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This faucet doesn't necessarily deserve a 1-Star rating but I'm giving it that rating because I am writing this review for the benefit of true shoppers who want to know what's wrong with a product, not what's right about it. I don't need to know how wonderful it looks, etc and other platitudes that gush from the 5- & 4-Star reviews. I, and I'm sure others, want to know what's wrong with it and what problems DIY-ers like myself might run into installing this thing. Before I purchased this faucet I read all the 1- & 2-Star reviews of several different faucets and name brand manufacturers to find out what I would be up against. I spent hours online researching faucets. From what I could see in reviews, EVERY one - no matter what brand - had a few complaints about leaks - even when "professionally installed." Since an old leaky faucet which was damaging my cabinet drove me into this situation in the first place, I was sensitized about anything that was prone to leaking. Reading many, many reviews online at Lowes, HD, and Amazon about this and other faucets I became aware of other problems, like low water flow, problems with water heat adjustment, missing parts, customers receiving previously returned faucets shipped to them as "new", etc - almost an endless litany of nightmares. So, with so many faucet choices out there and all having complaints reported, what's a body to do?
Tip #1: After looking at the different faucets available at Lowes & HD, I shopped them at Amazon and looked for faucets that had at least 100 customer reviews, minimum. I did the Amazon thing because Amazon reports the percentage of their Star ratings whereas Lowes and HD do not. Then I looked for an acceptable (to me) complaint (1 & 2 Star) rate of between 8-10%. If any faucet is generating more that 10% complaints, then I saw that as a quality issue there and a red flag to avoid. At today's date of 9/7/17, Amazon reported 1,573 customer reviews for this faucet (unfortunately they are not all restricted to just the Arctic Stainless model). Still, of those 1,573 reviews, only 3% had 1-Star complaints, and 2% had 2-Star complaints. So even throwing the 2-Star complaints into the mix, that's only 5% problem reports - which was very, very low compared to other manufacturers and models that I checked. So I decided I would take my chances on this one.
To begin, I purchased the Arctic Stainless model online on 8/24/17. I received the faucet in about a week apparently right from Delta as the tag on the product said it was manufactured on 8/21/17. I installed it, by myself, on 9/2/17. Installation took me about 5 hours as I have never installed a faucet before and was trying to be extra, extra careful. One critical review I read complained about the confusing instructions and the fact that installation of the escutcheon (which I needed to do) is actually an Optional instruction of in Step 1. No problemo. Just read Step 1 completely if you need to install the escutcheon.
NOTE: This faucet is designed to be a side-handle faucet. The handle is NOT supposed to face frontwards as it will not seat properly on the escutcheon if you mount the faucet with the handle facing frontwards. If you do NOT need to install the escutcheon and are mounting the faucet directly to your sink or countertop, follow the instructions in Step 1 and use the trim and base rings and rubber washer. Also, since you aren't using the escutcheon, if you want, you CAN mount the faucet with the handle facing forward - but if you do this, you need to connect the unit's red (hot water) faucet hose to your cold water supply line and the unit's blue (cold water) faucet hose to your hot water supply line in order to adhere to the faucet handle convention of hot water when the handle swings left and cold water when the handle swings right.
Tip #2: Securing the escutcheon to the sink using the supplied plastic nuts did not make me feel like they would cover the sink holes entirely. So I purchased 2 metal washers that had 1-inch holes. These fit perfectly over the escutcheon threaded shanks and provided some overlap for the plastic nuts. Consider doing this for your situation. Note: If you are using the escutcheon, you do NOT need to use the trim & base rings and washer supplied in the kit.
Once the faucet head assembly is sitting on the escutcheon, the trick becomes securing the faucet assembly to the escutcheon from underneath by installing the U-shaped mounting bracket and the brass nut. This turned into a real struggle. I resorted to turning the brass nut by hand until it got way up there because it was difficult to use the plastic "tube wrench" included in the kit.. Understand that as I am below hand turning the nut, the faucet head is up above is swinging off the escutcheon. I had to get out from under and reposition the faucet every now and then. NOTE: there is a distinct position that ultimately the faucet has to sit on the escutcheon. The faucet needs to be perfectly centered on the escutcheon - I could (you will) feel it when it is seated properly. Just hold the faucet upright and keep wiggling or turning it until it sits into the sweet spot. The good thing here, is even though the brass nut was not totally secured, from underneath the sink I could still carefully turn the nut by hand until it was nearly all the way up without jostling the faucet off its sweet spot. I had to get out from under the sink a few times to reposition the faucet onto the sweet spot, but eventually the faucet did stay put. The water and sprayer lines made it a little crowded the higher up the brass nut went. Because of my trouble with the plastic "tube wrench" I used a pliers to turn the nut as high as I could get it. Then, by some trial and error, I was finally able to use the plastic wrench. From that point I was able to totally secure the faucet. Once the brass nut was tightened to where I thought it should be, I was able to give the plastic nuts on the escutcheon shanks slightly more tightening.
Step 2 is to attach the long faucet hot & cold hoses to your metal water supply lines. Wrap the metal water supply line threads with plumbers tape as leak prevention.
Step 3: WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT SKIP STEP 3 - FLUSHING THE SUPPLY LINES. You can't imagine how much crud will come out of those faucet hoses. This one step took the longest time for me to do as I must have emptied the collection bucket at least 7 times before I finally got totally clear water with no debris. Flush both the hot and cold water lines. I suspect that several customer complaints about low water flow, and a clogged sprayer head were caused by not doing this flushing step or not doing it completely - even those installations which were "professionally installed" - is a plumber going to keep horsing around here and give it the same dedication that you would? - just sayin'. As you will see, the "outlet tube" that will drain the flush is pretty short. You may think that just positioning a water bucket below the outlet tube as pictured in the instructions will do the trick. I could see trouble here in the form of water going all over the place. Tip #2: Get or cut a somewhat short length of garden (or other type of) hose such that you can feed it over the outlet tube and as high as you can go and the other end sufficient to reach into the bottom of the bucket. The garden hose does not have to be a tight fit on the outlet hose - the garden hose just needs to provide a secure path for the draining water.
Step 4: connecting the sprayer. Follow the instructions. No mystery here. However, there were several complaints that the plastic clip connector of the sprayer hose to the water outlet hose was not the best of connections. Several reviewers recommended using two zip ties to hold the plastic connector in place. I did this as well. A better design here would permanently solve this issue, but in the meantime all the average Joe can do is install some zip ties. BTW: instruct users to NEVER pull the sprayer hose out to its full length. Zip ties or not, that plastic connector will pop off and you will have a flood.
It is now 10/9/17. I can tell you that I have NOT experienced any leaks anywhere in the system. I have NOT experienced any drip-drip-drip activity from the sprayer head as some reviewers mentioned. My water flow rate is excellent. However, setting the correct water temperature takes some getting used to. Several reviewers complained about this. For me this has been a very minor issue. The faucet I received appears well-made and of good quality very sturdy & substantial.
Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year I may have a different opinion about this faucet, but so far it looks to be a very good purchase that I would recommend to a friend. And if disaster does strike, I hope that I will be able to return here at a later date to update this review.
One last comment: Upon completing my installation, and with everything installed and working as it should, the product box included an extra part whose purpose I could not determine. It is a little white plastic part in the shape of a small mushroom (see picture). I have read and re-read the instructions a hundred times but could not find this part described or mentioned. If anyone knows what this thing is for, I would be grateful to know.