Folding sink faucet

Conestoga

Advanced Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
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39
Location
Alameda, Ca
The folding faucet on the flush mounted sink in our Hawk has developed a leak around the base. Suspected cause is that the plastic has cracked where the hoses are threaded in. Has anyone replaced this unit with a metal one such as Dometic AC542 or others? It has been mentioned that the brass split nut securing the faucet to the sink can be removed by hand, but not so in our case as it is tight. Removing the sink from the cabinet seems to be the best solution to get access unless someone has another idea.
 
If you mean the spout where water comes out was leaking at the base (so water was pooling where the faucet comes out of the sink, on top of the sink), I repaired mine. It had cracks in the base, and was leaking. The threads are completely worn. It just slides on and off now.

I put super glue on the cracks, and put a zip tie around it to hold it all tight while it dried. (I did this while the part was off the sink). I ended up leaving the zip tie on it, as it's barely noticeable. And now it slides onto the bottom of the faucet tightly and does not leak.

But after re-reading your post I think you might mean it is leaking under the sink in the cabinets. I don't think I'd trust a glue repair down there.
 
Thanks for the information guys. Our camper is plumbed for hot & cold water. The faucet that Vic used looks very nice but we need both hot & cold. I appreciate the repair advice using super glue but as you suspected, it is an under sink issue. I hope someone can tell us if the AC542 will physically fit, if so it looks like a more robust unit.
 
We replaced the plastic folding faucet which is prone to cracking & leaking with the all metal Dometic AC542 folding faucet. It does fit the oval glass top sink in our Hawk perfectly. We did remove the check valves in the 1/2"NPT male hose ends as they interfered with the factory female connection & were of no use in this application. This faucet was not much more expensive than the inferior plastic unit, but seems to be of higher quality. Only time and lots of trips will tell. Attached photos of the installation.
 

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Conestoga said:
We replaced the plastic folding faucet which is prone to cracking & leaking with the all metal Dometic AC542 folding faucet. It does fit the oval glass top sink in our Hawk perfectly. We did remove the check valves in the 1/2"NPT male hose ends as they interfered with the factory female connection & were of no use in this application. This faucet was not much more expensive than the inferior plastic unit, but seems to be of higher quality. Only time and lots of trips will tell. Attached photos of the installation.
We are also replacing the factory faucet with this one. It seems like a substantial upgrade. Did you have to remove the sink to install it? Also, how did you remove the check valves?

Thanks!
-Scott
 
Removing the sink will make the project easier. In our case we weren't able to loosen the split brass nut on the plastic faucet without lifting the sink. We also weren't able to remove the drain hose from the sink fitting which complicated the project a little bit. Lifting the sink is not difficult, only a bit messy in dealing with the butyl sealing tape. Once you remove the caps on the lid bumpers the screws for the 3 retaining clips will reveal themselves. They are not Allen but Torx head screws that match the lid. You don't have to totally remove them, only to loosen them a bit as they are quarter turn. The check valves are a push fit in the 1/2" male fitting, only held in by the friction of an
o-ring. A little prying will pop them out. Beware when tighting the hoses that the hose ends don't swivel, only the camper fitting does. From there small hands,
a new vocabulary and patience will get the job done. Another tip, open the hose storage door on the outside of the camper which will let in light through the thin plastic compartment to your workspace instead of using a flashlight. In hindsite I wondered if it would have been possible to remove the front of the cabinet instead of trying to work in the small cubby space. We are in Alameda if more information is needed. Good luck with your project, I'm sure you will enjoy the improvement.
 
Conestoga said:
In hindsite I wondered if it would have been possible to remove the front of the cabinet instead of trying to work in the small cubby space. We are in Alameda if more information is needed. Good luck with your project, I'm sure you will enjoy the improvement.
Thanks for all the helpful information (and offer for more info if needed)! I have thought about removing the front panel of the cabinet, but that introduces its own set of complications... This will be a winter project after our last fall camping trips are in the books. I'm going to try and see if I can do it with the sink in place, but I suspect we will have the same problem removing the split brass nut. I have been happy with most of the components of the camper, but the factory faucet is one glaring exception. It seemed like it was ready to break when it was new, and after a little over a year it is leaking and showing signs of impending failure.
 
Scott,
After our last of the year trips we decided to tackle the sink thing so we would be ready to go next year. Hate to have these things hanging over us. Just thought of a couple more things. Panther RV has a video showing how to deal with the numerous gaskets the new faucet comes with. Well worth watching as they don`t use all of them. The other mod I did was to shorten the stud that is used to fasten the new faucet to the sink in case I ever had to remove it again. The furnished stud is too long for a deep socket. I have a large roll of butyl tape which I'm willing to share if you need some in case you remove the sink. Feel free to private message me any time.
Cris & Rod
 
I just replaced my faucet last week. I called Four Wheel in Woodland and they sent me a replacement. Not cheap. I did look on Amazon and couldn't find a folding replacement. Should have looked harder as the other two listed seem to be much better quality. I elected to remove the sink which makes removing the split ring effortless. When you get done removing the old caulking and replacing it with someone new, its a good idea to use plumbers tape on the hot/cold tubing fittings and do it before you begin the install. Hope that helps. T
 
Any current info on folding faucets for the round dometic sink with the faucet hole in the "diagonal offset corner" (Dometic CE2000)? We too have had the ridiculously cheap plastic faucet crack where it attaches to the "valve body" (above sink part with the control lever). Who would have thought that using cheap toy plastic for a molded part that gets moved constantly would fail? The plastic is literally the brittle plastic used for cheap molded toys. No high quality glass fill plastic that is machined, just molded garbage.

So, I can't find any faucets on Dometic's website, like they stopped making or distributing them. The Dometic faucet linked earlier in this thread looks a lot better than the stock toy one, but I don't really want to pay $250 for something that might be discontinued, as it is only carried by non-Dometic companies.

I do see several fold-down faucets on amazon, but I was hoping to hear some success stories for a specific model fitting properly in the Dometic sink when folded down, before ordering one.
 

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