Wow! I've never seen those break nor even split. If anything, if you could torque it enough to do that, the clamping pressure would crack or shatter your vanity-top. It has to be a defect as the threads should've stripped or the nut should've cracked open before the pipe snapped.

The only thing I can think of is that the faucet handle was used as a grab-bar once...short & sweet enough that the other materials couldn't react & stayed static. If known not to be the case, then I'd have to side with getting rid of the old setup entirely.

It's to the store for a new faucet either way. You may be able to repair or replace it, as the handle appears to screw-in to the spout. The benefit would be that you MAY find a super cheap new faucet of plastic that matches right up, instead of buying a whole new double or triple the price faucet. Buy a few different ones or make a few trips & return whatever doesn't work & maybe none will. But, you can't say you didn't try.

Wow! I've never seen those break nor even split. If anything, if you could torque it enough to do that, the clamping pressure would crack or shatter your tub. It has to be a defect as the threads should've stripped or the nut should've cracked open before the pipe snapped.

The only thing I can think of is that the faucet handle was used as a grab-bar once...short & sweet enough that the other materials couldn't react & stayed static. If known not to be the case, then I'd have to side with getting rid of the old setup entirely.

It's to the store for a new faucet either way. You may be able to repair or replace it, as the handle appears to screw-in to the spout. The benefit would be that you MAY find a super cheap new faucet of plastic that matches right up, instead of buying a whole new double or triple the price faucet. Buy a few different ones or make a few trips & return whatever doesn't work & maybe none will. But, you can't say you didn't try.