Has anyone seen this?

[Robbox]

I had a new bathroom fitted a few months ago, old house so a lot of new plumbing. We used Hansgrohe taps and fittings. After a couple of months, I noticed that the end of the tap spout (it screws off to reveal the aerator etc) had corrosion on the chrome surface most in contact with the water.
I sent this off to HG, who tried to wriggle out by saying my new microfibre cloth had caused this. But the amount of corrosion and it's location, even a microfibre cloth, full of dirt and stuff, would struggle to damage.
They did send me a new one as a goodwill gesture.

Then it occurred to me, that perhaps the flux used by the plumber had entered the new pipes and caused the corrosion. Flux being quite acidic. I did notice that the filter on the spout had collected a lot of debris.

Has anyone else seen or heard of this?

 

[Nige F]

Microfibre - no Scouring pad - maybe. Probably just an area of chrome not 100%. Dare I say they might have outsourced their plating of small parts to somewhere East

 

[ianmcd]

Would be surprised if your plumber actually soldered anything they all use pushfit these days

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Modern fluxes are water soluble, and will wash out when pipework is flushed after initial installation. For flux to have affected the tap like that, I'd think it would have to have been out on the tap and left there. Unlikely.

 

[Gasguru]

I had a customer accuse me of using sub-standard bath taps for a bathroom I fitted for her...eventually it transpired her cleaner was pouring bleach all over the taps

 

[ianmcd]

Older customers tend to leave the cloth that they use to clean the sink/bath laying over the taps and it rots chrome plating and paint surfaces to heck

 

[JohnD]

Limescale may accumulate around the aerator

How do you clean it off?

 

[just pumps]

Remove it and soak in kil-rock or use the gel version

 

[JohnD]

But is that a chemical that can attack chrome?

 

[just pumps]

Google it!

 

[Robbox]

Limescale may accumulate around the aerator

How do you clean it off?

I didn't clean it off. It felt rough to the touch so I unscrewed it and then noticed the chrome had been eaten through in places. When I unscrewed it I did notice a lot of debris that looked like small particles of solder, caught in the filter.
Then out of curiosity, I looked at the tap in the kitchen. A lot more metal debris! This is also a newish install.
The plumber did use all copper throughout.

 

[Robbox]

Microfibre - no Scouring pad - maybe. Probably just an area of chrome not 100%. Dare I say they might have outsourced their plating of small parts to somewhere East

That was my immediate thought when I saw the pitting. Maybe that's why HG replaced it without too much effort, they had had a string of complaints on similar small parts.
Just goes to show that top brands like HG have issues.