Banner Faucets Review & Rating Updated: 02/06/23

Imported

Taiwan

Banner International LLC

Trading as
Banner Faucet Company
2603 Technology Drive
Plano, TX 75074
877-235-9008
972-323-7399
banner@bannerfaucets.com

Rating

Business Type

Product Range

Kitchen, Bath, Prep, Bar, Laundry and Utility Faucets

Certifications

Brands

Banner

Street Price

$20 - $300

Warranty Score

Cartridge

lifetime¹

Finishes

2 Years

Mechanical Parts

Lifetime

Handles, Trim Parts

None

Proof of Purchase

Required

Transferable

No

Meets U.S. Warranty
Law Requirements

No²

Footnotes:

1. "[W]warranted to the original consumer purchaser to be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the consumer owns their [sic] home.

Download/Print the Banner faucet warranty.

Learn more about faucet warranties.

This Company In Brief

Banner Faucets was established as a division of Woodmark International, LP in 1984.

It became a separate company in 2013 when it was reorganized as Banner International, LLC.

It sells economy faucets and other sanitary wares imported from Asia.

Manufacturer

Unlike many importers who try to keep the Asian source of their faucets a secret, Banner is open and candid about the source of its faucets.

They are manufactured by Chung Cheng Faucet Co., Ltd. widely known as "CCF", a Taiwanese manufacturer in Tai­chung City since its founding in 1978.

Chung Cheng also supplies faucets to Markimex for sale under its

Some Banner fau­cets are constructed conventionally. The body and spout of the fau­cets, as well as being decorative, are the components that channel water within the fau­cet. Others are core and shell construction in which water is carried in tubes inside a decorative outer shell.

Collections

The faucets are organized in three collections. The meterials and water control valves used in the faucets vary by collection.

Castille Collection – Brass and Ceramic Disc Valves

Castille is a collection of Banner's better Line of faucets featuring conventional brass construction and ceramic disc cartridges.

Brass construction does not mean that every part is made of brass. Ancillary parts that do not need the strength of brass may be cast from a zinc/aluminum alloy called , a composition containing 4% aluminum.

The use of a zinc alloy in parts of a faucet not subject to water pressure is a common practice in the industry and does not detract from the quality of the faucets.

Banner Collection – Zinc and Washerless Valves

The Banner collection is composed of economy faucets.

The construction is core and shell. Water is is carried through tubes inside an outer decorative shell. The tubes appear to be PEX, a cross-linked polyethylene material that is widely used as a replacement for copper water supply piping.

The shell is made of ZAMAK although the words "zinc" or "ZAMAK" are never metioned. These are identified in specifications as "metallic" or "hybrid" faucets.

Core and shell construction is increasingly popular with faucet manufacturers. It saves costs because it does not require the use of expensive lead-free brass. Among the manuacturers that are well into the procoess of switching to core and shell are

Single-handle faucets in this collection are not equipped with ceramic cartridges. They are outfitted with the old-style "washerless" cartridges, usually Delta-style ball valves. This is 70-year-old technology invented by Landis Perry in 1952 and used in faucets for many years.

They have been replaced by the more robust and longer-lasting ceramic disc cartridges almost everywhere, including in today's Delta faucets.

Two-handle faucets are equipped with washerless stem cartridges. These, like Delta ball valves, use rubber o-rings and seals to control water flow. The hot and cold cartridges are usually a little different and not interchangeable.

Washerless faucets are just fine for low-use applications like a laundry room, guest bath, prep station, or bar. They do require periodic maintenance, however, to replace rubber o-rings and seals, where ceramic cartridges do not.

This video by Bob Sessa shows the simple process involved in repairing a Delta ball valve.

Liberty Collection – Plastic and Compression Valves

The last collection contains Banner's "specialty" faucets that are equipped with compression values.

These include utility faucets that is intended for out-of-sight uses such as in a laundry sink and plastic faucets intended primarily for RVs and specialty uses. Two of the faucets in the collection, the SF-50 bar faucet and the SF-51 laundry faucet series, both made of brass, seem out of place. The only feature that ties them to the rest of the collection is their compression valves.

Compression valves are the original water control technology technology invented by Guest and Chrimes, a brass foundry in Rotherham, England in 1847. The valves work well and are reliable, but they require washer replacement every two years or so, depending on the frequency of use.

Chung Cheng manufactures a lot of these faucets for Strehl, LLC, a company that manufactures accessories for trailers.

The collection also includes all of Banner's plastic faucets. The company calls these "non-metallic" faucets. Theese are found in the NM Series and CNM Series.

Plastic is not a suitable material for household faucets that are to be used regularly and often.

However, they have a place in RVs and highly corrosive environments such as some chemical laboratories and in locations with heavily salt-laden air such as along seacoasts where corrosion can be a serious problem for metal faucets.

For more information on faucet construction and materials, see How Are Faucets Made?.

Faucet Designs

The faucets are not original designs. They are straight out of CCF's . Some Banner and Liberty collection faucets look like products from a 1980s catalog.

The fau­cets in the Castille collection are a bit more stylish but none is going to win any awards in design competitions.

Banner fau­cets, like most Asian faucet designs, are copied from European and American faucets.

An original design that proves popular in Western markets will ultimately be copied by Asian factories. The lag time is normally three to five years behind the Western prototypes, by which time any new styles are no longer new.

For more information on fau­cet style categories, see Faucet Styles & Configurations.

Watersense^® and ADA

Most Banner lavatory faucets are Water­Sense^® qualified and some faucets, especially those with wrist blade handles, are suitable under ADA standards for persons with physical limitations.

Banner is an EPA Water­Sense Partner meaning that it has pledged that its lavatory faucets will comply with water-saving Water­Sense standards.

The Water­Sense program includes only lavatory faucets. It does not include kitchen, utility, laundry, or exterior faucets.

Faucet Finishes

Faucets are available in the three standard finishes, Pol­ished Chrome, Brushed Nick­el, and Oil-rubbed Bronze. In addition, Pol­ished Nick­el, An­tique Brass, and Vint­age Bronze finishes are available on a few fau­cets.

Every faucet seems to be available in Chrome, most in Brushed Nickel, a few in Oil-Ribbed Bronze, and a smattering in Polished Nickel, Antique Brass, or Vintage Bronze.

The simplest way to find all of the Banner products (faucets, showerers, and bath accessories) in a particular finish is to search for the finish using the site's search function. However, keep in mind that multi-word searches need to be placed in quotation marks.

Our search on "Antique Brass" (with quotation marks) turned up two lavatory faucets, two tub fillers, and three showers systems. There are no accessories or kitchen faucets finished in Antique Brass.

Banner Faucet Warranty

Banner offers a limited lifetime warranty on the "mechanical parts" of its faucets. Finishes are warranted for two years.

The warranty is below par compared to the standard limited lifetime North Amer­ican warranty pioneered by that covers all parts and finishes (except electronic parts and ).

The warranty, as written, has some obvious drafting problems.

Exclusion of Non-Homeowners

It excludes non-homeowner buyers from any warranty coverage.

To receive warranty coverage, the Buyer has to own "their home." If the Buyer does not own a home at the time of purchase, the warranty never attaches beccause a basic condition for warranty coverage does not exist.

This limitation eliminates a significant portion of the buying public, especially seniors, who have transferred ownership of their homes to a living trust as part of their estate planning. It also excludes renters, which is about 40% of the U.S. and Canadian population.

Faulty Definition of "Lifetime"

Banner's definition of "lifetime" in its warranty is problematic. The warranty lasts "as long as the [buyer] owns their [sic] home." Two points to note about this definition.

1. The buyer is not required to continue to own the faucet for the warranty to remain in force. He or she just has to own a home.

2. The home can own any home. It does not have to be the home in which the faucet is installed.

The definition can lead to some odd results. Here is one example.

The original consumer purchaser ("Buyer") sells his current house and moves into a new home, then a newer home, and finally into a third home. The faucet is still installed in Buyer's first home now owned by someboody else.

The warranty remains in force through all of this home buying and moving because at all times Buyer owned and still owns a home – not the original home, but some home. This is all the warranty requires for it to remain in force. It does not require that he continue to own the faucet or that he continue to own or live in the original home.

Ownership of the faucet warranty does not transfer to the new faucet owner because the Banner warranty, by its terms, is not transferable. The owner is still the original Buyer.

If Buyer still owns the warranty and the warranty is still in force, could Buyer bring a warranty claim against Banner for the benefit of the current owner of the faucet?

The answer in most states is yes. Banner would be legally obligated to honor the claim.

No doubt Banner did not intend these results, but that's the way it defined "lifetime" for warranty purposes.

Lifetime: Our preferred definition and the one we use in our Model Lifetime Faucet Warranty is some variation of "as long as the original consumer purchaser owns the faucet and lives in the residence in which the faucet is originally installed."

Omitted Definitions

There are other definitional problems in the warranty.

Consider the term "mechanical parts" – the only parts covered by the Banner lifetime warranty. Exactly what makes a faucet part mechanical?

"Mechanical parts" is not a term of art with a generally accepted meaning in the vernacular or even in the faucet industry. It needs to be defined. The definition can be as simple as "… all parts of the faucet except its finish," if that is what Banner intends mechanical parts to mean.

Violations of the Federal Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act

Without a definition of exactly what parts are included in the term "mechanical parts," the warranty violates the Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301). That Act requires a "clear description and identification of … parts …" that are included in warranty coverage. (16 CFR § 701.3(a)(2)).

Another technical violation of Magnuson-Moss arises from the omission of language that is required to be in the warranty on every consumer product sold in the U.S.

This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights that vary from state to state.

Banner's two-year warranty on finishes puts the durability of the Banner finishes in question. A properly applied finish should last the lifetime of the faucet. Do Banner's finishes last a lifetime? If so, why such a short-term warranty?

For more information on how to read and interpret faucet warranties, see Under­stand­ing Fau­cet War­ran­ties.

Banner Website

The company website is strangely organized but navigation is reasonably intuitive. There is a strong site search function that accurately produces sets of products that correspond to the search terms(s) entered, but it does not work as well on non-product searches.

The site gives the impression of having been assembled hastily just to get something up on the web. There is nowhere near sufficient information on the site about its faucets for an informed faucet-buying decision.

More complete information is certainly available to Banner. Retail sites that sell Banner faucets provide much more in-depth specifications that they could have gotten only from Banner. So why that information is not available on the Banner site is a mystery.

The website's faucet listings provide just a single 3/4 view image of most faucets. The lack of multiple views, including views of installed faucets, makes it harder to visualize how the faucet will fit your bathroom or kitchen. However, in most listings selecting a finish will display the faucet in the chosen finish which is a very helpful feature.

To find out any information about the faucet requires scrolling down on the faucet listing page until you reach a set of tabs labeled "Description" and "Additional Information". The "Description" tab contains just one line of specifications about the faucet that are not consistent from fraucet to faucet. If more than one finish is available for the faucet, one line is devoted to each finish variation, repeating the same specification over and over.

The "Additional Information" tab does not usually provide any addtional information. It usually just restates the finishes in which the faucet is available. But, here and there it provides useful information not already included in the faucets' description. It's worth clicking on just to see what's there, but don't have high hopes.

Here, as an example, are the Banner's specifications for the 990 series kitchen faucet:

Here is the sum of what these needlessly repititive specifications tell us:

Not much information and certainly not enough information for an informed buying decision.

The details that should be in any faucet specification are the following.

• Material: It would be helpful to know the materials from which the faucet is made. Is it brass, stainless steel, zinc, plastic, or some hybrid combination of these materials? Some Banner faucets have plastic handles, some are zinc rather than brass. Information about the composition of the faucet helps a buyer determine whether it is likely to be a durable faucet.

• Cartridge: The cartridge type and manufacturer is critical information. Banner faucets may have a ceramic cartridges, an old-style washerless cartridge 70 years), or an even older-technology compression cartridge (200+ years).

• Washerless and compression cartridges are much the same from manufacturer to manufacturer. The same is not true of ceramic cartridges. There are good and not-so-good ceramic cartridges in the world. Knowing the manufacturer of a cartridge or valve is the key to gauging the reliability of the component.
• Some of Banner's faucet listings identify the type of cartridge used in the faucet, some do not. Some listings identify the cartridge or valve under the "Additional Information" tab rather than the "Description" tab. There is no consistency from listing to listing.

• The Cartridge: Its cartridge is the heart of a faucet. This component controls water flow and (in single-handle faucets) water temperature. With a working valve or cartridge, a faucet is a faucet doing what faucets do: metering water in a safe and controlled manner. Without a working cartridge, a faucet is just an oddly shaped paperweight. So, it is important that the cartridge be tough, durable, and long-lived.
  
  For more information about faucet valves and cartridges, see Faucet Valves & Cartridges.
  
  Faucet Buying Rule: Never buy a faucet unless you know the type and manufacturer of its cartridge. Many companies display this information online in their faucet listings. For others, you will need to contact customer service to find out. Don't accept "I don't know" as an answer. Someone in the company knows. If not, then it should not be in the faucet business.

• Some Banner listings identify the cartridge information in code. For example, the phrase "washerless style" in a faucet's description does not refer to the design of the faucet, but to the a type of cartridge called a washerless cartridge.
• Washerless Cartridge: Before the invention of ceramic cartridges around 1972 by , washerless cartridges are what made single-handle faucets work. They are reliable cartridges, but do need periodic maintenance to replace seals, usually every two or three years.
  
  Replacing the seals is not a particularly onerous task. No special tools are required. Kits containing all of the parts needed are widely available at hardware stores and plumbing supply houses. Most come with step by step instructions showing how to do it. Thre are even videos on the internet showing exactly how it is done. Once you have done it, you will wonder why you ever thought it would be difficult.
  
  If the seals are replaced periodically, the faucet can be expected to last nearly forever.

• Aerator: Almost all faucets have an of some kind that is used to mix a little air with the water coming out of a faucet to reduce splashing. Aerators are also used to regulate the flow rate. There are good and not so good aerators. If the faucet stops flowing or emits a weak, feeble stream of water, odds are that the problem is in the aerator. It would be helpful to know if the faucet's aerator was made by one of the better manufacturers such as Neoperl to judge the risk of it failing to work properly.
• Finishes The finishes in which the faucet is available and the type of finish: electroplated, physical vapor deposition (PVD), powder coating, lacquered, or raw (unfinished) metal.

• Sink Holes: The numer of holes in the sink required to mount the faucet is important. It limits the configuration of the sinks that can be used with the faucet.

• Hoses: The faucet is connected to the water supply under the sink with flexible . These replaced the copper tube "risers" by-gone days that had to be painstakenly bent to shape without collapsing the tube.

• The new flexible risers are also called "supply lines." A hose is also used to connect a kitchen faucet to its spray. This is true no matter the type of spray: pullout, pulldown, or side spray. The best hoses are sheathed in braided or coiled stainless steel for maximum strength. The worst hoses are just plastic tubes without any sheathing at all.
• At very least a faucet's specifications should mention whether hoses are packaged with the faucet, and if so, their composition and length.

• Flow Rate: The maximum legal flow rate for sink faucets in both the U.S. and Canada is 2.2 gallons per minute (g.p.m.). Many localities enforce lower flow rates. California, for example, mandates a maximum rate for lavatory faucets of 1.2 g.p.m., and for kitchen faucets 1.8 g.p.m. In Quebec, the maximum rate is 1.5 g.p.m. Knowing a faucet's flow rate enables a potential buyer to determine whether the faucet is legal in his or her locality.

• Certifications: All Banner faucets are certified compliant with national standards (See more information below), but some states have their own standards. It would be helpful to know whether the faucet is legal for installation in states like California, Colorado, or Massachusetts.

• Warranty: There is no link to the faucet's warranty. In fact, we could not find the warranty anywhere on the Banner website. New regulations under Magnuson-Moss make it advisable to post the warranty on the website to avoid violating the Act's pre-sale availability provisions.

Banner faucet listings do not have links to important documents that most faucet companies post routinely. These are:

• Installation Instructions: Installation instructions may not help you much, but they are important for your plumber. It allows him or her to determine in advance of your purchase whether the faucet is going to have any problems being installed in the location you have selected for it, or if any special tools or materials are needed.

• Finding a potential problem early allows the plumber to prepare for it, saving his or her time and your money.

• Exploded Parts Diagram: This document helps determine which parts are supplied with the faucet, and which have to be purchased separately.

• For example, all of the test faucets we acquired had supply hoses, but we cannot guarantee that all Banner faucets come with supply hoses because Banner does not provide that detail in its faucet listings. If there are no hoses, you will have to buy them from the hardware store, or have your plumber bring them. Otherwise, the plumber will have to make an extra trip – more time, more money.

• Dimensioned Drawing: To ensure that the faucet is right for your sink, you need this drawing to determine the faucet height and its spout reach. A spout that is too long or too short can splash water out of your sink. A faucet that is too high may not fit the location your plan for it. So, a dimensioned drawing helps you determine whether the faucet is suitable for your kitchen or bath.

• CCF has dimensioned drawings available for its faucets. Banner provides these dimensioned drawings to its retailers, but has not made them available on its website. It should do so.

Overall we grade the site a B+ for navigation and ease of use, but a no better than a D+ for the information provided about Banner's faucets.

From visual examination and comparisons with our database of faucet cartridges, we can identify some of the ceramic cartridges used in Banner faucets.

For a complete list of the information that should be provided about a faucet, download and read Minimum Content of a Website Faucet.

There is a "Where to Buy" on the Banner website for each fauct. At the time we reviewed the site, it directed the reader to four online retailers: Houzz, Vintage Tub, Faucet Line,, and Home Fix It Parts which sells the faucets and a full line of Banner repair and replacement kits.

In addition to these retail sources, the we found Banner faucets for sale at Plumbing Supply, Hardware City (wholesale only), Cascade Wholesale Hardware (wholesale only), and one Banner faucet for sale on Amazon.

Testing & Certification

Fully certified, safe, reliable, and lead-free faucets made in Taiwan that are reasonably comparable to Banner's faucets include any of the following:

Most of these companies have certified to the U.S. Department of Energy that their faucets comply with the maximum water flow limits of the Energy Policy ad Conservation Act. Most also back their faucets with a stronger warranty than that offered by Banner.

However, if a Banner faucet is your choice, stick to the Castille collection and its ceramic cartridges. The faucets are not stylish enough for the design giltterati, but for us "just folks" many are pleasant enough. For what you get, the Castille prices are very reasonable.

The Banner website no longer sorts faucets by collection. The only way to identify all of the faucets in a collection other than sorting through the faucet listings one by one is using the site search function to search on the collection name.

Many if not most of the faucets in the Banner collection include a washerless cartridge. We don't know which ones because the Banner website does not consistently identify the type of cartridge included in a faucet. Washerless faucets are generally reliable but require periodic maintenance.

If mid-century modern is your style preference, then you may have found a treasure trove of well-made, inexpensive retro-style faucets suitable for any Pos-War retro kitchen of bath redo. Any number of Castille collection faucets would be a great addition to your kitchen or bath.

We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Banner faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.