A kitchen faucet includes a spout and two handles to change the flow and temperature of the water. Some faucets also have one more useful and versatile feature -- the sprayer. This sprayer is an attachment that rinses fruit, cleans pots and helps to wash pans. A few simple parts and some laws of physics help it operate flawlessly.
Sprayer Operation
A sprayer operates by a trigger mechanism, unlike the faucet that has a handle knob mechanism. When you depress the sprayer trigger, the valve inside the sprayer head opens to allow water to flow through the spout head and into the sink. When you let go of the handle, the valve shuts and the flow stops. This allows for very simple operation and total control over the water stream, which is important in a mobile sprayer head.
Sprayer Plumbing
The sprayer attaches to the base of the faucet and hooks into the faucet's main plumbing line. In other words, the sprayer attaches to the same pipes and inlets that service the faucet spout. However, it does so through an important part called the diverter. A cylindrical part, it contains a one-way valve that directs water to the sprayer head. Without the diverter, the sprayer would not receive a water supply at all.
Diverters and Sprayers
When the faucet is on, the sprayer is also on. Likewise, if you turn off the water, the sprayer does not work. This is because the water flows up into the cartridge and then back down to the sprayer's diverter before traveling through the sprayer hose and into the sprayer head. This prevents the sprayer from ejecting water while the faucet is off. It also allows the faucet to mix cold and hot water to form warm water for the sprayer head. This is not true of the pull-out sprayer heads, however. They operate differently.
Pull-out Sprayer Faucets
A pull-out sprayer faucet combines the spout and sprayer in one unit instead of a detached sprayer head on the side of the faucet. The sprayer head has a series of nozzles, like a sprayer attachment, and a spout opening all in the same device. A control button switches the water flow from the spout opening to the nozzles causing either a stream or spray of water. A hose attached to the base of the faucet allows the entire spout head to pull out from the base, just like the detached sprayer.
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