How to choose a mixer: analysis of the key parameters of

11-09-2018

Mixers

There are a lot of tips on how to choose a faucet for a bathroom, bathroom or kitchen. However, they all concern only certain aspects of the raised question. We will try to present the most complete picture by analyzing the key factors that will affect the selection process of equipment.

A variety of models on the market can seriously complicate the search for a suitable option.

What room do you need a crane for?

Deciding which mixer to choose, you need to focus primarily on the room in which it will be installed. The bathroom, toilet and kitchen are designed to solve different tasks, respectively, and sanitary equipment installed there must meet different requirements.

It is worth being guided by such features:

Universal wall-mounted models are suitable for bathrooms.. As a rule, such a faucet is attached to the terminals of pipes on the wall, and is completed with a long spout, which can be turned either into the sink or into the bath itself.
In some cases, you can do it differently: install a faucet with a high spout at the washstand and a faucet with a short faucet and a shower hose attached to the bathroom.. Such a solution will be optimal if the bath and the sink are located at a considerable distance from each other, but the costs for laying communications will also increase.

If in your house or apartment the toilet has a sufficient area, then it is quite possible to install a compact washstand in it.. For such a situation, compact models of mixers with a short spout are perfect: anyway, we will not use them too actively.

Note! The best choice would be to install a model with contactless control: so we will not have to touch the mechanism with dirty hands.

Which is better to choose a mixer for the kitchen, it is worth deciding only after we determine the size and configuration of the sink. It is very important that the device is sufficiently mobile, and we can choose where to send a stream of water. For this purpose, it is usually installed either products with a high spout, which rotates around an axis, or devices with a flexible retractable hose.

Of course, the recommendations given here are not dogma at all. How to choose a faucet for a kitchen or a bathroom is up to you, since it is you who will use this appliance for a long time.

Types of construction

Body material

If we have dealt with the general principles of selection, we need to analyze the nuances. And the first thing you should pay attention to is the material from which the main parts are made.

Bronze equipment is long and looks very nice, but it costs a lot

To compare the basic materials, we have compiled a summary table:

Material	Features of the application in the manufacture of cranes
Brass / Bronze (copper based alloys with addition of zinc or tin)	Differ in the considerable durability and resistance to corrosion. Well tolerate temperature extremes. Products look very attractive. The main disadvantage is the high price.
Stainless steel (chrome or zinc plated)	It is cheaper than brass and bronze. The mechanical characteristics of a little inferior. Differs in considerable elasticity that reduces risk of formation of cracks. The main disadvantage is that corrosion processes can develop if the coating is damaged, so you need to be very careful when cleaning the mixer.
Technopolymers	Used for the production of lightly loaded parts - linings, flywheels, shower sockets, etc. They have a small mass, easy to install and dismantle with their own hands. The strength of technopolymers directly depends on the quality: expensive products can serve almost as much as metal ones, while cheap ones crack or deform rather quickly. Outside they are covered with metallized film, which is quickly damaged by intensive use.
Silumin	It is a material based on aluminum and silicon. Differs in small weight that allows to mount products from silumin on the weak bases. In this case, silumin is characterized by relatively low strength, because it is usually used for the manufacture of economy-class mixers.

Cheap silumin cranes look good, but they are relatively short

Mixer control

Understanding how to choose the right faucet for the kitchen you need to pay attention to the method of controlling the water supply.

Here the market offers us a fairly wide range, including such models:

Two-valve products are completed with two taps responsible for the supply of hot and cold water. At the same time, a separate locking mechanism is installed inside each crane, and therefore the flow control is performed separately. On the one hand, it allows you to more accurately control the temperature, but on the other - it requires a lot of time.

Single lever devices have a different design. A double-acting locking mechanism is placed inside the casing of such a mixer, which simultaneously opens the tube lumen for both hot and cold water. The mechanism can be either a cartridge or a ball valve.

Note! One of the drawbacks of such cranes is the complexity of the repair. However, if you have an instruction at hand, or you have studied other articles from this section, you will be able to repair the faucet without much difficulty.

Contactless products appeared on the market relatively recently, but already managed to gain a certain popularity. For the inclusion of water in such a crane is responsible photocell, triggered by raising the hand to the touch panel. If you adapt, then use such a sink mixer device is quite convenient, but still the accuracy of adjusting the heating of water in most models leaves much to be desired. Yes, and there are a lot of mixers.

Contactless washstand with sensor - still exotic

Valves

Discussing the question of how to choose faucets for the kitchen or bathroom, many are limited to describing the external features of the model, and forget about the locking mechanism. And this part is key, since it is the internal structure that determines how well the mixer will work and how long it will last.

On the left in the photo - a cartridge, on the right - a crane

Today, the main part of the market is occupied by three types of mechanisms: axle boxes, cartridges and ball valves.

Cranes are usually equipped with cranes. When turning the flywheel, the movement is transmitted to the rod, and that, in turn, either presses / weakens the gasket, or sets ceramic inserts in motion. The design is quite reliable due to its simplicity, in addition, if necessary, it can be repaired.

Note! Bushes with rubber pads are cheaper and easier to repair, but for ceramic longer service life.

The cartridge is a design that, in fact, is the result of the combination of two axle boxes in a water case. The cartridge stem moves in two planes, which allows us to adjust both the pressure and water temperature at the same time. The disadvantage of the cartridge is its low maintainability, because in most cases, repair of this type of mixer comes down to replacing the “filling”, which is expensive.

Plumbing cartridges for different models

The ball valve is one of the most reliable designs of the locking mechanism. The rod connected to the flywheel or the handle is connected to the sphere, within which the holes are made. When you rotate the stem holes are combined with the lumen of the pipe, opening the space for the movement of water. The most vulnerable point of the ball mixer are the inner sealing rings, but if necessary, they can be quickly replaced with spare ones.

As for the comparison of these mechanisms, then, by and large, any of them can be used in the kitchen or in the bathroom without compromising our comfort.

Additional details

Before you choose a kitchen faucet or faucet for a bathroom, you should think about what additional features it can be implemented. To date, there are quite a few such opportunities, and finding a suitable model is not difficult.

What could be useful?

For a kitchen faucet, a flexible hose or a spout of adjustable length would not be superfluous. The use of this design greatly facilitates all manipulations, and it will be much easier to wash the dishes.
The nozzle-aerator, which is installed on the spout of the tap, helps save water by about 10-15%. The involvement of a large amount of air when passing through the grate makes the jet more uniform, and therefore a somewhat smaller volume of liquid is required to remove contaminants.

The built-in filter is another useful item. However, only coarse filters will be effective. To remove minor contaminants, it is worth using a separate filter column with a large cartridge size, since a compact device will have to be changed very often.
Finally, you can think about purchasing a mixer with a heater. Using such a device, we can get hot water, regardless of whether the boiler is turned on and the district boiler works. Although the energy intensity of these cranes is very high, recently they have become quite popular.

Conclusion

Of course, tips on how to choose a sink faucet are only advisory. Nevertheless, the above information, as well as the video in this article, will certainly be very useful to all those who are planning to purchase their own bathroom equipment for the bathroom, toilet or kitchen.