Faucets

[Eric P]

I am new can you tell me why you use plastic faucets in the kitchen and bathroom? The last thing I want to do now that I purchased a new 5th wheel is to go to the home store and purchase some good quality faucets.

 

[WhittleBurner]

Hi Eric, I'm going to take a guess about the faucets. My guess is it's all about weight and money. Plastic keeps the weight of the trailer down compared to brass and every ounce they save adds up to pounds.
Even with plastic faucets we love our 303.

 

[Eric P]

The first time I pulled the kitchen faucet down to wash a pot the head fell apart in 4 sections. Had water spraying everywhere but not in the sink. My thought is still if I spend $30K on a trailer I would like to see better quality in some thing

 

[Lingerlonger]

The plastic kitchen sprayer faucet in my Reflection 337 also fell apart the first time I used it. I duct-taped it back together until I took it to the dealer for some other warranty repairs. I told the dealer I was willing to buy a good faucet myself if he would install it. They installed a much better quality - but same style faucet, presumably supplied by GDRV. No complaints here about the new one, but yes, the original was very cheap stuff.

K

 

[huntr70]

The first time I pulled the kitchen faucet down to wash a pot the head fell apart in 4 sections. Had water spraying everywhere but not in the sink. My thought is still if I spend $30K on a trailer I would like to see better quality in some thing

You can spend a lot more money and still get plastic faucets in these RV's....

It's nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[Retread68]

The plastic pull-down head on the kitchen faucet in my 303 split one day while sitting in the drive here at home less than 4 weeks after purchase. In 40 yrs of RVing I have never seen one do that which led me to believe GDRV got some really cheap prices for Chinese faucets. I replaced it with a residential Moen one handle pull-down faucet and the selling dealer reimbursed me fully with GDRV supposedly reimbursing the dealer. I doubt the weight of a faucet is the driving factor with RV Mfg's, but cost is. Every RV Mfg that I know of uses plastic fixtures unless it is a custom builder.

I am thankful for the reimbursement, but wish good quality components could be used first.

 

[Eric P]

I understand that but we have had a lot of people look at our trailer and that is the first thing I tell them is the plastic faucets in the kitchen and bathroom are junk. When it takes 2 hands to turn the kitchen faucet from 1 sink to the other you know there is a problem. You have to think if the buyers at GD have ever used the product to see what it is like. To me it is just poor quality in a nice trailer.

 

[Retread68]

I agree 100% Eric. I faced the same problem in 2002 with a new 2003 model Crossroads RV unit. It took me about 1 trip before I changed the faucets to regular residential ones. Nothing has changed in RV manufacturing in 12 years in this respect. Same thing goes with the snap together plastic electrical outlets. In my opinion it is junk yet in the RV industry the response is always, "It is within acceptable practices and meets standards" (or something very close to that).

 

[excellentadventure]

I replaced all my faucets w/in first year. Finish had come off, valves squeaked and plastic turned color.

 

[2hams]

Hey retread68 and excellentadventure, how tough a job is it to change the kitchen faucet in the 303? Ours developed a crack in the pull down head a couple of days ago. I though I'd go to the Lowe's just down the road from this campground and get a new faucet for Dave to install.

We are a couple months out of warranty, it's probably not worth the hassle to try and get it covered. We still love our 303, and are currently in Florida.

FWIW, I have been shopping kitchen faucets as part of our upcoming kitchen remodel at home .... I found that all the typical brands (Delta, Kohler, Moen) have plastic pull down heads and some of the really expensive ones don't (but I don't want a $1000 faucet).

Thanks

 

[Retread68]

Kay - The pull-down plastic head split 4 days after I bought my 303RLS. (Had never seen one split all the way around before.) I installed an American Standard Olvera 9092.301 Series Faucet w/pull-down head, single lever faucet from Lowe's for $176.20 including tax & contractor disc. in June '14. The faucet comes with a soap dispenser that I installed also. The installation was "typical" and nothing traumatic. I actually cut out about 2-ft of PEX on both hot and cold lines to make a cleaner installation. From experience, I can advise to note whether any of the buttons/knobs/etc. are hard rubber and avoid faucets with it. The hard rubber has a tendency to break-down and transfer a black residue to anything/everything that touches it. (Got that T-shirt !)

Dave can handle the install with no problems.
Rich Kaiser

 

[2hams]

Thanks Rich.

The soap dispenser sounds like a great idea. We have one at home and love it and can see how it would be great to have in the camper.

 

[Pokey and Linda]

Has anyone had issues with the finish coming off the bathroom faucet? Our unit is 8 months old and the finish is peeling off.

 

[lilgardt]

I replaced my 3 days after using it cause it split. GD sent me a new one but the pressure was terrible, sprayer had a drizzle. Took the spray head off my home faucet and it worked great. Just replaced it with a residential faucet.

 

[Retread68]

Pokey & Linda ..... Just wanted to let you know that the peeling finish on plastic faucets is nothing new. I have experienced the same situation with other RV brands using the same RV typical faucets.