Hands Free Faucet
Our kitchen died on us recently so we decided to go with a hands free faucet as a replacement. After using this product for over a month now, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that hands free faucets fall into the category of things you don’t know you need until you have them. And once you do have one, you probably won’t go back to a standard faucet. Here’s a quick review of the Moen Haysfield faucet with motion sense technology (Moen’s term for hands free). You may have seen this faucet in the TV commercials. Don’t forget to check out the video review below.
Hands Free Faucet Pros
After using a hands free faucet in the kitchen for over a month now, I’ve determined there are two major situations where this technology really comes in handy. First, when you have a large pot that you need to fill with water, it’s nice to use both hands to hold the pot under the faucet as it automatically turns on. Basically, the sensor on the faucet detects an object near it and turns on the stream of water. Of course you could turn the faucet on prior to picking up the pot, but that would waste extra water…and quite frankly, it’s just not as much fun. Then when the pot is full and you pull it away, the stream is turned off by the faucet sensor. This works very well in the faucet we installed. But aren’t there other options for hands free faucet operation? Yes. One option is to add a foot pedal to the faucet. Unfortunately, these are a little too accessible when small children are around. Also, the installation of the foot pedals are a little more involved.
The other situation where the hands free faucet is very useful is when you have dirty hands that need to be cleaned. Don’t you hate touching stuff when you have raw meat parts and juice on your hands? You just want to get the stuff off before contaminating the rest of the kitchen. The hands free faucet allows you to turn on the water to clean your hands without spreading germs.
Hands Free Faucet Cons
Like every great product, there are a few drawbacks. First, a hands free faucet like the one we installed will set you back some serious cash. We picked up the Moen Haysfield with motion sense at Home Depot for $468. This is about $200 more than the standard Haysfield faucet by Moen. But since we needed a faucet anyway, the extra couple hundred bucks seemed like a small price to pay for some added convenience.
The other potential negative associated with the hands free faucet is the extra installation time required. There’s an intimidating grouping of wires and hoses that come with your faucet to make it all work. After going through the installation, we found the extra time involved was minimal. But remember, your plumber will charge you handsomely if they have never installed one. It’s basically a fear of the unknown that causes trade contractors to add extra cash into a bid to give them a cushion in case something goes wrong. So if you can do it yourself, it will save you some coin.
Things to Know
After using this faucet for some time you will notice the “ready” sensor on the front of the faucet has a tendency to miss-fire when you are cleaning out the sink. If you reach across the faucet to get down into the sink and cross the sensor, the water will turn on. I’ve moistened a few shirts this way. We solved this problem by only using the top sensor for most of the time. Yes, you can turn off both sensors at once or you can turn each one off individually (watch the video below for more details).
You should also know that the temperature of the water in hands free mode is set by the thermostat in the cabinet below. So you set the temperature once and then let it go. You can readjust it, but this does require you to reach down under the cabinet. This wasn’t a big deal for us as cold water seemed to always be what we wanted when using the hands free function.
Misconceptions
- Won’t it flood my house if I forget it’s on and walk away? No, the faucet will automatically shut off after two minutes.
- Isn’t it too much for a DIY installation? No, it’s really not that tough. Standard household tools, the ability to read instructions, and about an hour of your time will get the job done.
- Don’t I need to add electrical wiring? No, it comes with a battery pack (6 AA’s) that lasts a year (according to the manufacturer…we haven’t owned ours that long yet). Moen sells a cord that can be plugged into an outlet if you prefer.
