A faucet splashes out of the sink when the stream hits something hard at the wrong angle: the bowl edge, a drain basket, a flat sheet pan or a glass. The fix is usually a working aerator, a lower flow at the stop valves, or a spout length that drops the water in the middle of the bowl. The problem is worst on shallow bowls, such as hand sinks and the small bowls on a commercial bar sink.
Shop the equipment in this article: commercial sink faucets and hand sinks. Freight is included on every order.
Step 1: Watch where the stream lands
Turn the faucet on full and look. If the water lands near the front or back edge of the bowl, it bounces out. If it lands on the drain basket or the flat bottom right under a tall spout, it sprays sideways. On a swing spout, the stream may be landing in one bowl correctly and on the divider in the next. You want the stream to fall into the middle of the bowl, where the water has room to spread out before it reaches a wall.
Step 2: Check the aerator
The aerator is the small screen at the tip of the spout. It mixes air into the water and turns a hard jet into a soft, even stream. When it is missing, loose, cracked or blocked with scale, the water comes out in a hard jet or sprays to one side, and splashing gets worse. Unscrew it, rinse the screens, and soak scale off in a descaling solution if needed. Replace it if it is damaged. Our TWF-12 wok faucet, for example, lists a 2.2 GPM aerator on its product page; if your faucet’s page lists a flow rate, match it with the replacement.
If cleaning the aerator also fixes weak flow from other faucets, see our guide to low water pressure at a commercial faucet.
Step 3: Turn the flow down at the stop valves
Staff tend to open faucet handles all the way, whether the job needs it or not. If the building pressure is high, partly closing the stop valves under the sink or behind the wall softens the stream at full open. Do this a little at a time and check that the faucet still fills a bucket in a reasonable time.
Step 4: Match the spout to the bowl
Bowl depth matters more than most people expect. The hand sinks we sell have shallow bowls: the 12 x 12 in. hand sink with side splash has a 10 x 9 x 5 in. deep bowl with an 8 in. gooseneck faucet, and the WHS-1212 has a 10 x 8 x 5 in. bowl. Underbar sinks are deeper: the S1C-101410-R-F one compartment underbar sink has a 10 x 14 x 9.5 in. deep bowl with a 10 in. swing faucet, and our 22 x 18 in. mixology station has a 14 x 10 x 7 in. deep bowl with a 6 in. swing nozzle (on backorder at the time of writing).
A tall gooseneck over a 5 in. deep bowl drops water a long way onto a hard bottom, which splashes more. A long swing spout over a narrow bowl lands near the far edge. When you replace a faucet, pick a spout length that reaches the center of the bowl. Our 8 in. center wall faucets come with spouts from 6 to 16 in., so a three compartment sink and a small prep sink can each get a spout that fits.
Step 5: Take the hard target out of the stream
A sheet pan, a cutting board or a glass held flat under the spout acts like a deflector. Train staff to tilt pans and rinse glasses at an angle, and to use the pre-rinse sprayer, not the faucet, for blasting food off plates.
What not to do
Do not fix splashing by fitting a hose or extension that hangs the outlet down into the bowl. The FDA Food Code requires an air gap between the water supply inlet and the flood level rim of the fixture of at least twice the diameter of the inlet and never less than 1 inch, so dirty water cannot be drawn back into the supply. An outlet below the rim can break that rule unless an approved backflow device is fitted. Your local health department and plumbing inspector have the final say.
When splashing is about the layout
If water is landing on a prep table or ice bin next to the sink, the fix is a splash guard or side splash, not a new faucet. Hand sinks next to prep areas are the usual case. Our guide to commercial sink splash guards covers the options.
What to buy
- A replacement faucet for a 4 in. center hand sink: our hand sink replacement faucet, which has a gooseneck spout.
- A wall faucet with the right reach for a compartment sink: the 8 in. center wall mount faucet, with spouts from 6 to 16 in.
- A deeper bar bowl: compare the bowl sizes listed on each underbar sink page before you buy.
Freight to the 48 contiguous states is included in the price. Not sure which spout fits your bowl? Call 877-558-2253 with the bowl size and faucet center distance.