"Mayayana" wrote in message
...
| How long should one last?
| Began having problems with the faucet about 2
| years after it was put in.

There are differences in faucets, but there are
also differences in the people using them. If someone
in the house is rough with the faucet, yanking the
hose without paying attention, or treating the handle
as an on/off switch, that can make a difference.
(I once had a landlord whose electric
appliances were all broken. Whenever he got impatient
with the appliance's performance he'd break something
off to "punish it". Even his Apple computer was missing
much of its face.

Many faucets will come with a weight to attach to
the middle of the hose, so that it will hang easily under
the sink. Whether you have that or not, you need to
arrange things so that the hose does not catch on things
in the cabinet.

Hmmm... No weight on mine and I can't really rearrange the knobs down there
which is what it is getting caught on. The old one never did tat.

In general I think the quality difference is more in the
model and cost these days than in the brand. HD
and Lowes carry most popular brands. They seem
to make deals on items of all kinds, often contracting
for models that don't exist elsewhere. The brands they carry
are respectable brands, but that doesn't necessarily mean
the HD models are top quality. What I've noticed
myself is that all of their faucets have been severely
downgraded over the years. As with much other hardware,
the makers try to find ways to replace metal with plastic.
Only 10 years ago a typical faucet base would be chrome
plated metal and the connectors would be thick copper
tubing with threaded ends to fit supply hoses. Now much
of the faucet is plastic with "chrome" paint. The connectors
are either shockingly thin copper tube or plastic hoses.
The sprayer connector itself is a chintzy plastic fitting
rather than threaded brass. I don't know how that compares
to stock from a plumbing supply, but a plumber should know
that.

Yes. Much of mine is plastic made to look like chrome.

| The plumber charged me $250 for the faucet plus installation. I think
he
| ripped me off. I think it is some low end piece of crap. I will use
Mr.
| Handyman next time if I can wait that long.

$250 for a plumber to replace a faucet is cheap
where I live. Undoubtedly the faucet was cheap.
Did you tell the plumber you wanted the best, regardless
of cost? He/she may have guessed that you valued low
price most.
If you're going to call someone else
next time, who will then buy the faucet at HD or Lowes,
you're going to get another cheap faucet. (Not
necessarily a bad one, but a cheap one.) HD and
Lowes don't specialize in high quality of anything,
in my experience. That's not to say that all of their
stuff is junk, but they're retailers first, and most of
their customers have limited expertise while they're
looking for a cheap price.

It wasn't $250 to replace. It wa $250 plus installation. There is no way
that this is a $250 faucet! He also put one in the garage. Told me he had
one he would get me a deal on but charged $250 for that too and no sprayer.
It's just a cheap utility sink. That particular plumbing company also
charged me $250 plus installation to replace what was perhaps a $12 toilet
part. I got another guy to intall a whole new toilet for slightly less than
that! Which is why I don't want to use them unless it is in emergency. I
have tried three different plumbing companies. All seem to do shoddy work
in that I have to keep calling them back again and again for the same thing.
At least with Mr. Handyman, if the job wasn't done right, he comes back and
puts it right and doesn't charge me again.

If anyone really has the experience to know the
quality difference between models it will be a plumber.
I think you'd be better off finding a plumber who you
trust. While you're at it, ask him or her why the old
faucet wore out. The plumber will likely have a much
better idea than a bunch of people in a newsgroup who
are guessing based on very little information.