2023-02-02. 5-Spray Shower Head by Delta Faucet - Brushed Nickel Delta Faucets have been around a long time and have established themselves by making quality bath products that are both stylish and functional. An American company, they're headquartered in Indianapolis, IN and have 5 global manufacturing facilities. 4 of these 5 facilities are still in the USA (Greensburg, Indiana; Jackson, Tennessee; Lapeer, Michigan; Morgantown, Kentucky), and the last one is in Panyu, PROC. Due to cost benefits, over 50% of Delta Faucet products are made overseas and this shower head happens to be one such product. But this is not to say it's of inferior quality and workmanship. Something you need to keep in mind when companies set up shop overseas is that they control every part of the design and quality specifications, even if they don't control the manufacturing itself. No reputable company would farm out their product entirely to a third party manufacturer as they could easily do more harm to the company's reputation. All companies do this regardless of the country they choose to set up their manufacturing facility. The company still controls all aspects of the product from design, to engineering, to materials, to equipment & machinery, all the way down to packaging, storage, and shipping, the company has a say in the entire process. The manufacturer is nothing more than a contractor that is offering labor costs which provides a competitive advantage over other countries. This 5-spray shower head is ready to use right out of the box! With a universal fit as well as an already present rubber washer, all you need to do is simply unscrew your current shower head and replace it with this one. If you do detect some leaking where the shower head attaches to your lead pipe, remove the shower head, wipe it down dry and apply a little but of Plumber's tape onto the grooves of the lead pipe and reattach. It's that simple, no tools necessary. Just hand tighten and you're good to go. I literally swapped out my old shower head and replaced it with this one in less than 60 seconds. When I turned on the water there were no leaks whatsoever, so I did not use any Plumber's tape. One of the most common things we experience in North America is mineral deposits (calcium & lime) that is common with hard water. This is that white stuff that accumulate on the spray holes where the water comes out. This shower head like most on the market now days have rubberized coverings over the spray holes. This ingenious design doesn't prevent the mineral deposits, but does make it super easy to clean. If you do see any mineral build up, gently rub the rubber coverings and they'll come off super easily. This is also a common fix for any spray hole(s) that appear to have a non-conforming trajectory of water spray. This shower head is rated to release 1.75 gallons of water per minute, which stifles the massaging spray modes, but helps with saving water. If you have an older home with weak water pressure to begin with, you may want to remove the regulator that's built into the shower head. The average bath uses anywhere from 35-50 gallons of water, so at a rate of 1.75 gallons/minute which equates to a 20-28 minute shower. If your shower is less than 20 minutes, you're saving on your water bill. One of the most overlooked settings in shower heads is the trickle setting. I love this setting as it allows you to save even more money. With my old shower head, I turned off the water when I soaped and lathered, but if you've done this, you know that the properties of evaporation kick in (especially in the winter when the ambient air is cooler) and can cool you down. Then, there the trick of getting it back to the correct temperature when you turn the water back on! Well, the trickle mode with this shower head maintains your water temperature and allows you to save at the same time. At the beginning of this review, I noted that despite this shower head being manufactured in PROC, it's still a quality product. This is because Delta Faucets stand behind their products 100%. In fact, so much so that they offer a limited lifetime warranty on all their faucets to be free of material defects and workmanship. From their website: All parts (other than electronic parts and batteries) and finishes of Delta® faucets purchased from authorized Delta sellers are warranted to the original consumer purchaser to be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns the home in which the faucet was first installed. Now this does exclude commercial applications (10 year warranty) as well as multi-family residential applications (5 year warranty). But any company that stands behind their product for years is a sign of quality. Rest assured, this product will provide you with years of daily use.
