Types of Commercial Faucets for Your Operation
Every business should be able to provide employees and guests with sufficient water for all manner of uses. We carry commercial faucets for every type of use, from spraying down dirty dishes to washing hands throughout the day. Many of our types of commercial faucet are general purpose and can be used in any commercial setting, while others are specific types of restaurant faucet specific for foodservice operations. We'll break down the different types of faucets in this article to help you in choosing a commercial faucet by narrowing down your search to only the units that would most benefit your business.
Faucets for General-purpose Use
Every commercial establishment, from an office building to a storefront, is going to need faucets for their bathrooms, at the very least. Any operation with an employee breakroom will need a different type of faucet so people can get drinking water, fix meals, wash dishes, and prepare cleaning solutions. Operators have many considerations to make when purchasing faucets for their facility. They must account for water usage, faucet function, aesthetics, and fit, all of which can drastically change the effectiveness of your new piece. There are many varieties of bathroom faucet that can help you promote sanitation, conserve water, and accentuate your bathroom. Touchless faucets eliminate a potential point of contamination and encourage low water use, while metering faucets limit the amount of water used per activation. Our manual and commercial bathroom faucet categories contain an array of attractive fixtures that can elevate your restroom decor and contribute to the overall feel of your establishment. We'll discuss each category below to help you start your search.
Touchless faucets
Touchless faucets have a motion sensor that activates waterflow when the user puts their hands beneath the faucet. This construction offers two major benefits. First, the sensor lowers water waste, which saves money on utilities and is good for the environment. The faucet shuts off when there are no hands beneath it, meaning only the water needed to wash hands will be dispensed. Second, the touchless faucet does not have a handle that will be contacted by every person using the faucet. This means one less common touch point in the bathroom. Common touch points, or areas every user needs to touch, are a potential vector for disease. Touchless faucets remove one of these areas; if paired with touchless hand dryers and door openers, you can eliminate common touch points from your restroom.
Manual faucets
Manual faucets are cheaper than touchless faucets and require no electricity to operate. This category contains all faucets that aren’t automatic, so there is some overlap with other manual categories. A manual faucet is any option with a handle or button that needs to be activated by hand. These are the traditional options for any type of sink and the easiest to use, but they don't offer the benefits of a touchless faucet. This category contains faucets for all types of sinks, from restaurant kitchens to commercial restrooms. If you're looking for something simple, or for a specific design style, these will be your best choice.
Commercial bathroom faucets
Our commercial bathroom faucets category contains only units that might fit a restroom sink. These are used primarily for handwashing, meaning they don't need to be as large or have as many functions as some of the other units. Most of these are simple manual faucets, but with an aesthetic designed for a washroom. This usually means they are small and simple, as restrooms have less total space than, for example, a commercial kitchen. Many of the pieces in this category also are metering faucets, which help you keep total water usage under control in a high-volume washroom.
Metering faucets
Metering faucets limit the total water used per faucet activation. The user pushes a button and the faucet dispenses water for a set amount of time, then shuts off. Users can no longer accidentally leave the water running, as it shuts off automatically, which can save large quantities of water over the life of the faucet. Metered faucets also can save water while users scrub their hands with soap. The benefits of a metered faucet multiply with the total number of users. Small operations likely won't see a significant reduction in total water usage because the metered faucets save only small amounts per use. The more people you have using your restrooms over the course of a year, the bigger benefit metered faucets will bring you.
Types of Kitchen Faucet
Restaurants need many unique types of faucet to run a quick, efficient operation. Pot filler faucets, mop sink faucets, glass fillers, and pre-rinse spray faucets all fulfill a specific function, though not all restaurants need all of them. The right type of faucet can improve the speed at which the associated task is performed, hastening your service and freeing labor for other important tasks.
Pre-rinse faucets
Pre-rinse faucets are one of the most specialized types of faucet in this category while also being one of the most widely used in restaurant settings. These faucets emit high-pressure streams of water to blast food particles off dishes so they can be sanitized in a dishwasher or three-compartment sink. Without a pre-rinse faucet, someone must manually scrape excess food from each plate, bowl, and pot, which can waste lots of labor. A good pre-rinse faucet cuts the time required to clean each item, meaning your dishware gets back into use faster and whoever is cleaning them will have time for other tasks. These have a hand-held spray nozzle to enable the user to direct the water wherever it needs to go, along with a flexible hose.
Add-on faucets are an extra nozzle that attaches to your pre-rinse faucet. This enables you to fill the sink to soak dishes or sanitize them in the case of a three-compartment sink. Add-on faucets are installed at the base of the pre-rinse faucets, meaning you don't need to install additional plumbing to use them.
Mop sink faucets
These unique faucets come with additional stabilization in the form of a brace to the wall above or floor beneath the faucet. This extra strength enables the user to hang a mop bucket from the faucet to be filled, enabling them to walk away and perform other tasks while the bucket is filled. Without an appropriate mop sink faucet, attempting to fill a mop bucket this way could destroy your faucet and potentially the deck or wall it's mounted on. If you need large mop buckets filled frequently, this style of faucet can make your operation more efficient.
Pot filler faucets
Pot filler faucets have more reach than a normal faucet. Their necks are longer and many have a joint in the center that enables the operator to swivel the head of the faucet above a heavy pot that might not fit easily inside the sink. Pot fillers also can be added to your existing faucet setup to provide more functionality without a dedicated sink. If you're looking for an add-on pot filler, be sure to check the product specification page for the unit you're considering to confirm it can be installed as an add-on. Pot fillers are not the same as mop sink faucets, as you should not hang a pot on a pot filler or you'll break it.
Glass fillers
Glass fillers are found almost exclusively in foodservice but are invaluable in that arena. Water filler faucets usually have a lever that can be pressed with the glass, then will stop when the glass is removed. This enables the server to fill up a glass one handed without setting it down. Compared to filling up the glass at a normal faucet or from a pitcher, glass fillers are exceptionally quick and convenient. With most operations offering a glass of water to every patron that comes through their doors, a glass filler will save you time proportional to the number of guests you have. The busier you are, the more useful a glass filler becomes. While the time saved by a glass filler may be only a few seconds per glass, when you multiply that by how often you use it, you'll quickly be saving hours of labor to be dedicated to other tasks.
Specialty Faucets
Our specialty faucet category contains all the niche types of faucet that don't fit neatly elsewhere. If you're looking for a specific product not in one of the above categories, you'll likely find it here. Specialty faucets include:
- Bedpan washers – spray nozzles at the end of a long hose intended for cleaning bedpans.
- Medical faucets – handled faucets with an array of features that aid medical facilities
- Hot water dispensers – dispenser with its own hot water tank, which is perfect for any establishment that doesn't have or cannot access their own hot water heater.
- Lab faucets – faucets with precise dispensation and optional gas connectors for use in laboratories.
Do I need wall- or deck-mount faucets?
All our faucets will be listed as either deck mount or wall mount, which refers to the position they're installed above the sink. Deck-mount faucets attach to the farthest-back portion of the sink itself, while wall-mount faucets, appropriately, mount to the wall behind the sink. If you already have a sink installed, you only need to make sure your new faucet matches the existing mounting position, but if you're considering adding an entire new sink, you can choose whether you prefer wall- or deck-mount options. Deck-mounts faucets are easier to install and can be easier to use, as they are closer to the user in most scenarios, such as a bathroom sink. However, a wall-mount faucet frees up extra space in the sink itself that is not occupied by the faucet deck. This is most helpful if you're washing dishes in a sink or performing another task that requires a lot of free space. Not every faucet type comes in both alignments, so consult the product specification page before purchase to ensure you get the right fit.
