Little to no water pressure

egglesh

I have had 3 kitchen faucets in the last 12 months. The original faucet (about 8 years old) had great cold water pressure but not so great on the hot side. I replaced the faucet last year and found that the problem did not go away. I replaced the water line to no avail. So I just assumed I needed to replace the shut off valve on the hot side (yes, the shut off is wide open). The low water pressure was tolerable so I never got around to it.

This week we got new countertops, a new sink, and yet another new faucet. Again, same problem. This time I decided to reverse the hot and cold lines at the water pipes. I couldn't believe it... I had great hot water pressure and virtually no cold water pressure. So, the hot water shut off is fine. My last option was to pull the faucet handle off to see I could make an adjustment there but it didn't help. I even took the faucet out of the sink and installed it under the sink to make sure neither of the lines were pinched. Again, if I connected the faucet's hot line to the hot shut off, I had no hot water pressure. But if I connected the faucet's hot line to the cold shut off, I had no cold water pressure and great hot water pressure.

So you would just assume it is something with the faucet, however, this is the 3rd faucet with the same issue. By the way, they are all single handle faucets. Please help this newbie out..... I'm stumped!

kevjob

what type of pipe is it? COpper galvinized? Does the water line have a shutoff If so can you remove the shutoof install a new one and see if it makes a difference? Also did you remove the strainer at the end of the faucet run the water and then replacew the screen and strainer and see if that helps?

egglesh

The water supply is copper.

I had planned to replace the shut off for the hot water supply. However, the hot water supply works fine when I put the cold line (coming from the faucet) on the hot water supply.

I haven't tried removing the strainer. I'll give that a shot. Thanks!

egglesh

Pulled off the screen and it was clean. Still stumped....

egglesh

It's fixed. Pulled off both hot and cold supply lines from the faucet and connected them directly to the copper water supply line. Opened up the shut off and the first line had a nice flow of water. The second line just a trickle. Must've had some kind of mineral deposit get lodged in there. Got a new supply line and all is back to normal.

kevjob

glad to hear you got it fixed

nailfun

many homes i replace the on off valve on the hot or cold and i find a rust build up right at the point where the water enters the on/off valve. this is with a galvanized pipe of course. i scrape out the build up and then turn on the water into a bucket to flush the big pieces. the only other alternative is to replace the water line completely.

Next note: Sometimes problems with water pressure can be blamed on plastic water restrictors at the end of the faucet. I unscrew each faucet and shower head at their ends and remove the water saver restrictors to double the water pressure. Just a stupid little plastic piece that starves your blasting hot shower freedom.

elementx440

you sound like a crooked car mechanic, just throwin parts at the problem