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enter image description hereHello I have an American Standard (home depot brand) kitchen faucet from 2011. The hot and cold water supply line hoses are falling apart. The outside silver/grey layer has turned brown and flakes off. In the attached picture you can see the underneath whitengut of the hose, which looks ready to burst.

I'm trying to figure out what caused that, and I can only think that it was caused by vapors of chemicals stored in that same cabinet. Under the sink we have the usual stuff

  • Dish detergent,
  • CLR,
  • Potatoes and onions in a bin,
  • Windex

This can't be caused by the water itself; you can see the supply line to the removable faucet is perfectly fine in the picture (silver). Why didnt that one turn brown and peel off?

I have a replacement faucet coming and the supply line to the dishwasher is starting to brown out. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what may have caused hoses 3 years old to look like they are 30 years old?

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    Is this a beach house near salt water? – Tester101 Jan 13 '14 at 14:54
  • no sir, not in a beach house. THe odd thing is that it happened to the hot and cold suppy lines and not to the hose for the pullout faucet (you can see it intact in the picture). – Norman Jan 13 '14 at 15:39
  • Are there any electrical conductors connected to the plumbing in that area? It may be a reaction between the braided tubing and the fixed plumbing, from which the sprayer hose is isolated. The heavy corrosion of the copper plumbing leads me to believe that the problem is with the fixed plumbing. – Tester101 Jan 13 '14 at 15:45
  • tester - good theory. There is an outlet at the bottom that has the dishwasher and garbage disposal attached; it has a plastic protective covering in case of splashes. Beside replacing the fixed plumbing (the green one), what can I do? Can I clean or coat that green pipe? It feeds the refrigerator's water line. – Norman Jan 13 '14 at 15:52
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    It might be more complicated than that. If there is a galvanic reaction going on, you'll have to address the root cause. The copper plumbing in my house that was build in 1920, looks almost new. For there to be that much corrosion in only 30 some years, there is something strange going on. – Tester101 Jan 13 '14 at 16:20
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Might not be, but looks like, effects of sulfur out-gassing from drywall.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_drywall or Google 'Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co.'. Drywall commonly emits sulfur gas, however some of the lots from China were apparently really bad. The bad drywall was widely distributed, including at Home Depot.

Note: A lot of Home Depot Quality 'stainless steel' is not very stainless. But your picture shows a situation well beyond that. Everything under that sink looks 50 years old: note the corrosion on the pipes and valves as well.

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