How important is it to line your faucet up with your drain?

16 years ago

This question came up in another thread, but since it was not the original question it didn't get much play. Akchicago made some great points about why some people prefer faucet/drain alignment -- better for running garbage disposal, less potential for splashing -- but I was hoping other people would weigh in. Particularly people whose faucets do NOT, at any time, spray directly down into their drains. And who have garbage disposals (bonus points for that). Any problems/regrets?

I really need to figure this out before I have my faucet installed. Centering it on the sink, my preference, would make the water hit about two from my off-center drain. And I plan to put in a garbage disposal. Haven't decided whether to go with batch feed or continuous feed.... Is that a factor as well? And if they don't line up, does it matter how much they don't line up by? IOW, is having the water hit 2 inches from the drain better than having it hit 4 inches from the drain?

Thanks in advance for any opinions, and apologies in advance if this has already been discussed to death here... maybe somebody could shoot me a link if that's the case... (I tried several searches without much luck.)

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Comments (5)

needsometips08
16 years ago
I would say it's not important at all. Neither of my faucets line up - kindof. My prep sink has the drain off center because I rotated the sink 90 degrees from how it's built to be situated, so you have to actually turn the faucet sideways to get it to shoot down the hole. I never do except when I run the disposal. I have no splashing problems hitting the bottom of the sink.

My main sink does line up but the stream of water curves so it doesn't go down straight to the hole. No splashing issues. When I run the diposal, I use the pull-down sprayer and shoot it directly down the drain, which is totally fine because whenever I run the disposal, I am doing it as part of the cleaning out the sink from debris, which means I have the sprayer in hand anyway.
doraville
16 years ago
I think the garbage disposal needs water and it doesn't matter which direction it comes from as long as it is getting fed water. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Maybe my faucet is different than some, but the water falls in the drain perfectly at a certain pressure, but if I turn it on strong it over shoots the drain. With a 10" sink splash isn't a problem.
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viva99
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, needsometips08 and Doraville.

This helps a ton.

One thing I'm curious about: do batch feed disposals require more or less water while they're running than continuous feed? Would both types require me to shoot water down the drain with my sprayer while disposal is running (assuming my faucet doesn't send water directly into the drain)? Not a big deal, but could be a tie-breaker in my choice between BF and CF.

Thanks again.
shannonplus2
16 years ago
In answer to your question, no, batch feed disposals do not require more or less water than continuous feed disposals. They both require the same amount of water. The disposing goes faster and more efficiently if the water is flowing directly into the drain from the faucet, but it's a minor difference. As long as you have a good amount of water going into the drain, that's what's important.
viva99
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, Shannonplus2, that's all I needed to know. You all are peaches!