[SoCentralRain]

Hi all.

I've purchased the Ann sink/faucet combo here and have run across what seems to be a ridiculous problem. Here goes:

The two hoses that lead from the faucet to my household water connection (in the wall) are absolutely incompatable with standard U.S. water valves. I went to one plumbing supply company and they said "Can't help ya...it's 'European' and we don't stock those."

They referred me to a specialty faucet supply house who, indeed, had an adapter for me. To the tune of $70 apiece. That's $140 to spend to hook up a $79.99 faucet. Unbelievable.

No, I haven't purchased said ripoff part yet. Does anyone have any experience with this sink/faucet combo here in the states that can help? I am very concerned that my other IKEA bathroom sink purchase ( Hollviken /Ensen) will be the same catastrophe in the making.

Anyone familiar, please help! Thanks.

	Article 21282 Assembly Instructions for HOLLVIKEN

[Narf]

I summarized the methods that others have used before on installing these faucets, whether the hard metric line or the flexible s/s one that terminates in a somewhat standard 1/2" NPT.

[haystack]

I don't advise using the braided tubes with hose clamps as one of the blogs mentions (though I do give the guy credit for a creative solution). Not only would it not pass code or inspection - if it ever blew out, you would have a flooded bathroom.

Like most folks I recieved my IKEA Enskar faucet with 9.5mm stainless steel supply tubes. I used Parker Hannifin compression fittings (Google Parker Hannifin for closest dealer). They sell metric fittings as well as high quality standard fittings. I used the 3/8" compression fitting and have no issues. The ferrel (internal component) Parker uses is higher quality than anything offered at Home Depot of Lowes.

[GardenOfDarwin]

Hi SoCentralRain and haystack! Welcome to IKEAFANS!

I've also heard a couple of people say that there is a US version, but occasionally the Euro version makes it onto a North American bound pallet and you get this problem. Any chance you can get it back to the store to find out if there's a wayward faucet in your possession or if they're ALL like that?

Susan

[Narf]

As I've acquired more Ikea faucets over time, I have found that the bathroom ones have the hard metric lines; the flexible lines typically came with the kitchen faucets.

One of these days, I'm going to find out exactly what threads the faucet end is; I'm hoping that between a hydraulic shop and a Volvo dealer, something's bound to fit!

[bobtins]

I spent two days more than I planned installing an Enskar faucet. Part of it was due to my ignorance of plumbing issues, but partly due to some horror stories about metric lines I read here. Actually, according to another post (which I can't find now, darn it), IKEA stuff in the US should have standard size fittings. Although some metric ones have managed to get here, you should be able to exchange them...if you can find someone who knows about the issue, that is.

My faucet had rigid supply lines, but when I went to Orchard Supply, I didn't bring one (the faucet was bolted on already, making removal difficult) and the guy said it sounded non-standard...well, it was different from my old sink, which just had a 1/2" threaded connector.

I found a couple stories here, such as this one and this one, where people got 10mm rigid lines, which won't work with any fitting commonly available here. I just assumed that my Enskar also had 10mm stuff...but I didn't measure them until later.

It turned out after all that I did have 3/8" (9.5mm) pipes, and figured out that I need something with a 3/8" compression fitting on one side and a 1/2" male connector on the other, to fit the old hose. I was able to get these at Home Depot after some head scratching. I have a couple pictures of the resulting installation attached.

I think that I jumped to the conclusion that the rigid lines must be metric sized, but that's not true. I hope this helps someone who's trying to deal with the bewildering world of plumbing.

[Crunchy Monkey]

I bought the HOLLVIKEN sink with the ENSKAR faucet. Like others have described here, the faucet came with European style steel tube water intakes, rather than the 1/2" threaded American style. I spent some time talking to plumbing "experts" at Home Depot and Lowe's who ultimately recommended returning the faucet.
I called my local IKEA store and after spending 25 min on hold (ugh!) I spent another 25 min talking to a very helpful person. She didn't know anything about plumbing, but she contacted everyone in the store she could think of. I came away with two pieces of information:

• After researching, she said they no longer make an American-connector-style faucet. She gave the excuse/reason/justification that it was required in order to keep their costs down. But if this is true, then it's ridiculous that they wouldn't sell a simple plumbing adapter. Otherwise, their plumbing products are essentially useless in the USA.
• The consensus amonst the "knowledgeable" employees was that the magic fix was to get a galvanized compression nipple to bridge the connection. They believed such an item would be available at the big box stores. It isn't.

Based on my own observations and backed up by discussions in this forum, I elected to go with a 3/8" copper compression to 1/2" threaded adapter. It took 3 tries on the cold water line and 5 tries on the hot water line, but I finally mananged to get the copper ferrule to compress evenly and completely on the steel tubes. I'd post a photo, but they look exactly like the previous post in this thread.

Thanks to all who participated in this thread and the related ones in this forum. It really helped me set a direction and take a few risks that I might not have tried otherwise. I really do like the look of the ENSKAR faucet, but I would have returned it all based on how difficult IKEA is making it to use their plumbing products in the USA .

	Article 21282 Assembly Instructions for HOLLVIKEN

[bobtins]

Crunchy Monkey,

Glad to hear that you've got your faucet working! I hope my experiences saved you at least a little time.

I just have a couple clarifications on some of the issues around the Enskar installation.

It sounds like you went the same route that I went since your final setup looks like mine. You referred to a "3/8 compression to 1/2 threaded adapter", although the item I got at Home Depot was called a union. I'm not trying to be nitpicky--just pointing out that the terminology is so confusing.

I had similar difficulty with the ferrule on the connection fitting but a different outcome. I bought some ferrules along with the unions but then I couldn't screw the compression nut on the union if the pipe was in there with the ferrule. It turned out that the union had a compression fitting that didn't need a ferrule--the nut had this little sleeve that got squished onto the pipe from the Enskar when I tightened it. It must've worked because it doesn't leak.
Your fitting probably did need a ferrule, but other people might have a fitting like mine.

Also, I think these faucets with the hard pipes requiring compression fittings do occur in the US--in fact, my Home Depot "Home Improvement 1-2-3" book shows an example. At least they have a 3/8" pipe as opposed to a 10mm, which some people have bumped into (Narf referred to "hard metric lines" but not all hard lines are metric!). That said, it's definitely more common to see faucets with the threaded fitting that you just hook up a hose to.

Hope this clarifies things and doesn't confuse you further.

[sxpert]

guess ikea is trying their best to get you guys on the metric bandwagon

[Crunchy Monkey]

My use of the "adapter" term was meant to be anecdotal; you are correct that the item is actually called a "union".

I purchased the same union, not realizing the compression fitting side had a built-in ferrule. I've found these built-in ones to be less reliable. Sure enough, it leaked the first time, so I returned to the store and bought a generic 3/8 compression nut that would accept the generic ferrule rings. It was simple trial and error after that... although I did leave out the part of the story where I had to get a small pipe cutter to trim the steel pipe after each failed attempt.

Finally, regarding the pipe size, these were definitely not 3/8". Normally, a ferrule would slide over it's target tube/pipe with zero "play". In this case, the ferrule could be rocked back and forth with noticeable play... I'd guess about half a millimeter. Since 3/8" ~= 9.5mm, that leads me to believe the tubes were actually about 9mm in diameter.