O if he nicked the plastic spacer installing the unit.
Update 2: We gave it a try with the multimeter and moving things around while we monitored it didn’t reveal the culprit. However, we decided to take a bunch more photos under the sink to see how the faucet was installed and if anything else might be be in contact with the sink.
The countertop is granite, even though there is a black plastic ring at the base of the faucet properly installed it wouldn’t matter anyway because it isn’t in contact with metal of any sort.
But these two photos taken today are revealing the problem we believe. The lip of the undermounted stainless steel Elkay sink appears to be touching a metal copper colored ring which the sensor from the control panel is attached to. You can download the two photos here:
When you enlarge the photos, it looks like the metal copper colored ring which has the black wire attached to it (which is connected to the control panel) is touching it. That lip goes around the entire underneath the sink.
I have to wonder, if the plumber could rotate that copper ring where it wouldn’t be touching the lip of the sink, would the faucet still look and function normally?
What else could be done? Could the metal of the sink that is touching the copper ring be trimmed away without compromising the structure of the sink or the countertop?
Also, how would the plumber get access to this to do fix this? Would he have to remove the sink and of course the attached garbage disposal? Or can he access it with some tools going underneath the sink?
Yeah, just get a Dremel with a cut-off wheel and trip the sink lip where it touches.
Go get something, anything, thin and plastic and jam it in there to break the connection and you should be good to go. A small plastic putty knife would probably do it. Jam it in there where that gap is by the wire and swing it over so it’s between the nut and the basin.
The other option is to loosen the sink mount and put some electrical tape (a few layers thick) on the sink, then tighten it all back up.
I’ll bet, if you just get under there and push on that brass stem, just hard enough to make the nut move away from the sink, then have someone touch the sink, it won’t turn on. You just need to keep it from touching. (be careful if you do that, or any of this, don’t break it)
ETA, yes, it can be rotated a bit, but depending on how tight it is (or isn’t), the faucet might also end up loose/wobbly.
Not enough… there’s a bit of wiggle room between the lock nut and the water supply pipes, but not enough to let it turn much.
The water pipes can’t be moved without the top of the faucet moving around… like to the side…