Types of Faucets

Are your original faucets still in tip-top condition? If not, do they need repair or replacement already? Before repairing or replacing your faucet, first you have to identify your faucet type.

It is important that you know what types of faucets you used at home such as ball type, disc type, cartridge type, or compression type. The first three types are commonly referred to as “washerless faucets” because they do not use neoprene or rubber washers. The compression type, on the other hand, is the basic washer faucet that most household use.

Ball Faucets

Ball faucets are the first types of “washerless faucets”. These are commonly used in kitchen sinks and usually include a single handle that moves over a cap that is shaped like a rounded ball right above the base of the spout. But using ball faucets has a major disadvantage. They tend to leak more than the other types of faucets.

Disc Faucets

If the ball faucets are the first types of “washerless faucets”, the disc faucets are the latest types. You can easily identify these types once you see the single lever over their cylindrical body. These usually include two ceramic discs that are housed in a wide cartridge which slide over each other to control the flow of water and mix temperature. But unlike ball faucets, these are reliable and do not leak often.

Cartridge Faucets

These types of faucets operate with a movable stem cartridge that moves up and down to regulate water flow. You can identify these not by how they look but how they feel when they operate. Unlike the ball faucets, cartridge faucets operate in an up and down motion in order to adjust the volume of water and a left and right motion to adjust the temperature.

Compression Faucets

If the disc faucets are the latest types, the compression faucets are the opposite since these are the oldest types of faucets. You can recognize these types when you see hot and cold water handles and that in order to close off the flow of water, you have to tighten the handles down. These differ from the cartridge faucet because these require you to tighten down or compress the washer to close water flow while in cartridge faucet, you don’t have to put added pressure just to turn it off.

These are the different types of faucets. With this information in mind, you are off to a good start with your repair or replacement job.

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