Who makes high quality supply lines for sinks/toilets?

[Andrew LB]

I know this sounds like dumb question, but I wouldn't be asking without good reason. A few months ago my neighbor two houses over, an elderly woman in her late 80's called me in a panic saying there was 2-3 inches of water flooding the entire bottom floor. I rushed over, shut off her water and spent the next 8 hours of my Saturday using my 14 gallon Ridgid vacuum to get as much water out as to help her minimize the damage. I must have dumped the filled vacuum over 30 times. Ugh..
Once the water was gone, went looking for the cause which i knew was in the kitchen. The kitchen faucet was one of those $500 or so Grohe models and I was surprised to discover that stainless steel mesh covered supply hoses had a rather large spot that was rusted out and the inner rubber hose appeared to have torn on the metal.
While i did what i could to minimize the damage, her home owners insurance company brought out one of those clean up companies who tore out all the carpets, baseboards, 3ft or so of drywall, which was discovered to have asbestos in the joint compound... and the nightmare continued.

I never asked her what the whole ordeal ended up costing, but i'd wager it was over $25k

tldr

So i went and inspected all the supply lines for my toilets and sinks and found some mild corrosion on a few of them. After seeing the amount of damage a stupid $10 hose caused... i figure i'll just replace all of them with quality hoses not made with mystery chinese stainless steel that rusts.

SupplyHouse sells Brasscraft and Fluidmaster. I've also got a Ferguson near me as well, not sure what brands they carry.

Thanks in advance

 

[John Gayewski]

The best supply hoses are soft copper with a chrome coating. They are bent to shape and permanent. Those flex hoses are nice for quick instsllation with very few leaks, but they do go bad.

Ask for chrome supply tubes and a 3/8" bender. It may be easier for you to use a spring bender and wing it as tube bending can get very complicated.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[shieldcracker]

I dont trust supply line flex hoses, including those with ss braids, I have seen this scenario play out many times.
Soft copper tubing is the best option followed by PEX. I have never seen these two blowout.

 

[Jeff H Young]

nice of you to help out 3 inches water and you are handling all repair nice guy! I would have helped and had her call a disaster relief unless house is uninsured .
As charity case sorry but Im putting braided hoses gosh we must have less than 10 percent or 5 percent metal supply tube. I havent installed them in a long time . so there is no way Id do that on a house that cant pay Even my own has cheap braided flex

 

[GL77]

I have a question. Why is the stainless steel rusting if there is a rubber tube inside? Not that stainless should rust anyway, but doesn't it need to be wet to rust? I only have the stainless flex lines at my washer and sinks. I haven't had a problem but I do have some cheap water alarms under them just in case, that's another option. I also keep large plastic bins under my sinks. They hold all the supplies I have under there and they would hopefully catch the water if I did get a leak. Have had a leak in the past and I keep an eye on those things. Where does one get the soft copper tubing? Does it take professional skill to install?

 

[John Gayewski]

I have a question. Why is the stainless steel rusting if there is a rubber tube inside? Not that stainless should rust anyway, but doesn't it need to be wet to rust? I only have the stainless flex lines at my washer and sinks. I haven't had a problem but I do have some cheap water alarms under them just in case, that's another option. I also keep large plastic bins under my sinks. They hold all the supplies I have under there and they would hopefully catch the water if I did get a leak. Have had a leak in the past and I keep an eye on those things. Where does one get the soft copper tubing? Does it take professional skill to install?

Google Chrome supply tube. It'll be compression type connections.