Why Faucets Fail Early on Well Water

If you are replacing faucets every few years, the faucet is probably not the problem. Here is what well water does to them and what lasts.

A kitchen faucet should be a ten year fixture. On a lot of Shore wells it turns into a three or four year one, and the people replacing them keep assuming they bought a bad faucet. Usually they did not. They bought a faucet designed for water that has been through a treatment plant, and put it on water that came straight out of the ground.

What is actually wearing it out

Two things, and neither of them is the brand on the box.

Sediment. Fine sand and grit moves through the line and sits on the sealing surfaces inside the cartridge. Every time the handle moves, it grinds. That is why the drip usually starts after you have used the faucet, and why it gets worse rather than better.

Iron. Iron is the well water story out here far more often than hardness is. It stains the fixture, it builds up in aerators, and it is why the flow at one tap slowly drops while everything else seems fine. An aerator full of orange grit is the most common version of the call we get for low pressure at a single fixture.

What actually lasts

• A brass body, not plastic. This is the single thing worth paying for. A plastic bodied faucet at a good price is a false economy on well water.
• A ceramic disc cartridge. Ceramic survives grit that chews through rubber and plastic seats.
• A brand whose parts you can still buy. The cartridge is what fails. If cartridges are available, the faucet is repairable for a decade. If they are not, the faucet is disposable whatever it cost.
• A removable, cleanable aerator. Sealed ones are the ones you end up replacing the whole spout over.

Repair before you replace

A dripping faucet is usually one part. Cartridges for most major brands are still available even when the trim finish has been discontinued for years, so the faucet you like does not have to go in a skip because a $30 part wore out. Tell us the brand, and if there is a model number under the spout or on the underside, tell us that too.

The exception is a plastic bodied faucet that has already been rebuilt once. At that point the body itself is usually worn where the cartridge seats, and a new cartridge will not seal in it for long.

The part that actually costs you money

It is not the faucet. It is the shutoff valve underneath it.

Old multi-turn stops seize in place, and the ones that do not seize often will not seal once they have been moved. So a twenty minute faucet swap turns into shutting the whole house down, and on a well that means dropping the pressure tank as well. A quarter turn valve is $120 to $250 fitted, and putting them in while we are already under the sink is the cheapest version of that job you will ever get. More on sink repair and installation.

Outdoor spigots are the ones that split

A hose bib leaks behind the siding rather than in front of it, which is why people do not notice. Out here the cause is almost always a freeze: water left in the bib over winter, the body splits, and it only shows when the pressure comes back up in spring. A frost free sillcock is $250 to $500 fitted and it is the version that does not do this, as long as the hose is taken off before winter. See faucet and fixture work.

If it is happening everywhere at once

One faucet failing early is a faucet. Every faucet failing early, aerators clogging, and staining in the sinks and the tub is a water problem, and replacing fixtures is treating the symptom. The same sediment is working on your water heater and your shower valve at the same time. That is a conversation about water treatment and filtration rather than about faucets, and it is usually the cheaper fix over any five year stretch.

What it costs

A kitchen or bathroom faucet is $250 to $550 installed. A shutoff valve is $120 to $250 each and an outdoor hose bib is $250 to $500. The full fixture price ranges are here, and if several fixtures are due, doing them on one visit costs less per fixture than doing them one at a time.

Why do faucets fail faster on well water?

Sediment and iron wear through plastic cartridges and seats. A brass bodied faucet with a ceramic cartridge lasts far longer, and treating the water protects everything else in the house at the same time.

Can you match a discontinued faucet?

Often, yes. Cartridges for most major brands are still available even when the trim is not, so tell us the brand before you decide to replace the whole thing.

How much does a faucet replacement cost?

$250 to $550 installed for a kitchen or bathroom faucet. A shutoff valve is $120 to $250 and an outdoor hose bib is $250 to $500.

Is a dripping faucet actually costing me anything on a well?

Not on a water bill, because there is not one. It costs you in pump cycles and in the seat getting worse, and a drip that runs all winter at an outdoor spigot is how pipes split.

Should I replace the shutoff valve at the same time as the faucet?

If it is a multi-turn stop and it has not been moved in years, yes. It is $120 to $250, and it is the difference between the next repair starting under the sink or starting with the whole house turned off.

Written by the team at Shoresteady Plumbing, Temperanceville, Virginia. Master plumbing licensed in Virginia and Maryland. Prices shown are typical ranges for the Eastern Shore, not a quote. Your written estimate is the only number that binds either of us.

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