Low water pressure in kitchen sink, but only in faucet. Sprayer is ok.

[ColKurtz]

Hi. Plumbing is one area where I've usually hired a professional, but this *seemed* like it was going to be easy to figure out. Since I'm posting here, you can figure that hasn't been the case. I'm hoping you can help a couple of fundamental questions.

The problem is the water pressure in the kitchen sink. We've always had issues with water pressure, being on a sizable hill on the city line, but the kitchen has slowly gotten worse over the past several months. The faucet delivers water very slowly -- no noticeable difference between hot water and cold water flows. However, the sprayer is delivering water at a higher rate. We can fill up the dog's gallon water jug with the sprayer in about 1/2 the time or less vs. the faucet. The other faucets in the house seem OK, too.

My confusion started when I looked under the sink. I figured I would find some plumbing that combined the hot and cold water leads before going up to the faucet, and maybe that was the problem. But I don't see any lines to the faucet at all, only the hot and water lines, and the sprayer line -- I scribbled a quick diagram below if it helps. I guess my questions are:

1) Are the hot and cold water fed to the spigot inside the sink itself?
2) Assuming that's the case, any suggestions on what I should look at? It would seem to be some blockage in the faucet itself, but I'm having trouble removing the decorative base, and I don't want to scratch the chrome if there's something else I should be looking at.

Thanks in advance.

[HayZee518]

simple fix - unscrew the aerator and clean out the aerator. most now days are water saver type so there will be a disk with a small 1/8" hole in it. remove this and clean out the screen. you should be back in business, the spray head feeds off the bottom of the mixing valve,

[pbhound]

i understand that this thread is old, but i too have the same issue but its not the aerator as that was the first thing i checked. we have extremely soft water im just wondering if there is a calcium build up in the faucet somewhere. the faucet was new a year and a half ago.

any suggestions?

[HayZee518]

soft water is a condition of water that has very little or no dissolved metals or salts in it. there is no calcium or magnesium in it. it is basically pure water, other than distilled. that being the case check that your valves are open all the way or maybe there is a glob of solder inside one of your feed pipes.

[pbhound]

we have city water that is conditioned, we get scale build up on anything that has water sitting in it for periods of time. and its not the rust stains either.

now for the faucet i pulled it out and checked the "check valve" for the sprayer (which is separate from the faucet). seems that there is nothing clogged. i put every thing back together and it seems better but it will get slower in a few days.

[pushkins]

What material are the water pipes in your home, plastic, copper, galvanized ?

[pbhound]

from the water main its PVC, that goes into the house in a mix of copper galvanized, and pex. the line that goes to the kitchen sink is pex.


did i mention that the sprayer pressure is fine its just the water from the faucet itself.

[mrcaptainbob]

Kitchen faucet issue....

My son had a similar situation. After verifying several routes, we decided to just install a new faucet. Problem solved. Inspecting the old faucet showed the hole through the whole faucet was little more than a 1/4" Certainly less than 3/8" It was not clogged, but was manufactured that way.

[Redwood]

This is going to sound a little strange but can you tell me the manufacturer and the first 1/2 of the serial # on your water heater...

Just a hunch...

[pbhound]

This is going to sound a little strange but can you tell me the manufacturer and the first 1/2 of the serial # on your water heater...

Just a hunch...

the water heater is made by whirlpool and the first half of the serial is 0847t4

i think its the faucet that is causing the problem to be honest.

[Redwood]

the water heater is made by whirlpool and the first half of the serial is 0847t4

i think its the faucet that is causing the problem to be honest.

Okay Thanks...
That pretty much rules out a defective diptube.

Your problem is in the faucet either a blocked aerator or, a stuck diverter valve.

I suspect the diverter valve is your problem.

[pbhound]

Okay Thanks...
That pretty much rules out a defective diptube.

Your problem is in the faucet either a blocked aerator or, a stuck diverter valve.

I suspect the diverter valve is your problem.

i also suspect a stuck diverter, i have taken it our a couple of times and cleaned it but i cant seem to fix it. the aerator i have removed the flow restricter and that made a little improvement.

thanks for your help i guess i will just wait till the wife complains about it then go get a new one!