4

I just purchased my first house. The lady I purchased it from was afraid of a few things, two of them being hot water and fast flowing water. The water heater was easy to adjust, but I'm scratching my head over the kitchen faucet.

It has very poor flow. The rest of the house is just fine. When I disconnect the supply lines from the faucet and turn on the valves, it flows just fine. I looked at the cartridges in the handles, they are just fine.

The lady told me that when she had the plumber install the faucet, she asked them to set it up to have very little flow. So I'm thinking, "restriction orifice? Adjusted cartridge for low flow?" I can't find anything that looks like it's adjustable or intentionally blocked.

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    Did you try removing the aerator?
    – BMitch ♦
    Nov 20, 2014 at 0:35
  • I forgot to mention that, BMitch; without the aerator on, the flow is still slow and sad.
    – VanGoghComplex
    Nov 20, 2014 at 0:40
  • You don't see any restriction on any of the hose connections, maybe an undersized washer? If it's not there, cartridge, or aerator, then you may be best off looking at a new fixture because the places a restriction can hide are limited.
    – BMitch ♦
    Nov 20, 2014 at 1:05
  • Does the faucet have a sprayer hose attachment? The diverters for those can become clogged and slow the entire faucet. They're usually found at the base of the main faucet spout and either pop out or screw out. At any rate, running the faucet on full (with a pan over it to keep the ceiling dry) can clean all sorts of junk from the internal faucet channels.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Jun 18, 2015 at 12:30
  • Maybe you have a collapsed hose.
    – user49138
    Feb 13, 2016 at 19:19

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Do you have a screen, in the tap (faucet) at the end where water comes out into the sink? (or the line that collects hard lime, water deposits?) This can be a problem anytime the water is hard, THUS quite mineralized. Those bits- often the size of sand grains -- can collect and wreak havoc. Clogging of water lines if galvanized via mineral build up before getting to the faucet in the supply lines can be an issue also. I have seen this in laundry lines where mixed water is a problem when washers do not rinse well - their lines are messed up with sand, pet hair and other clothing debris that does not rinse out of the filter properly and collects to clog everything up, one must check the washers as well as the mesh screens at ends of supply lines so all water goes where it should without a hitch - or leave linty residue on clothing because of the clogs involved.

Improve this answer
1
  • From the comments in the question, the OP attempted to removed the aerator with no improvement.
    – BMitch ♦
    Apr 9, 2016 at 12:51
1

Okay guys, it was this.enter image description here

I replumbed the whole supply side of my house in PEX.

That fixed it. XD

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Yeah -- galvanized will do that after a while...
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Feb 16, 2017 at 2:00
0

If the flow is good at the supply valves, I'd suspect the line between the supply valve and the faucet - if copper/brass, it might have an intentional solder blockage. If not, and if you only disconnected the lower end at the supply valve, I'd look at the upper end at the faucet valve for a restricting orifice, or a solder blob up inside the base of the faucet valve.

Or, as @BMitch says, buy a new faucet and move on, since the supply to the shutoff valves is good.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.