Garmaine Staff asked 2 years ago

Possibly this question depends on location. I'm most interested in the US convention.

I have read here a convincing claim about sink faucet handles: when there are separate hot and cold handles, cross handles (knobs) should always turn on counter-clockwise, but lever handles which are off pointing outward should turn on by pulling them toward you: that's counter-clockwise on for the left, hot handle, but clockwise on for the right, cold handle.

image of sink faucet with double lever handles

What about a double lever handle for a shower, where the two handles, which are wall-mounted, are pointing outward and might turn either up or down?

image of shower faucet with double lever handle

Here, you are generally standing looking down at the handles. Is down on, which would be counter-clockwise for the left/hot handle and clockwise for the right/cold handle, matching the sink configuration? Or is up on, which has the same feeling of "pull toward you" but is actually opposite in terms of the direction of rotation?