We just moved into a new place, an ancient building circa the 20’s. While its oldness is incredibly charming, the sink in the bathroom is a nightmare - it has one hot faucet and one cold faucet, rather than combining them into a single spout. The problem is that the hot faucet puts out water just shy of boiling, and the cold faucet’s output feels freshly siphoned from the arctic circle.
Does there exist some sort of device to connect these faucets together? I’m imagining something like a hose that would connect to each, and combine their flows into a single spout.
Such things exist with plumbing supplies. I’ve never seen “soft” ones like hoses, but have seen what is essentially a pipe with two ends to attach to the faucets and one new outlet. You cas also get something that replaces the two faucets screwing into each then having a combining pipe.
I bought one yesterday - not in the U.S. I am afraid to say, but I am sure that you must have similar taps available. I suppose that you will need to either change your basin, too (to a design that suits a single-hole tap) or buy, as you describe, a two-hole-to-one-tap unit. These seem to be for a fixed tap-centre separation (of course), so the basin must be compatible.
To reconnect the pipework we used a couple of flexible connectors (I guess they are polymer hoses with metal braid wrapped around them) - this is much easier than constructing “proper” soldered copper plumbing.
Many of the bathrooms in my college dorm had old-style washbasins with two faucets. Usually, each bathroom had at least one sink converted to the modern one-faucet style, but I still ended up having to use the two-faucet sinks from time to time. They are utterly impractical for hand-washing; basically the only thing you can do is turn on both faucets and hold your hand under the cold tap until it freezes, then switch to the hot tap until it burns. (I guess, in the old days, people filled the sink with water to wash their hands, which is probably not as effective as using tepid running water.) The old sinks aren’t too bad when you need to fill up the basin (for shaving), because the basin fills up much more quickly than in a two-tap sink. They also work pretty well for getting water to drink or brushing your teeth, where you don’t need warm water.
Still, I’d hate to have one of those as my only sink. Since many of the sinks in my dorm were converted to two-faucet types, it must be possible to do it, though you might need to replace the basin and/or hire a plumber. One interim suggestion: if the hot water is really hot, you might consider turning down the temperature on the hot water heater, if you have access to it. It won’t get rid of the frustration of having a two-faucet sink, but it might prevent a scalded visitor who’s used to those fancy new-fangled twentieth-century sinks with only the one knob.
it’s a bit more work [i.e. the one’s I’ve put in are for pipes, not hoses, but your local hardware superstore will probably have suitable adaptes/hoses], but for over 20 years hereabouts, an anti-scald temperature regulator has been required on all new construction, and that sounds like what you want
Basically, this is an under-sink mixer valve that keeps the hot-water from exceeding a preset, which you adjust at installation.
Almost any single-handle temperature faucet would work, too, as far as plumbing goes – but almost no models will fit the two holes for separate faucets, and those few models tend to be special order and pricey. I suggest you take some tracings and measurements to your local hardware superstore. The plumbing side is relatively easy (typically flexible copper pipe). The mounting will be the part that give you grief. you might consider building a small formica platform over the faucet mount. if you’re artistically minded, you could probably dome up with something relly cool.