Healthy faucet
March 10, 2024 1:59 PM   Subscribe

If you care about things like lead and PFAS, can you tell me what I need to know in buying kitchen and bathroom faucets?

I would ideally like to find one I could buy today at Lowe's or Home Depot. All the websites seem to indicate that the faucets comply with federal laws. I don't know... The legal bare minimum isn't exactly what I look for on things like this, but maybe that's fine?
posted by slidell to Health & Fitness (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I can't imagine that any of the faucets you find on the market, new, from a reputable retailer are going to introduce lead or PFAS into your drinking water. (They won't subtract it, either, but they won't be contributing it..)

The major differences you will find are going to be features, styling, durability, warranty, and serviceability (i.e. in 8-10 years if you need a part to repair the faucet will it still be available or will you have to throw the whole thing away?)

If Lowes or Home Depot are where you're planning on shopping, look around the plumbing section for a clearance shelf. Sometimes you can find a model from a good manufacturer discounted if you are willing to be flexible about the style and finish color.

If you're very price sensitive you also might try and see if your area has a Habitat for Humanity store or some other retailer that sells leftover construction items in odd lots. Sometimes you can find a bargain but check the packaging carefully to make sure that all the critical pieces are available.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:23 PM on March 10, 2024


Response by poster: I'm not very price sensitive (within the price ranges I've seen for bathroom faucets so far). Is there one you'd recommend? My plumber said Delta was one of the few that had a metal pop up assembly (which surprised me as I thought other suppliers were higher quality, but maybe they've gone downhill?).
posted by slidell at 2:40 PM on March 10, 2024


If you're concerned US regs are lax, there's Kohler's product environmental policy restricted material list: "No products or materials are to be designed, developed, manufactured, sold, purchased, or distributed worldwide by or for Kohler Co. and its affiliates (“Kohler”) without adherence to applicable product composition regulations in effect including all applicable product environmental laws such as those regulating toxic materials, air emissions, wastewater discharge, waste treatment and disposal." Lowe's & Home Depot carry Kohler faucets. [Side note — given reports about toilet paper containing PFAS, maybe look at the after-market bidets at the store.]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:56 PM on March 10, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Find a plumbing supply store near you. There’s at least one in any town of sufficient size, and the products they sell are generally superior to anything you can get at a Big Box Store.

…I mean that literally — a Moen faucet purchased at HD will be shittier than the same item purchased at a plumbing supplier (note they will have sliiiightly different product numbers, which is a clue). People (like Terry Love) have done tests — the HD version weighs less (thinner walls), use cheaper valve assemblies, and so on.
posted by aramaic at 4:55 PM on March 10, 2024 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Article here about lead in faucets.
posted by H21 at 5:47 PM on March 10, 2024


Response by poster: That article is interesting. I wish that optional standard it discusses had moved forward.
posted by slidell at 6:02 PM on March 10, 2024


PFAS might be present with teflon, which might be used in plumber's tape. I've just been shopping for a kitchen faucet and saw no mention of teflon.
posted by theora55 at 10:01 PM on March 10, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Municipal water systems in the USA are required to keep pH in a narrow range so lead does not leach out of pipes and solder at an appreciable rate (hence Flint being in the news.) The advice for any piping system is to flush the pipes from the trunk to the faucet if it's been sitting for 2 hours before using water for drinking or cooking. So even if you used a faucet made purely of lead and PFAS, you would not get significant exposure from the brief time the water spends passing through the faucet.

Even so, lead must be less than 0.25% of potable water fittings and PFAS, excepting PTFE, are unlikely to be found in fittings because any job they do can be done with a cheaper material. I don't believe there's significant expected risk associated with PTFE (as opposed to PFOAs, etc), but if it makes you feel better, most faucets I've seen use rubber washers. Teflon (PTFE) tape is used for metal-to-metal connections, so cheaper faucets would be more likely to have polyethylene bodies and rubber washers. I'm not a buyer of high-end equipment so won't speculate further.
posted by flimflam at 11:31 PM on March 10, 2024


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