Why does my kitchen faucet have low pressure after the water heater was replaced?

Question

I recently replaced my water heater, and since then, the water pressure for my kitchen faucet is really, really, low. None of my other faucets seem to be affected (bathroom, shower, etc.). I can't really tell if my dishwasher is affected, but my refrigerator does not appear to be. The kitchen faucet, dishwasher, and refrigerator all run off the same set of pipes that come into the cabinet below my kitchen sink. The water heater is located a floor down almost directly below the kitchen.

My current theory is some sediment dislodged from the replacement of the water heater has blocked the faucet. Is this possible? Could this be caused by anything else?

Answer 1

What type of faucet do you have? If you have a pull-out faucet then you can detach the pull-out head from the hose (that reaches down under the sink) and see if the water pressure is good at that point. There are small parts in the pull-out faucet that also could have caught some debris (although cleaning them out may be a challenge). But at least you could have narrowed down where the problem is; i.e. is it in the pull-out faucet head.

Answer 2

9 times out of 10, like Tester mentions, this is going to be the aerator. Unscrew it, run some water without it, and clean it before screwing it back on. There's all kinds of stuff that gets knocks around in the pipes when water is shutoff and things are added or replaced in the plumbing system, and the best place for them to end up is the kitchen sink aerator since it's so easy to fix.

Answer 3

Blockage of some sort is probably a pretty good guess. Trying to think of other solutions though since that doesn't seem to be it...

There's a chance that the plumber "fixed" the pressure reducing value (PRV) on your mainline, although that seems less likely since your other fixtures aren't affected. However, depending on the size of the line running to each location, an adjustment to the PRV could be more noticeable in some locations that others. (I tend to turn adjust my PRV quite a bit towards high-pressure end, but this could be a bad idea depending on where you live. You'll also tend to use a bit more water.). If pressure hasn't changed anywhere else in the house though, some sort of blockage is most likely. Perhaps the new water heater has a smaller outflow line? Again, not likely, but something to look at.

[Edit] Just noticed your comment about your kitchen having been remodeled recently. The plumber/contractor most likely used Pex with 90-degree clamped elbow fittings - there could be a chunk of something caught in one of those bends. They'd have to be pretty careless for that to happen though... Is there use a pex manifold block in your system? They may not have turned the valve(s) to your sink to the full 'on' position.

Answer 4

Listen, I'll make your life easier.....Turn your both shut offs off from under your sink and Just unscrew your water line or lines that are under your faucet.....Put a pail under the line and turn your shut off on slowly and see if your water pressue is any better....If it is just replace your faucet and your good to go!

Answer 5

It was the aerator for me. I had removed the dishwasher hook up from below the kitchen sink and put in a stopper in place. To do this I had to turn off the water at the multi turn valve, which pushed some debris into the faucet aerator. Once I cleaned the aerator, the flow came back to normal.

Answer 6

depending on where you live, it could be hard water buildup. I recently replumbed my shower and when i tested my kitchen sink, it worked fine... then the flow slowed 80%. When I checked the aerater had bits of blue to light blue bits of sand like debris... and knowing from changing my water heater at another time, it was hard water deposits. this just happened an hour ago, so no solution yet... but dreading it. hoping i can hook my shop vac up to the water line and suck something out... probably not a great idea but..oh well. location: Central Florida.