Clihome & Watqen Faucets Review & Rating Updated: January 24, 2024
5775 Monaco Street
Commerce City, CO, 80022
(951) 213-4743
hi@clihome.net
service@clihome.net
Hong Kong Weifei Home Technology Co., Limited
Law Requirements
Warranty Footnotes:The company praovides a return period of 30 days, but no written warranty.Learn more about faucet warranties.
This Company In Brief
Alipu, Inc. is a trading company that imports and sells Clihome and Watqen faucets in the U.S. and Canada through it proprietary website, internet venues that host third-party sellers such as Amazon and Wayfair, and through big-box lumber stores like Home Depot and Lowes.
Its principal products are home furnishings, lighting fixtures, and décor items, but it also sells faucets, sinks, and showers.
Alipu, Inc. is part of a network of trading companies through which Guangzhou Weifei Network Technology Co. Ltd. trafficks contraband faucets in North America through its trading arm, Hong Kong Weifei Home Technology Co., Limited.
The network, created by Alipu Huang "to more efficiently import household products into Europe and North America" sells faucets under various brand names, including as well as Clihome and Watqen.
Clihome and Watqen faucets are not legal to sell or install in the U.S. or Canada.
Black Market Faucets: These faucets are not legal for sale in the U.S. and not legal for installation in a drinking water system in the U.S. or Canada. For more information on contraband faucets and how to avoid these potentially dangerous products, please visit Illegal and Black Market Faucets in North America.
Alipu, Inc. is a Colorado corporation formed in 2019. It is just one U.S. entity formed as part of the Weifei network that imports and sells items for the home. According to its U.S. and Canadian trademark filings, Clihome and Watqen products encompass just about any household furnishing, fixture, or fitting and specifically include:
"Bed bases; Book rests; Chairs; Chests of drawers; Coat racks; Coatstands; Costume stands; Desks; Display boards; Doors for furniture; Dressing tables; Filing cabinets; Furniture; Furniture, namely, sales and display counters; Furniture, namely, showcases; Hand mirrors; Indoor window blinds; Mattresses; Meat safes; Mirrors; Office furniture; Seats; Shelves for file cabinets; Tables; Valet stands; Wardrobes; Washstands; Writing desks; Storage racks."
A tradename application that covers
"Chandeliers; Faucets; Sinks; Automatic faucets; Earthenware basins being parts of sanitary installations; Hand-held showers; Hot tub jets; Ice making machines; Kitchen sinks; Kitchen sinks incorporating integrated worktops; Plumbing fixtures, namely, shower sprayers; Portable showers; Shower and bath cubicles; Shower doors; Shower surrounds; Sink drainer system comprised of a drain tray, sink mount, kick stand and rod; Spray heads for showers; Taps being faucets; Toilet bowls; Wash-hands basins being parts of sanitary installations; Water closets; Water heaters"
is pending as of the date of this report, but has not yet been approved.
Nonetheless, Alipu, Inc. sells numerous models of shower sets and faucets along with what appears to be its principal products: electric fireplaces, lighting fixtures, indoor and outdoor furnishings, and artificial Christmas trees. (Complete List of Clihome's Product Categories)
The products are sold by Alipu on the internet through the Clihome website, at general merchandise sites such as Amazon, and Wayfair, and through big box lumber stores that host independent sellers such as Rona (Canada), Home Depot, and Lowes. Watqen does have its own website as of the date of this report.
Alipu's products are not sold in brick-and-mortar stores.
The Clihome® and Watqen logos (shown above) have been registered in the U.S. as trademarks. The Clihome logo, but not the Watqen logo, is also a registered trademark in Canada.
The Company
Alipu, Inc. is a Colorado corporation with its registered principal address at 5775 Monaco Street, Commerce City, CO, 80022 [1] The corporation's organizer was Quingling Zheng.
The Weifei Network
Alipu, Inc. is part of a trading network established by Alipu Huang "to more efficiently import household products into Europe and North America."
A graduate of Foshan University with a degree in international marketing, Mr. Huang describes himself as having an
"extensive background in sales, business negotiation and market opening in different countries worldwide."
His experience includes a stint as a vendor manager for the major U.S. internet retailer, Wayfair.
In 2014, he formed a corporation that became Guangzhou Weifei Network Technology Co., Ltd. to test his theories of efficient international marketing.
He began soliciting retail partners for his venture in 2016, eventually forming a network of internet traders coordinated by Hong Kong Weifei Home Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese corporation organized as a Hong Kong-registered company.
Alipu, Inc. is one of Weifei's retail partners.
There are many others. The only ones we are concerned with, however, are those that sell faucets in North America. We have identified three of these in addition to Aluipu.
- Brightening House, Inc., is a Colorado corporation formed by Qingling Zheng with a principal business address in Flushing, New York's little Chinatown. It sells faucets.
- Mondawe, Inc. is a Colorado corporation formed by Qingling Zheng in 2019. It sells faucets under the brand. Its principal business address is that of its registered agent, Colorado Register Agent LLC.. The address under which the Mondawe trade name is registered is 7065 E 54th Place, Commerce City, Colorado 80022.
- MM Casa is a corporation organized in Colorado by Qingling Zheng. It sells products under the brand.
All of these businesses, including Alipu, have been in existence for less than years.
They have one problem in common, however. None of them has mastered the labyrinth of regulations at several levels of government that control the legal sale and installation of faucets in the U.S. and Canada.
Weifei Network Business Model
None of Weifei's retail partners actually conduct much in the way of actual business. All are shell companies. The addresses are essentially mail drops or what the British call .
They exist solely to create the illusion that Weifei has a substantial infrastructure in North America.
In reality, Alipu, Inc. and the other retail partners have virtually no North American presence and not a single employee based in the U.S. or Canada.
The real work of selling faucets in North America is done by Hong Kong Weifei Home Technology from its base in China.
It constructs, maintains, and owns the various brand websites, arranges for the placement of its retail partners on hosting websites like Amacons and Wayfair, and supplies the faucets to the logistics companies in North America that take care of warehousing, inventory, fulfillment, and delivery.
In a typical sale, the customer identifies the product to be purchased, the address to which the product is to be delivered, and pays through a credit card or payment processing service like Paypal.
The payment goes directly to China, as does the order. Once the payment is confirmed, instructions are sent by e-mail from China to a North American fulfillment center to deliver the product.
The shell company, like Alipu, Inc., from which the product is ostensibly purchased never sees the payment, never handles the product, and has no involvement in delivering the product to the buyer.
As far as we have determined as of the date of this report, the Weifei network uses the following fulfillment companies:
- Nicolas Logistics, Inc., located in Riverside, California.
- Enterprise Order Solutions, located in Ontario, California, with additional warehouses in Texas and New Jersey.
- Letian International Logistics in Pickering, Ontario, Canada.
The fulfillment companies handle product warehousing and inventory, arrange for delivery, and process returns.
The process is efficient. An experienced fulfillment service can warehouse a product, track inventory, and package and ship the product to the customer for little more than you or I pay for the shipping alone.
Weifei's Faucet Manufacturers
The manufacturers of Weifei's faucets, including those sold by Alipu, Inc. vary from time to time. The network is a trading concern. It buys faucets where they can get them and is not always discriminating. However, its known sources include:
- Kaiping City Aidier Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd. (AKA Kaiping City Idea Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd. and Kaiping Aidier Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd.), and
Shamanda, located in Guangdon, China, sells contraband faucets in North America under the registered Shamanda® brand through a storefront on Amazon as Shamanda-Bathroom and over its proprietary website.
Shamanda brand faucets are not fully certified. They have passed the basic faucet standard, but not the lead-free or drinking water safety standards. Nor are they registered with the U.S. Department of Energy as required by federal law.
Aidier sells its faucets in North America under the registered Aidea® brand. It also manufactures some of the faucets sold by Homewerks and Karran faucets are certified; Clihome, and Watqen faucets are not.
Oubao manufactures stylish faucets of its own designs, one of the very few Chinese faucet companies to do so. It owns over 100 Chinese design patents on its faucet products. It has not certified its faucets to North American standards and are rarely sold here. The Weifei network is the only seller that we know about.
Customer Service
Customer service for all of Weifei's faucet brands is handled from one central location in China.
It is entirely possible to successfully support faucets sold in North America without having a physical presence in North America.
Some importers, such as handle the process very well.
The approach takes advantage of the fact that with smartphones and the Internet, physical proximity to a market is no longer necessary to sell in that market. To a plumber or homeowner located in Miami, Memphis, or Montreal, technical or customer support provided from Germany is just as useful as help from California or Connecticut.
But, to be successful, the time difference between customer and company must be overcome, and an inventory of replacement parts must be maintained in North America.
Weifei's agents speak good English, are available during North American business hours, and are reasonably well informed about the company's faucets. The problem, however, is the lack of replacement parts.
According to the company, replacement parts are shipped from fulfillment centers in North America and take 3 to 5 days to arrive. However, our chats with the fulfillment centers suggest that they do not stock any but the most basic parts, if they stock any at all.
For parts shipped from China, Weifei claims delivery in 5-7 days. However, our experience is that replacement parts from China usually take much longer to arrive – up to several weeks and sometimes several months.
Additionally, it is unlikely that replacement parts will be available for the lifetime of the faucet.
Typically, parts for Chinese faucets are available only for as long as the faucet remains in production and the parts are still being made. Parts for discontinued faucets are usually not stocked. It may be that Weifei is the exception to the rule; however, we have no indication that such is the case.
Weifei agents in China try hard to resolve customer issues, but in the end they are frustrated by time, distance, and the lack of full control over fulfillment companies.
We must, therefore, judge customer support from Weifei to be unsatisfactory.
The Better Business Bureau supports our assessment. It has not established a rating for most of Weifei's retail partners, but for MM Casa, Inc., a partner that does have a rating, the rating is an F on its scale of A+ to F, indicating a failure to handle customer issues satisfactorily. We suspect the other members of the Weifei network will score about the same.
Faucet Construction and Materials
All Clihome and Watqen faucets sold in the U.S. are made using conventional construction[2] in which the body and spout channel water as well as give the faucet its appearance.
The primary material used is brass. The company claims that its brass is lead-free, but there is no independent verification of this claim. Secondary materials are zinc alloys and plastic.
Brass
Brass is the preferred material for faucets for two reasons:
- Brass is strong but easy to work with. It casts, forges, and machines with relative ease.
- Brass is naturally anti-microbial. The copper in brass kills bacteria, retarding the buildup of potentially hazardous microbes inside a faucet.
But brass has one serious drawback. It may contain lead.
Traditional (alpha) brass is a blend of copper and zinc with a small amount of lead (1.5%-3.5%) added to make the material more malleable, less brittle, and easier to fabricate.
Lead, however, is now all but banned in North America in any drinking water component due to its toxicity to humans, particularly children.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), lead, even in small amounts, causes slowed growth, learning disorders, hearing loss, anemia, hyperactivity, and behavior issues.
Before 2014, a faucet sold in the U.S. or Canada could contain as much as 8% lead and still call itself lead-free.
Now the maximum lead content of those parts of a faucet that touch water is 0.25% (1/4 of 1%), basically just a bare trace. In fact, there may be more lead in the air you breathe than there is in a faucet that has been certified lead-free.
Weifei claims that its brass faucets are made from lead-free brass. However, its brass faucets have not been certified lead-free, so this claim has not been independently confirmed.
We do know, however, that Chinese faucet manufacturers tend to use much less expensive leaded brass in faucets made for their home market and are not above exporting leaded brass faucets to North America. (See Lead in Chinese Faucets.) Many hundreds of these illegal contraband faucets can be found on Amazon alone.
To comply with the restrictions on lead, today's faucet brass replaces lead with other additives to reduce brittleness without adding toxicity. The most common is bismuth.
Bismuth is similar to lead – right next to lead on the periodic table of elements – but it is not harmful to humans.
It is, however, very expensive. It is 300 times rarer than lead, even rarer than silver, which is why bismuth-brass alloys are considerably more expensive than leaded brass.
This increased cost has encouraged many faucet manufacturers to use substitute materials in their faucets where possible.
Zinc and Zinc/Aluminum Alloys
The most common substitute is zinc or a zinc-aluminum (ZA) alloy. One of the most common is called ZAMAK, a composition containing 4% aluminum.
Zinc is not as strong as brass and does not resist water pressure as well as brass. But its use in non-pressurized parts of a brass faucet such as handles, base and wall plates, and is common even among manufacturers of luxury faucets.
It does no harm when used in these components and may save consumers a few dollars.
Plastics
Plastic is the other commonly used substitute material. It may be safely used in incidental parts like base plates, and has been largely trouble-free in aerators and as casings for ceramic cartridges. Otherwise, its use is suspect, especially if under water pressure.
Among those suspect uses is its use in the spray heads of kitchen faucets. Plastic spray heads (called "wands" in the faucet industry) have become the standard for many manufacturers, including some that sell upscale faucets such as
Weifei kitchen faucet sprays are plastic.
Manufacturers give three reasons for their use of plastic:
- Plastic does not get uncomfortably hot in use, like metal wands;
- Plastic is not as heavy and is more comfortable to hold for long periods of time; and
- Plastic is a lot cheaper than brass or stainless steel – even cheaper than zinc.
However, plastic wands also fail much more often than metal wands. And although engineers have made significant improvements to their reliability over the past decade, the problem has not been entirely solved.
Better wands are made of metal, insulated against excessive heat transmission.
The Sure Cure for Too-Hot Spray Wands: The simple cure for spray wands that get too hot is to reduce the temperature of the water. Dishes do not need to be rinsed in scalding hot water.
Clihome and Watqen Faucet Design and Styling
Clihome and Watqen faucets are a mix of contemporary and traditional designs. The designs are conservative – fairly common designs, attractive enough but exhibiting no particular design originality.
How Common are Clihome and Watqen Faucet Designs?
The goal of Chinese faucet manufacturers is to sell as many faucets as possible, which means keeping their designs well within the mainstream to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible.
Although some Chinese manufacturers have begun producing original designs, some of which have won awards in international design competitions, Weifei is not one of those companies.
Designs are usually adopted from Europe and North America.
A style that sells well in these major markets will often be imitated by Asian factories (with minor changes to avoid patent infringement). The lag time is usually 3 to 5 years, so by the time a design appears in a Chinese faucet, it is no longer new.
Weifei faucet designs fit this pattern. They are pleasant and often smartly styled, but most are over a decade old, some are well past voting age, and a few are looking at their thirtieth anniversary in the rear-view mirror.
Weifei Faucet Components
The critical components used in Weifei faucets are ceramic valve cartridges and aerators.
Valve Cartridges
We inspected several valve cartridges and determined that they are modern ceramic valves in standard configurations of a type that is made by any number of Chinese manufacturers.
The Faucet Cartridge
Its cartridge is the heart of a modern faucet and should be your very first consideration when making a buying decision.
It is the component that controls water flow and temperature.
Its finish may fail and the faucet will still work. It may be discolored, corroded, and ugly but water still flows. If the cartridge fails, however, the faucet is no longer a faucet. It is out of business until the cartridge is replaced.
It's important, therefore, that the cartridge is robust, durable, and lasts for many years.
Some were imprinted with maker's marks, allowing us to identify them as made by (Ningbo) Wanhai Cartridge Technology Co., Ltd.
Wanhai cartridges are more commonly used in Chinese-manufactured faucets destined for the European Union where the company sells cartridges under the Quore brand from offices in Spain and Italy.
The cartridges have been certified to North American standards, meaning the cartridges have passed the North American life-cycle and burst tests.
The standard North American life-cycle stress test requires operating the cartridges through 500,000 cycles under 60 psi of water pressure without a single failure. At one cycle per second, the test takes six days to complete.
The burst test subjects the cartridges to a water pressure of 500 pounds per square (psi) inch – 10 times average household water pressure of 40-60 psi for one minute. If the cartridge leaks or deforms under this pressure, it fails.
In other countries, the standards are much less rigorous. The European (EN 817) and Chinese (GB18145) life-cycle requirement, for example, is just 70,000 cycles.
Since Wanhai has certified its cartridges to joint U.S./Canadian standards, we can say with fair confidence that the Wanhai cartridges used in its Weifei faucets meet the minimum North American requirements for durability and longevity and should provide years of leak-free service. (Read the Wanhai listing certificate.)
The cartridges are from any number of sellers of after-market cartridges, so a replacement from a company that sells in North America should not be hard to find should the cartridge ever fail.
However, we cannot affirm that all Weifei cartridges are from Wanhai. Other cartridges may be of lesser quality.
Aerators
There are dozens of companies in China that manufacture aerators and spray-head assemblies. Most are at least adequate.
| Weifei Network Brand Table | |
|---|---|
| Brand | Contact |
|
Boyel Living
|
(323) 982-8955
|
|
Casainc
Canada: https://www.Casainc.ca/
|
(323) 982-8955
Inquiries
Service
|
|
Clihome
|
(303) 747-4421
|
|
Mondawe
|
(720) 468-0265
(888) 328-5111
|
|
Watqen
(No website. Sold on Wayfair.com)
|
(303) 747-4421
|
Faucet used to be simple devices that merely added a little air to soften the water stream so it would not splash out of the sink. Today, however, they are also used to limit water volume to the lower flows required by federal and state water conservation laws and, in some cases, to prevent backflow that can result in the contamination of household drinking water.
It is important, therefore, that this little device, often smaller than a dime, be the best available.
Unfortunately, Weifei does not identify the source of the aerators used in its faucets.
We took several apart to see if the devices had any manufacturer identification, but they did not.
Clihome and Watqen Faucet Finishes
Clihome and Watqen faucets can be purchased in six finishes: Brushed Nickel, Brushed Gold, Chrome, Matte Black, Oil Rubbed Bronze, and White.
Weifei does not identify the processes used to produce its finishes, and, as a trading company rather than the faucets' manufacturer, it may not know the processes.
From inspection and non-destructive testing, however, we believe that two of the six finishes, Brushed Nickel and Chrome are probably electroplated.
Black, Oil Rubbed Bronze, and White finishes are proably powder coatings. Brushed Gold may be a powder coating, but is more likely applied using physical vapor deposition (PVD).
Electroplating
involves immersing the faucet and the metal to be used as plating in an acid bath, then applying an electrical charge to both objects so metallic ions are drawn from the plating metal to the faucet.
Finish Durability
Some finishes are more durable than others. Some, the so-called , are intended to fade, discolor, and otherwise show the effect of use and wear over time.
Here are common types of faucet finishes and their durability from most to least durable.
- (PVD) finishes are 10 to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.
- is the old standby. It is a tough finish that will stand up to most abuse, but its durability depends on the metal used.
- Chrome is durable, nickel less so because it is inherently a softer metal – the reason chrome replaced nickel as the faucet finish of choice in the early 20th century.
- is essentially a paint applied in a powdered form and then heated in an oven to cure. It is considered semi-durable with about the same resistance to scratches and mars as the finish on your car.
Usually, multiple coats are applied, one or more undercoats, then two or more coats of the finish metal.
The top coat may be polished or brushed. Chrome, a relatively hard metal, is usually polished to a high shine. Nickel, a softer metal, is usually brushed to help hide the inevitable minor scratches.
Physical Vapor Deposition
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is one of the latest space-age faucet finishing technology, rapidly replacing electroplating as the finish of choice.
Never buy a faucet you have not heard of.
Unknown brands have often justly earned their obscurity.
Although the technology was discovered in the 19th century, it was not used in industry until the 1950s, and then only rarely due to its great expense. Its first use was in nuclear reactors. Today, the technology is everywhere, and the machinery required is getting smaller, faster, and cheaper all the time.
To create a PVD coating, a sealed chamber is loaded with unfinished faucet components. All the air is removed and replaced by a carefully calculated mix of nitrogen or argon, and reactive gases.
A rod of the metal to be used for the coating is heated to a temperature so high that the metal dissolves into individual atoms. The atoms mix with the various reactive gases to get the desired color and finish effects and are then deposited in a very thin film – 2 to 5 microns – on the faucets.
Despite being just microns thick, a PVD coating is extremely dense and, in consequence, very hard and durable. By some estimates, it is up to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.
A PVD finish can usually be maintained with just an occasional wipe from a damp cloth to remove water spots.
Powder Coating
is usually described as semi-durable
, not as robust as electroplated or PVD finishes, about as durable as the finish on your car, and requiring more care to maintain a like-new appearance.
It is essentially a dry paint in powder form applied using a special low-velocity spray gun that disperses the powder while giving it a positive electrical charge. The particles are drawn to the item to be finished, which has been given a negative charge.
Once the powder is applied, the item being coated is baked in an oven which melts and bonds the powder and changes the structure of the coating into long, cross-linked molecular chains.
These chains are what give the coating its durability, reducing the risk of scratches, chipping, abrasions, corrosion, fading, and other wear issues.
Finish Care Instructions: Always read and follow the faucet seller's care instructions. Careful cleaning and maintenance not only preserve the good looks of your faucet but also your finish warranty.
Faucet Warranty
Weifei claims to offer a warranty on some of its faucets. Whether a guarantee of some sort exists and the length of the guarantee varies by brand name. None of the guarantees, however, reach the level of an actual written warranty.
No Weifei warranty complies with the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2308). This law dictates the minimum content of and sets the rules for consumer product warranties in the United States.
The law requires consumer product warranties to be in writing and contain certain essential information. Guarantees not in writing, no matter how compelling, are not warranties recognized as such under U.S. law.
Here is the brief breakdown of the various Weifei warranties:
-
Casainc faucets are guaranteed for as little as six months and as long as one year as follows:
'During the product warranty period, we will provide free after-sales replacement service for any problems caused by product quality."
The above is the entire statement of the warranty and is woefully deficient under U.S. law.
- Mondawe faucets are returnable for 30 days. They are also guaranteed for one year, but only if purchased through the Mondawe website. Faucets purchased elsewhere, such as on Amazon or Wayfair, do not have the benefit of the warranty. The warranty document does not comply with U.S. law.
- Casainc faucets are supported by what MM Casa calls its "worry-free warranty," but fails to mention that the "worry-free" period is just 60 days. MM Casa claims to provide a 30-day warranty on some faucets and one year on others, but we could not find any warranty document to substantiate either of these claims. The company did not respond to our request for a copy of the warranties.
- CliHome claims to provide a 30-day warranty on some faucets and one year on others, but we could not find any warranty document detailing the specific terms of the warranties. The company did not respond to our request for a copy of the warranties.
- Watqen faucets carry a 60-day warranty. It is deficient under U.S. law but is posted online to be read prior to any purchase as required by federal regulations.
Testing & Certification
Comparable Faucets
Faucets made in Asia comparable to Clihome and Watqen in quality with the same or a better warranty, but not necessarily comparable for design or price, include:
Conclusions
With all of the choices available in the marketplace for safe, certified faucets (as shown in the list above), there is no reason to risk your family's health or possible fines and civil penalties by buying and installing any of the Weifei faucets.
These are contraband faucets. They are illegal to install in a drinking-water system anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.
A plumber probably will not install one for you. If you install it yourself and are caught, the very least that will happen is that you will have to replace the illegal faucet at your expense and possibly pay a small fine. In an increasing number of jurisdictions, you can go to jail for knowing and intentional violations.
We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Clihome or Watqen faucets, good, bad or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.
Footnotes
- This address isactully the address of the corporations's organizer and registered agent, Quingling Zheng.
-
The newer faucet construction method, and almost certainly the wave of the future, is called "core and shell". The water channel is provided by the core components, typically consisting of copper or composite tubes that are guaranteed to be lead-free. This core is then concealed inside the decorative outer shell that provides the faucet's shape and style. Because it never touches water, the shell can be made of leaded brass, and because it is not subject to water pressure, it does not need to be structural and can be made of much thinner material.
The technology is actually not all that new. Wall-mounted faucets have always been core and shell. The core (usually called the "valve") is mounted in the wall and the shell (called the "trim") conceals the core. What's new is that the technique is now being applied to faucets other than wall-mounts, and the core, rather than being brass is some other lead-free metal, usually copper, and some companies are experimenting with composite cores, eliminating metal entirely.
faucets are already all core and shell construction with a zinc alloy shell.