And what do you do to get warm water?

Posted by: David Jones at October 31, 2005 12:34 PM

It's not clear from the posting if this is bad design or bad installation. If the faucet face were outwards with the coloured arrows clearly visible, I don't really see anything wrong. But if it were designed to be installed this way, then most surely broken.

Posted by: Carlos Gomez at October 31, 2005 12:47 PM

Personally, I have to say bad design as well. If one were to just glance quickly at this (and really, how much time does one spend examining a faucet before turning it on?), it would most likely be assumed that the cold water is on the right side because that's where the blue is. The tips of the aarows are too small to be obvious, and the aarows in and of themselves require too much thought (and no, I'm not lazy. Sinks and faucets just aren't something I usually focus much attention on).

Posted by: ambrocked at October 31, 2005 01:57 PM

I see these in hotels all the time. All the way to the left is hot, and then back it gets cooler. They suck. The old fashioned two-knob system is the best, imho.

Posted by: noname at October 31, 2005 06:25 PM

I never noticed any comments about the single lever sink design, i have the type at home which has a single lever, when lifted up it controls the flow, and moving it left or right it adjusts the heat, perfect intuitive basic design with no troubles at all.

Posted by: Dragon at October 31, 2005 06:56 PM

It's one thing to have this type of design at home. It's quite another to have it in a hotel, public restroom, etc, where potentially hundreds of people get scalded. As ambrocked said, how many people actually study the faucet design. Bad design all the way.

Posted by: Ron Mexico at October 31, 2005 09:20 PM

I posted this there- but it bears a repeat. You can look at my crappy MS Paint drawingshowing how you can mentally map this faucet. They chose the (in drawing) bottom method which I believe is incorrect. Most people are expecting the top

The top handle has you moving to the right to get cold water- the bottom has you moving to the left to get cold water. Clearing labeling the arrows would be a start- but I think most people will assume the top image is how it works.

Posted by: Eddie at November 1, 2005 09:11 AM

Broken too how I went to the other site and posted this comment while thinking the design was a lot different... or was I just not paying attention? ;-)

Posting it here too:

My biggest pet peeve with faucets is that the design inherently wastes water while you open them and move your hand., then when you move your hand and close them. It literally just goes down the drain. (Don’t even get me started on the two-faucet crazy sink).

Also, it’s often hard to set just the right temperature. In some models you can more-or-less learn where the best setting is but often it doesn’t quite stay when you turn the water on or off.

I really think all faucets should be pedal-driven. Hand-set the temperature (that setting should keep for next time), put your hands under the faucet, press the pedal with your foot, water comes out, take the foot of while using soap, press the pedal again to rinse. No wasting of water.

Maybe it will be trickier for kids or handicapped people, but I think in this case it will be better for the majority of people and for the planet…

Posted by: Ronnie at November 1, 2005 11:03 AM

Ronnie, I've seen that pedel design sink in a doctor's office once. I tell ya what would be nice (and probably expensive) would be one that you can digitally set the desired temperature and an on/off switch. It would always "remember" the temp you set , but you could adjust it if need be. Wow, that'd be very cool.

Posted by: noname at November 1, 2005 06:15 PM

At least this one has arrows. Sometimes it is some sort of ying yang disk in the center and you can tell what is where.

Also on the Washington State Ferries they have electric eye sinks,fine. But the problem is they shut off in about 4-5 sec. then you wave and wave and wave your hands under them and eventualy they turn on again. Some however go "beep beep beep" -Then- turn back on. What the hell is the damn beep? I don't know what it means, and I don't care what it means. Call me fussy, but I don't want my plumbing tring to communicate with me

Posted by: Ron at November 2, 2005 03:46 AM

Although it has arrows NOW, will it still have arrows after a few years of wear? Maybe that's a good thing...better no label at all than a deceptive label.

They recently installed new faucets at my office. Both faucets and soap despensers are "automatic." So when someone attempts to brush their teeth, they get a combination of hot water and soap on their toothbrush.

Posted by: Paul at November 2, 2005 12:26 PM

Brushing your teeth in in the bathroom at work, yuck.

also how do you rinse your hands off

Posted by: Ron at November 3, 2005 04:27 AM

The plumber hooked up the water lines the wrong way. In my apartment, my kitchen faucet works one way, and my batroom faucet the other.

Posted by: diddleysquat at February 25, 2006 05:03 PM