Faucet in kitchen addition at back of house has terrible pressure. All the plumbing is 3/4″ copper from the main shut off, where it goes to the origonal lead 3/4″ pipe out to the street. All the other fixtures in the house are fine. I’ve cleaned the aerator, but that doesn’t help. This faucet is a year old, one of those pull out models that doubles as a sprayer. Someone told me that they have pressure resticters that can be removed to improve the pressure. Any idea where to find this restricter, if it does exist?
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Replies
It usually falls off with the aerator.
With the aerator off, is the pressure/flow better? If not, there's an obstruction somewhere else, probably at the valve seat.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Take a peak at where the hose attaches to the head, there may be another screen/restrictor there. Try the pressure w/o the head.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
calvin is correct about the pressure regulator being either at the connection to the head or the other end of the hose, it is that way on many hans-grohe faucets.
james
Both hot and cold? Valves open all the way?
We recently had a homeowner supply their own kitchen faucet and had the same problem. It sounds like it was the same type as the one you described. I took it apart piece by piece untill I discovered the problem. I cant remember if I found it by taking off the faucet or the handle but it was some type of small spring valve and it was obious when I saw it why it was there.
JP
Remove the water restricter. This might be a plastic disc with small holes, or a cone shaped doohickey, or an o-ring. The o ring is becoming more common recently.
What brand of faucet? You should be able to find an exploded diagram of the faucet components which will ID the restrictor and also give you an idea of how to remove it.
F
Has this faucet ever had good water pressure?
If no is it possible that the faucet was tapped off of existing water lines when the addition was added and that piercing saddles used? These units are quick and dirty. Fine for feeding an ice maker but pretty marginal for real fixtures. I have seen something similar once.
These saddles will get water into the new lines but are quite restricting to water flow. Even if they were not a problem originally they also are subject to clogging with scale and debris. This can make a marginal flow rate into a maddeningly slow one in time. The valves that are in these units could also be turned down restricting flow.
Not sure any of this is applicable to your situation. Just a thought.
4LORN1,
Last year, I had the same pressure problem my Groeh kitchen faucet. It turned out that the long, flexible stainless line to which the head is attached had a dislodged washer stuck in the middle of the line. Water was moving past the obstruction, but the flow and pressure were restructed. It took about an hour to remove it with a coat hangar that I fashioned with a 1/8", sharpened barb on one tip of the hangar. The pressure was actually too great after I "fixed" the problem, and I eventually discarded and replaced it with a brand new Hansgroeh model from Habitat for Humanity for $60. I'd be curious to know if that turns out to be your problem.
Zbalk
to the origonal lead 3/4" pipe out to the street
This is unrelated to pressure drop, but will help --
If you have kids or grandkids at your house I'd rent a backhoe and replace the line to the street with > 1" copper or PVC.
SIL nearly had hysterics when my nephew was a kid and she found out the house they had bought had a lead pipe to the street, that was my brother's #1 priority when they moved in.
Is this a Price Pfister?? Not that I can add anything to what's been said above, but I've had really bad experiences with low flow from Price Pfister faucets.
The last time I just returned it and got a different brand.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Thanks, Rich! Thought I was all alone on that great white stallion. We have a PP kitchen pfaucet, & it literally wee wee's! It's pathetic. I'm considering taking the restrictor out. If I can pfind it!
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
One PP I had had the restrictor as part of a small neck on the connecting hose, drilling it out destroyed the hose fitting, what a piece of crap.
On this type of faucet set there is a diverter valve that shunts water to the spray head when the trigger on it is squeezed. The valve is spring loaded and is supposed to return to the normal position when the spray head trigger is released. After a few years of service, these diverter valves get sticky from accumulated crud and don't return all the way, so your flow out the main spout is reduced. Sometimes just snapping the trigger on and off a few times will pop the diverter back into the rest position, but once they've got too much nasty stuff in them, they have to be replaced.
In your case, it is entirely possible that after only one year this is your problem, especially if the house piping is old or the water in that area is particularly hard or dirty.
The diverter is usually located at the connection between the hose feeding the spray head and the mixer pipe. They are replaceable, but you have to get the one for the brand and model of faucet set you have.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
It is a pull out and it does not have a diverter as such. There is no separate spray head.
It is all part of the nozzle.
Oops. Serves me right for reading with my eyes shut.
Thanks for sharing that....Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Rich,
I had a Moen faucet that had the same problem. It took forever to fill the coffee pot. After calling Moen, they determined that the filter that was in the end of the wand was not installed. Turns out that the stuff the filter was supposed to catch went into the wand. They sent me a new wnd and filter. Problem solved. Actually, my wife got tired of that faucet and its now a Delta, with no problems.
Good Luck,
Axeman1972