Vostra USA

Finally... A real copper kitchen sink drain and disposal flange that is not "plated" in copper. For years we have watched the copper sink industry in wonder. With the rise in interest in copper sinks, you would think there would be a copper drain on the market. That is not the case. All the ones we have seen are plated, and the plating eventually wears off. We are producing copper drains and disposer flanges and strainers that are not plated. They are solid through and through. Nothing to wear off and no maintenance. Best yet, they actually actively kill bacteria! Copper is a natural antibacterial product. E-Coli bacteria for example, will live on stainless steel for 34 days, only 4 minutes on copper. Now you can have it all, a copper sink and a copper drain!

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These are photographs of the top competitors drains after a couple of years of use. All have virtually no plating left on them. Copper does not plate well at all and will eventually fail.

In the case of the top two, I am certain no harsh chemicals were ever used and they were never abused. They are in my kitchen right now! I have drains from two suppliers. Both failed rather quickly. The lower photo (left) is only two years old (Manufactured by Mountain Plumbing) and has no sign of copper in the flange at all.

Below you can see what the leading "plated" disposal flanges look like in about 5 years. I purchased from two different manufacturers. The brass based one lasted much longer than the steel based flange. The steel based flange was failing in less than a year. The brass based flange held up for over two years before showing failure of the finish. We did not use any harsh cleaning products or techniques, as we are well aware of the potential problems. These sad specimens still reside in my kitchen. Just like most of the rest of the consumers, I have not changed them out because of the hassle. I have to schedule a plumber, stay home for the appointment, and pay a huge fee. Until now, it was not worth changing them, as I (and everyone else) knows they will fail in a year or so and the process gets repeated. So, don't bother to check your returns as a guide to ascertain the failure rate of what you have been selling your customers. Hearing few complaints is not necessarily an indication of the contentment of your customer. If you want to see for yourself, call customers with the drains you have provided over two years ago. We bet you will find a failure rate of over 80%.

So, what is your choice as a distributor or dealer? I see two choices. Continue selling the lower priced products, assume that no bad news is good news, or face reality and do your homework. Call your past customers. Verify if what I am telling you is true. If you find out I am correct, are you comfortable offering a product which will fail knowing that the consumer will not likely complain because it is too much of a hassle? Remember, repeat business is the life blood of any business. Silence is not always contentment!