big solid brass handle -- compare to crappy plastic knob on Gilmour shutoff, painted to look like brass, that you know is eventually going to crack & fall off.) Check out the Amazon reviews.

If you ever get an opportunity to get a "water breaker" (basically the head off a watering wand, which is exactly how I got mine -- look for people throwing these out; head is probably still fine, just unscrew), this makes a good addition. You can screw this on to your shutoff instead of the brass valve and get a nice gentle spray onto newly planted beds or other delicate plants, while at the same time delivering lots of water.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HHQAQY/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you want a buy-it-for-life shut-off valve, the Dramm brass valve is the way to go:

https://www.amazon.com/Dramm-114960-036434-Heavy-Duty-Shut-Off/dp/B000HHQAQY/

Just don't drop it on your bare feet or there will be lots of cursing.

Eek you aren't going to be able to retrofit something in there. You MIGHT be able to get away with something like this: https://smile.amazon.com/WaterCop-Z-Wave-Shut-Off-Actuator-Prevention/dp/B07FX46DCT/

This is what we use at the greenhouse/nursery where I work to solve that problem:

https://www.amazon.com/Dramm-12353-Heavy-Duty-Brass-Shut-Off/dp/B000HHQAQY

Attach it to your hose end and then attach the water dispenser of your choice to the end.

There's Water Cop, which looks pretty decent: https://www.amazon.com/WaterCop-Z-Wave-Shut-Off-Actuator-Prevention/dp/B07C91B69P

I'll probably pick that one up myself when I get around to doing some plumbing here in a month or two.

Yes, but out of both taps in the kitchen. For instance:

Only hot valve on: hot comes out of both hot and cold tap in kitchen

This valve is what's installed at this point: amazon.com/gp/product/B001AI1VMW

This trim and cartridge will be installed after the tile goes in: amazon.com/gp/product/B06XHR3Y4W


( just want to be sure the water mixing and coming from both taps is normal before I do the tile )

[Medical supply maybe?
or foot/knee operated adaptors:]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBTF1NY/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01NBTF1NY&pd_rd_w=SYfdh&pf_rd_p=8a8f3917-7900-4ce8-ad90-adf0d53c0985&pd_rd_wg=Obn22&pf_rd_r=DS89ND5RXMTPYD8CVP3A&pd_rd_r=5472c8c2-ad1d-4d20-9342-f322d1dcc242&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExNEJZSkRFWVE1TEoyJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTY4MjI2UTlJSVpWNkYyTVMzJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzNTE3NDUzTjBGODRQUks4TzNEJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==)

> https://www.amazon.com/Sloan-3326009-MIX-60-Mechanical-Lavatory/dp/B001BO8TWA/

Honestly I can swing $34 just fine if it saves me a week of landlord phone calls and maintenance appointments. Does this attach directly to the sink somehow? I'm super game to resolve this myself.

I added a water hammer arester to the system. Similar to:
https://smile.amazon.com/MINI-RSTR-STOPLF-SIOUX-MfrPartNo-660-GTR1/dp/B008RI63BW/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=2BX0J19F8RJT1&keywords=water+hammer+arrester&qid=1555108823&s=gateway&sprefix=water+hammer&sr=8-4

But I just got the shark bite version because I'm lazy. :-)

You might already have air chamber shock absorbers, in which case you could recharge them: shut off the main, open all fixtures to drain the pipes, let it sit awhile, close the fixtures, turn on the main. See if that reduces the hammer, and then see how long it lasts.

Otherwise just install the screw-on hammer arresters at the washing machine and any other fixture that's causing water hammer:

https://www.amazon.com/Sioux-Chief-Mfg-660-H-4-Inch/dp/B000H5MQNM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JRGAMQ/ref=asc_df_B000JRGAMQ4949869

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008RI63BW/ref=psdc_3226897011_t2_B000JRGAMQ

Howdy, quick question for you. Do you have a 1/4 turn stop valve that you recommend? I was looking at this Brasscraft one, but was slightly worried by some of the comments talking about how it's pretty good for a "metal / plastic" stop valve (as opposed to an all metal stop valve). Thanks for any input!

I would replace that with an inline brass compression valve (with the water off, obviously). Make sure that fridge side has plenty of tubing for pulling it in & out.

Try a brass hose bib:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Valve-M76QT-Quarter-4-Inch/dp/B0052EKFAE

This. Plus, you need to figure out what kind of hose bib to install. In cold areas, these are typically code:
http://www.amazon.com/Prier-P-164D14-Quarter-Turn-Anti-Siphon-Outdoor/dp/B00519RLQ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459284896&sr=8-1&keywords=freeze+proof+hose+bib

They prevent the pipe/valve from bursting if you forget to turn off the water in the winter. However, if you leave the hose hooked up to it when it freezes, it will burst anyway. I typically use these:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Valve-M76QT-Quarter-4-Inch/dp/B0052EKFAE

I always shut off my water in the winter, so I'm not worried about forgetting and bursting a pipe. The nice thing about these is that they are full 3/4" ball valves and have amazing flow. And, they don't wear out and leak like a saddle valve eventually will. You just need to make sure you shut off your water in the winter, and leave this valve OPEN. If you leave it closed, the water trapped inside the ball will burst the sides of the valve.

Since you've got hot water nearby, it might be nice to have it on the deck. In which case, you could get something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Woodford-22CP-12-MH-Frostfree-Horizontal-Mount-Faucet/dp/B001R2CXLY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1459285207&sr=8-3&keywords=outside+hot+cold+faucet