Reply With QuoteIf so what material is the top of the sink against.
My guess with little to no info is The sink is torqued down way to tight.
This blew out the enamial
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our brand new cast iron kitchen sink just... self destructed... help!
Our kitchen sink just started self destructing... what did we do?!? We're remodeling our kitchen and installed an Aqualux brand Bayou model sink from ******* a couple weeks ago. It's cast iron with a white enamel finish. It's a double bowl sink; one bowl is larger and deeper than the other bowl. I couldn't find much online about Aqualux, except that it was made by whirlpool, so we figured it was OK, but maybe that was mistake #1.
We finally finished the kitchen and were busy emptying boxes and "moving back in" when we heard a strange popping noise. We thought it was electrical, and ran to the light switch, then discovered that the enamel was popping itself off the edge of the sink. It started on the back right corner, near where the counter meets the sink lip. As we watched, almost all the enamel popped itself off the edge of the sink, beginning in that back corner and working its way around all four edges of the sink. Some pieces were tiny but some pieces were several inches long. I have a photo and video that I can post...
we weren't doing anything weird... we had some soapy water in the bottom of the sink, but that's obviously a standard use, and we weren't standing anywhere near the sink when (or prior to when) the popping began.
Has anyone seen this before? We've been working on this kitchen for ten months and were so excited to be "done"... famous last words. All my research said cast iron sinks are the "best", but maybe we need to consider another brand. Does anyone have a brand recommendation? Is there something we did to cause this? Nothing was dropped on the sink, we've barely even used it - we filled a few glasses with water over the last week or two, and just today started rinsing dishes as we were unpacking our stuff... It's installed on a new laminate countertop...
Help!?!?
Is this an undermount??
If so what material is the top of the sink against.
My guess with little to no info is The sink is torqued down way to tight.
This blew out the enamial
No, it's a drop-in sink. There's a silicone seal under the lip of the sink, but that's it - no screws or clamps to torque or anything. Let me get some photos... be right back...Originally Posted by toolaholic
OK, here's a photo showing the corner where it started... it started on the upper part of the damaged area, right on the corner, then worked it's way sideways, all the way to the next corners. So frustrating... This is from one big box store; we went to the other big box and they didn't carry this particular brand in sink but did say the aqualux faucets they carry are pretty low quality and crappy. Did we do something wrong, or was this just a defective sink? The second big box carries Kohler... I assume that's a reputable brand for cast iron sink, but can anyone confirm? Thanks.
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Last edited by SmallSea; 09-09-2007 at 05:58 PM.
I'm confused ,You stated it popped off all the way around the rim!
Yet the picture doesn't show this
You're right, I took the photo above when it first started happening. I just took a couple new photos - below. Most of the damage occurred within the first 10-15 minutes, but it's still popping off (we vaccuumed all the pieces, and each time we go back there are new pieces of debris.) The damage has worked it's way to each of the next corners. Some of the damage is on the surface - little white divots that still have white underneath them; this damage is hard to see in the photo. And some of the damage goes all the way through to the cast iron. It's hard to see, but the original corner damage now extends past the faucet; each of the next two adjacent corners are damaged as well.
This photo is taken looking at the same corner as the photo above.
This photo is of the opposite back corner. It's hard to see, but the enamel is chipped off all the way to the middle of the sink.
I wish I could tell you that we were hammering the sink or something obvious, but we weren't. We were rinsing dishes on the left, stacking them to dry on the right, and hadn't gone near the sink for a good thirty minutes when this started happening... So frustrating.
Maybe the coating is too thin, or maybe not all the temperatures were right during its application, or maybe ... who knows?!
You might give the manufacturer an opportunity to explain and replace, but I would be inclined to either move away from cast iron or switch to porcelain.
This is something which just should not happen. I say it is obvious from the pictures that it was NOT cause be accident or abuse, but just lousy quality. I would take it back to the store and demand your money back. Certainly you cannot leave it like that, and it cannot be suitably repaired.
You could call the manufacturer....if they have a US representative. They might be interested, but most likely will just tell you to take it back to the store.
Kohler is a premium brand. Maybe a little overpriced, but the quality of Kohler cast iron has never been questioned.
thanks, I feel better knowing that this wasn't something we did... we didn't think it was, we couldn't imagine what we could've done to cause this, but who knows. We will be taking this back and demanding our money back. We're probably going to have to buy new drains, too, unless we can get them out cleanly - I'm going to put up a stink about that as well. And we'll probably be buying a Kohler. I can't find any other cast iron sink brands except Eljer, and the Eljer looks suspiciously like this Aqualux. We don't want to risk this happening again... ugh. I should post the video of this happening on utube or something, it's so odd...
Bring it back ,They have a serious problem. Any balking on their part pull out this thread pix. We want to see how this is handled.
Do not take a replacement from same Manuf. There could be 1100 of these failures ,and they'll never admit it.!
Thanks everyone. I'll let you all know what happens. We bought this from a big box that shall remain nameless for now, and they better take it back. They don't sell this anymore, but still... we need to special-order the Kohler sink from a different big box and it'll take a week to get it in, so we'll probably keep using this sink through the week. I'll let you know what happens next weekend when we disconnect everything and take it back... what a royal PITA...
If you're curious or skeptical, I posted the video on youtube...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XeBdnkLcaYc
This is a 30-second video taken about 2 minutes after this started happening. The damage began in the rear right corner then went to the rear left corner, where this video is focused.
LMAO.
I can't believe you got that on video! That's great...
exploding sink...
Never seen that happen before... great video.
The silicone sealant sure puts out a stink when it's curing.Maybe some type of chemical reaction went on with an already flawed coating on the sink...
like tempered glass, porcelain is made with heat. If the firing process isn't done well enough, a glass panel can just crack or shatter without any apparent immediate reason. A porcelain coating can too, in my estimation. This is the manufacturer's responsibility.
glad you video'd it.
david
Steel or Cast Iron??
that does not even look like porceline in the video..
are you sure that this is acutually cast iron???
and not some cheap enameled epoxy or just a steel drop in sink..???
If it is from whirlpool , it is probably something they had shipped in from CHINA and it is most likely been very
cheaply made....
in the Video you posted it almost looked like it was
spraye d onto that steel and not baked on.....
take it back to whereever and get a Kohler or Eljer in Real cast iron...
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