And the Oscar of Idiot of the century goes to....

[thomasortega]

Ok guys, i posted on Super because it's related to a faucet... and a faucet aerator.... and a saw... (add an idiot to the equation)

For about 2 weeks I had a customer emailing me like 3 or 4 times per day regarding one of the washing machines made by us (I won't mention the company or the customer's name).

It's a portable washing machine (that top loader that also has a UV light) that comes with a quick connect adapter so it can be easily connected to any regular kitchen or bathroom faucet.

The user manual shows how to remove the aerator. Not satisfied, we also made a video that shows how to remove the aerator and connect the quick-connect adapter, step by step.

Anyway, the customer wasn't able to remove, the aerator was stuck (it happens a lot because of mineral deposits) She sent a picture, her faucet was looking almost like a pumice stone.

Ok, i ran the extra mile, tried everything I knew to help her.

Minutes ago I checked my email only to discover tons of 1-line emails from her. pissed off, demanding we send somebody in her house to fix her faucet.

It turned out that as the aerator was stuck, she had the BRILLIANT idea to grab a saw and cut the faucet spout, right in the middle.

She was pissed off because the aerator wouldn't fit her faucet where she cut it... and now she can't open the faucet because it sprays water everywhere.

Also, she tried to connect it back but it didn't work (so she asked for instructions to connect back the part she cut until somebody goes there to replace her faucet.)

What is wrong with people nowadays? Don't they know that once you CUT something with a saw it's impossible to "uncut"?

 

[ea56]

Sounds like this individual missed the regular dose of her anti psychotic meds.

Ya can’t fix crazy!

Eddie

 

[tolivac]

Take the faucet to the saw and cut it a little longer!

 

[dometicsavant]

Over the summer I was looking at some window fans on amazon. Anyways I was looking at the reviews and one person commented that she was upset she couldn’t close her window.... while using ... the window fan... and I’m not talking closing the window onto the fan. She was upset she couldn’t close and lock this window shut while using a fan meant to pull in the outside air. Made me very concerned of who is around us daily.

 

[foraloysius]

Apparently your customer is not the brightest in the box. But that said, I also think it's not very wise to talk about your customers on a public forum where you also are trying to get people interested in your products.

 

[arbilab]

THOMAS---

I have that problem, minerals cemented the aerator.  Kitchen I could deal with but this is the bathroom where it's impossible to get a container of vinegar (or anything) up under the faucet to soak.

 

What DO you do?

 

 

OBTW, to unsaw don't you just plug the saw in backwards?  Oh, she already tried that.

 

[lowefficiency]

>> I have that problem, minerals cemented the aerator. Kitchen I could deal with but this is the bathroom
>> where it's impossible to get a container of vinegar (or anything) up under the faucet to soak.
>> What DO you do?

We had a similar issue in our bathroom once. Most modern faucets are a thin metal shell, with all of the functional bits inside being made of plastic. It didn't take much buildup for the bond between the aerator and the inner plastic bits to be stronger than the attachment of the plastic to the metal faucet shell. One twist - CRACK - and that faucet was done for.

Had to replace the whole faucet. Glad it happened too, as we changed the faucet style, and really like our new one a lot better.

 

[ea56]

To loosen a faucet aerator with vinegar fill a small plastic bag with enough vinegar to cover the aerator and attach it to the faucet with either duck tape or a tightly wound rubber band, submerging the aerator in the vinegar. Leave the vinegar filled bag in place long enough for the mineral deposits to dissolve.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and this ain’t rocket science.

The same method can be used with a clogged or stuck shower head.

Eddie
[this post was last edited: 11/11/2019-13:10]

 

[DADoES]

 
The plastic bag - vinegar procedure doesn't work when the faucet or shower spout doesn't have much downward curve to submerge/soak the aerator or shower head into the vinegar puddle ... been there, done that.

 

[arbilab]

Mineral & faucet

Quite familiar with the vinegar ritual, former house had even higher mineral content than this place, showerheads would stop working altogether.  Just never had one anneal itself to the fixture like this.

 

Tried saturated rag wrap, no help.  Will give a spin with the bag.  But yes, the problem is the short spout and its angle.  Oh, and compounding the mineral problem I also slightly bent the aerator into an ellipse with the pliers.

 

Had the aerator been plastic I could simply have crushed it.  On the plus side, pretty sure the faucet internals are metal, having resisted enough force to crack plastic.  Wouldn't bother with it all except the building plumbing coughs chunks that clog aerators and the flow is verging on meager.

 

**

 

**

 

Speaking of meager flow, is there anymore such thing as a faucet aerator that is NOT flow restricted?  Infernal nuisance, serving no purpose but to pixx me off.  I mean, if you need a half gallon of water, how does it 'save water' to make me wait more than twice as long for it?

 

 

[lowefficiency]

Try looking for aerators marketed for kitchen faucets. Some of those have much higher flow rates than the average bathroom sink aerator.

 

[gizmo]

Arbilab re: low flow aerator

well....
we had a big drama a few months ago. Casper the cat managed to turn on the kitchen tap with the spout pushed back against the wall, so no water went into the sink. Big flood. We started holding the mixer tap lever down with rubber bands to the spout. Ugly but it worked. A few weeks later he did it again, this time the laundry sink. This time some damage was done to kickboards in laundry and kitchen. I chased up some mixer taps that have limited swivel, so the tap always points over the sink. we got a Grohe for the kitchen and an Ikea for the laundry. Both have flow-restricted aerators. We have very low water pressure as our water comes from a tank up the hill. the aerators made it unusable.
I was able to remove the aerator, flick off the screen with a sharp knife edge, and remove the flow restrictor inside. The two brands were slightly different but similar. Flow is much better. So it is possible to de-restrict a restrictive aerator.
The new taps both have much smaller diamater inlet hoses and they are non-removable! The smaller hoses also restrict flow but they are now at least tolerable.

 

[nanook]

Oh, Brother...

"It takes all kinds of people to make a world-!"

 

[vacerator]

Yes SUPER!

but hardly applies to only a faucet aerator inmho. Track the nielson ratings.

 

[turbokinetic]

This reminds me...

... of my last job which I moved on from about 10 years ago. For that job I traveled around the southeastern quarter of the States doing specialist technical work for an ag equipment manufacturer. I stayed in hotels 2000 - 300 nights a year during the peak of that job.

Hotels all provide about the same service - a bed and a shower - so paying from $50 to $200 a night for the same thing often irritated me quite a lot. 

One particularly irksome thing was when a hotel was charging more than $100 a night and had a LOW-FLOW SHOWER HEAD installed. Sorry dude that is not gonna cut it. I'm not paying you twice what the hotel in the last town charged, and accept a shower that barely dribbles on me.

 

My ritual was to always test the shower for "acceptability" before undressing. That saved me time if it was found to be UNacceptable. In the instances where there was obviously a restrictor in the shower head, I would go out to my service truck and get a pair of Vise-Grips. With this, I would remove the shower head and de-restrict it.  If the shower head was one of the all-metal type with a very small hole in the stem, I would simply take it out to my work truck, clamp it in the vise mounted on the back of the truck - and DRILL the metal out to at least a 5/15 or 3/8" hole. Problem solved.

 

Some of the hotels were SO cheap that they added a inline restrictor, PLUS a restricted shower head. Drill 'em both and move on....

 

 

 

[goatfarmer]

I knew a guy, in a similar situation, would carry a spare shower head in his luggage. for just such occasions.

 

[tolivac]

A man I could adore---Absolutely HATE those restricted showerheads.Take out the restrictors and bore them out with a drill press!!!Also HATE those new giant "watering can" showerheads.The house next door was renovated with those crappy things and glass showers.Would take my sledge to the doors-put up a curtain pole and REAL showerhead.HATE doors,too loathe cleaning the dammed things.Shower curtain--throw it into a washer or replace it.They are cheap enough.

 

[vacerator]

I installed

our master shower mixing valve upside down, so it mixes hot water brfore cold as you open it up. That way, I can slow it to a mild flow to shave with, then open it up to warm with the full 2.5 gal. g.p.m. flow to rinse off with.