our brand new cast iron kitchen sink just... self destructed... help!

hj · 09-12-2007, 06:55 PM

It may have started because of the sink sitting on the countertop and there was concentrated pressure because it was not a flat bottom on the rim. But it should not have come off in sections like that in any case, so the obvious thing is that it was a poor enameling job and the sink has to go back.

**GrumpyPlumber** · 09-12-2007, 09:24 PM

I'll almost bet money thats not real cast iron, but a knockoff of "Americast".
It's a lighter guage steele, as Mark stated above.
I recommend customers away from those, especially the tubs, because of what I just watched on the video...the steele is so thin that it only takes a small amount of torque and the porcelain coating cracks n' chips.
Absolutely hilarious to see it in action...not so hilarious to have to rip it out and drive back to Home depot though.

**gsthong** · 09-12-2007, 10:05 PM

One word, CHINA. Sorry about your dilema.

**master plumber mark** · 09-13-2007, 12:56 PM

CHINA is great......

They dont even know how to make toys that wont
poison kids....look at all the big recalls .

how can you expect them to know how to make cast
iron or whatever kind of sink that is,,,
or anything to last more than a week???

basically they need to steal more of our technology before
importing it all back to us....
they have already stole most of our
factory type jobs along with mexico...

Perhaps if Hillory and Bill Clinton are re-elected,
they can sell off more of our knowledge to the Chineese
like they did back in the 90s for a nice kickback...

**SmallSea** · 09-16-2007, 11:43 AM

Yes, I am absolutely 100% sure this is cast iron. It weighed a TON (and just as much as the Kohler sink we bought to replace it with.) It was definitely cheap construction, though. When we felt the underside of the Kohler sink (around the lip of the drains) it felt much smoother where the enamel met the cast iron; the Aqualux sink felt all jaggedy and sharp. Of course, we didn't know that was a sign of poor quality. We did all our research before we bought. Consumer Reports said Cast Iron is the best sink material, and also said a cast iron sink is a cast iron sink and brand isn't so important as the material. We learned that Aqualux was made by Jacuzzi which was a brand we had heard of, so we went with it. We've seen americast and such, and we've seen steel coasted sinks. This was not one of those - this was absolutely cast iron.

We found the specs for the Aqualux sink on the Jacuzzi website when we originally purchased the sink. Now, if you go to that site and click on kitchen sinks, it says "page not found". I have a feeling they discontinued this due to other quality problems.

In any case, we successfully removed the old sink without damaging the counter! Hooray! (Well, one little scratch, but we shifted the new sink a teeny bit to cover it.)

We couldn't get the drains out of the sink, though. When I spoke to the store manager at M----- last week, he said they had tools in the store and could help us with that if needed. So we loaded the car and brought the sink with drains to M-------. They returned the old sink without any problem. The plumbing dept manager couldn't get the drains out of the sink, either, so he gave us brand new ones at no cost.

Although it was a total PITA and a lot of stress and anxiety to deal with all of this, I am very pleased with the service we received at the store. The new sink (Kohler cast iron, from HD) is installed; DH wants to give the silicone seal a day to cure before he starts messing with the plumbing. Fingers crossed, tomorrow everything will be replumbed successfully.

Thanks to you for your help!

**GrumpyPlumber** · 09-16-2007, 01:01 PM

Thats unbelievable.
Cast iron and the coating flecked so profusely under such small stress.
I've said this before, I'll say it again.
A lot of MFG's jump into new lines of products that aren't their specialty and it backfires.

**Alectrician** · 10-09-2007, 04:28 PM

That's the coolest thing I've seen all day.

I wouldn't have believed it. GREAT documentation!

**theelviscerator** · 10-09-2007, 07:51 PM

Nice video, you can almost see the tiny gremlins with their air hammers, working their way around the sink....heh..

hj · 10-10-2007, 07:04 AM

We couldn't get the drains out of the sink, though. When I spoke to the store manager at M----- last week, he said they had tools in the store and could help us with that if needed. So we loaded the car and brought the sink with drains to M-------. They returned the old sink without any problem. The plumbing dept manager couldn't get the drains out of the sink, either, so he gave us brand new ones at no

You probably installed them using silicone and got it in the threads which welded everything together.

**MsNetters** · 11-16-2007, 08:18 PM

We have a cast iron & porcelain Kohler sink (divided) that's about 9 years old, and tonight the porcelain started to pop off the edge of the center divider. (I came across this website/msg board while trying to research why this is happening!). I checked out the video you posted on YouTube, and this looks like my sink, with one exception - the sections of porcelain are popping off with such force, sections as well as tiny shards of porcelain are flying several feet from the sink. This has been happening for about 2 hours now. There weren't any visible cracks, chips or any abnormality on the sink that might explain why this is happening. Our sink is installed the same as yours, dropped in and silicone sealed, no screws, etc to cause pressure. Curious if you were able to find out a cause from the manufacturer. I'm actually a little afraid of my sink! Got a beach towel laid over it to prevent anyone from being impaled by flying porcelain. Very weird.

**Backglass** · 11-18-2007, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by master plumber mark

Perhaps if Hillory and Bill Clinton are re-elected,
they can sell off more of our knowledge to the Chineese
like they did back in the 90s for a nice kickback...

Hang on now...why has King George done nothing about it for nearly EIGHT years then? Doesn't he want to "right" this terrible Clinton "wrong"?

Sound like an "axis of evil" to me and right up his alley.