My wife discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Upon investigation, I
discovered that water was getting under the sprayer. The washers in the
faucet were ready for replacement, and the gasket between the faucet
plate and the sink was shot. So I decided to install a newer faucet.

On the advice of a friend builder, we bought a Delta. The model is 400,
I think. Installing it was pretty easy, but after I finished, I noticed
that the faucet is not rigidly secured to the sink. There front and back
edges of the plate are not touching the sink as if the sink is warped.
The nuts on the underside of the faucet are as tight as I can get them
without breaking them.

Before I put the faucet in place, I ran a line of silicone around it.
While the silicone will help prevent water from leaking down under the
faucet, there is no way that it will add any dimensional stability.

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet? If I use
plumbers putty, do I remove the gasket material under the plate? Is
there a flat, three-hole plate that I can get to go UNDER the sink to
add strength to the face of the edge of the sink? Buying a new sink is
not in the plans, at the moment.

As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the flimsiness of this
Delta faucet. It's definitely not made of the same robust material as
the 20 year old one that I took out. Should I consider returning it and
getting something different, or all they all cheaply made now?

On Nov 8, 8:47*pm, mcp6453 wrote:
My wife discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Upon investigation, I
discovered that water was getting under the sprayer. The washers in the
faucet were ready for replacement, and the gasket between the faucet
plate and the sink was shot. So I decided to install a newer faucet.

On the advice of a friend builder, we bought a Delta. The model is 400,
I think. Installing it was pretty easy, but after I finished, I noticed
that the faucet is not rigidly secured to the sink. There front and back
edges of the plate are not touching the sink as if the sink is warped.
The nuts on the underside of the faucet are as tight as I can get them
without breaking them.

Before I put the faucet in place, I ran a line of silicone around it.
While the silicone will help prevent water from leaking down under the
faucet, there is no way that it will add any dimensional stability.

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet? If I use
plumbers putty, do I remove the gasket material under the plate? Is
there a flat, three-hole plate that I can get to go UNDER the sink to
add strength to the face of the edge of the sink? Buying a new sink is
not in the plans, at the moment.

As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the flimsiness of this
Delta faucet. It's definitely not made of the same robust material as
the 20 year old one that I took out. Should I consider returning it and
getting something different, or all they all cheaply made now?

I recently put a new American Standard faucet in our kitchen sink,
with pretty much the same problems you had. I ended up hand cutting
and grinding the faucet base until the chrome cover was more or less
flat on the sink durface. Then I used a LOT of silicone rubber and
then tightened everything down. From the front it looks ok, and the
silicone rubber will keep any standing water around the fixture from
getting into it and then dripping under the sink. But I was really
disappointed in the crappy quality of what had been a great company.

hr(bob) wrote:
On Nov 8, 8:47 pm, mcp6453 wrote:
My wife discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Upon investigation, I
discovered that water was getting under the sprayer. The washers in the
faucet were ready for replacement, and the gasket between the faucet
plate and the sink was shot. So I decided to install a newer faucet.

On the advice of a friend builder, we bought a Delta. The model is 400,
I think. Installing it was pretty easy, but after I finished, I noticed
that the faucet is not rigidly secured to the sink. There front and back
edges of the plate are not touching the sink as if the sink is warped.
The nuts on the underside of the faucet are as tight as I can get them
without breaking them.

Before I put the faucet in place, I ran a line of silicone around it.
While the silicone will help prevent water from leaking down under the
faucet, there is no way that it will add any dimensional stability.

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet? If I use
plumbers putty, do I remove the gasket material under the plate? Is
there a flat, three-hole plate that I can get to go UNDER the sink to
add strength to the face of the edge of the sink? Buying a new sink is
not in the plans, at the moment.

As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the flimsiness of this
Delta faucet. It's definitely not made of the same robust material as
the 20 year old one that I took out. Should I consider returning it and
getting something different, or all they all cheaply made now?

I recently put a new American Standard faucet in our kitchen sink,
with pretty much the same problems you had. I ended up hand cutting
and grinding the faucet base until the chrome cover was more or less
flat on the sink durface. Then I used a LOT of silicone rubber and
then tightened everything down. From the front it looks ok, and the
silicone rubber will keep any standing water around the fixture from
getting into it and then dripping under the sink. But I was really
disappointed in the crappy quality of what had been a great company.

I just watched this Lowes video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlLF24acHbs&NR=1. If I had bought the
model of faucet in the video, I don't think I would have the problem
since there is a thread and nut for the center hole. That would have
pulled the sink into the base plate. Now I wondering if I just wasted
the price of a new faucet.

I don't understand the reluctance to use plumbers putty. It is there to
make a tight seal between fixtures and sinks. It stays soft for ever and it
does not leak.

Myself I like the American Standard products with the ceramic disk valves.

What I do in kitchen sinks is to remove the whole sink from the counter top
when I install them. This means a lot less time under the sink upside down.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

"mcp6453" wrote in message
...
hr(bob) wrote:
On Nov 8, 8:47 pm, mcp6453 wrote:
My wife discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Upon investigation, I
discovered that water was getting under the sprayer. The washers in the
faucet were ready for replacement, and the gasket between the faucet
plate and the sink was shot. So I decided to install a newer faucet.

On the advice of a friend builder, we bought a Delta. The model is 400,
I think. Installing it was pretty easy, but after I finished, I noticed
that the faucet is not rigidly secured to the sink. There front and
back
edges of the plate are not touching the sink as if the sink is warped.
The nuts on the underside of the faucet are as tight as I can get them
without breaking them.

Before I put the faucet in place, I ran a line of silicone around it.
While the silicone will help prevent water from leaking down under the
faucet, there is no way that it will add any dimensional stability.

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet? If I use
plumbers putty, do I remove the gasket material under the plate? Is
there a flat, three-hole plate that I can get to go UNDER the sink to
add strength to the face of the edge of the sink? Buying a new sink is
not in the plans, at the moment.

As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the flimsiness of this
Delta faucet. It's definitely not made of the same robust material as
the 20 year old one that I took out. Should I consider returning it and
getting something different, or all they all cheaply made now?

I recently put a new American Standard faucet in our kitchen sink,
with pretty much the same problems you had. I ended up hand cutting
and grinding the faucet base until the chrome cover was more or less
flat on the sink durface. Then I used a LOT of silicone rubber and
then tightened everything down. From the front it looks ok, and the
silicone rubber will keep any standing water around the fixture from
getting into it and then dripping under the sink. But I was really
disappointed in the crappy quality of what had been a great company.

I just watched this Lowes video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlLF24acHbs&NR=1. If I had bought the
model of faucet in the video, I don't think I would have the problem
since there is a thread and nut for the center hole. That would have
pulled the sink into the base plate. Now I wondering if I just wasted
the price of a new faucet.

Roger Shoaf wrote:
I don't understand the reluctance to use plumbers putty. It is there to
make a tight seal between fixtures and sinks. It stays soft for ever and it
does not leak.

Myself I like the American Standard products with the ceramic disk valves.

What I do in kitchen sinks is to remove the whole sink from the counter top
when I install them. This means a lot less time under the sink upside down.




Since plumbers putty remains soft, it will not provide any dimensional stability
to the fixture. When you turn the water on or off, the fixture rocks, albeit
ever so slightly. If there were a threaded sleeve around the lines going into
the spout such that a third nut could be installed, the fixture would be more
stable. The plate is oblong instead of rectangular. The problem would not be
nearly as bad if the plate were rectangular.

These observations are all things that a DIYer would not necessary know to look
for when purchasing and replacing a Delta faucet with a Delta faucet. If Lowes
will exchange the faucet, that's what I'm going to do. I'll get one with three
threads instead of two. Plus the base plate will be rectangular. If they will
not exchange it since it has already been installed and has silicone on the
base, I'll offer it for sale here. There is nothing wrong with the faucet except
that the design is not right for my stainless sink. Apparently the former faucet
with its metal threaded studs somewhat warped the lip of the sink where the
faucet assembly is installed.

On Nov 8, 8:47*pm, mcp6453 wrote:

snip

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet?

snip

When I had that problem, I got a cut-off piece of 0.060" stainless
steel from my local sheet metal shop and simply duplicated the sink
holes in the SS after cutting it to to the same size as the faucet
base. With the sink removed from the counter top, it was easy to
assemble everything rock solid. Might work for you.
Kohler and others sell SS sinks that don't have this problem as the
metal gage is much heavier than the stuff we had.

Joe

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:47:15 -0500, mcp6453 wrote:

My wife discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Upon investigation, I
discovered that water was getting under the sprayer. The washers in the
faucet were ready for replacement, and the gasket between the faucet
plate and the sink was shot. So I decided to install a newer faucet.

On the advice of a friend builder, we bought a Delta. The model is 400,
I think. Installing it was pretty easy, but after I finished, I noticed
that the faucet is not rigidly secured to the sink. There front and back
edges of the plate are not touching the sink as if the sink is warped.
The nuts on the underside of the faucet are as tight as I can get them
without breaking them.

Before I put the faucet in place, I ran a line of silicone around it.
While the silicone will help prevent water from leaking down under the
faucet, there is no way that it will add any dimensional stability.

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet? If I use
plumbers putty, do I remove the gasket material under the plate? Is
there a flat, three-hole plate that I can get to go UNDER the sink to
add strength to the face of the edge of the sink? Buying a new sink is
not in the plans, at the moment.

As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the flimsiness of this
Delta faucet. It's definitely not made of the same robust material as
the 20 year old one that I took out. Should I consider returning it and
getting something different, or all they all cheaply made now?


Delta has pretty good customer service. Did you try there? Some of
my Delta faucets have black rubber gaskets against the sink, still
good after 18 years.