How to Repair a Slow Running Faucet

Find out a simple solution for repairing a slow running faucet after changing plumbing lines. Learn tips for correcting a slow running kitchen or bathroom faucet.

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LESLIE: Gary in Tennessee listens to The Money Pit on the Discovery Radio Network and you’ve got something going on with your kitchen faucet. Tell us about it.

GARY: Right. The problem is I have diminished pressure at the kitchen faucet. All the other taps in the house have got, you know, an adequate water flow. In the kitchen, when you turn it on either hot or cold, it’s just kind of (INAUDIBLE) …

TOM: Gary, have you removed the aerator from the tip of the faucet and checked for obstructions behind it?

GARY: We recently remodeled the kitchen, so … day one.

TOM: So, I guess you’ve not unscrewed that little cap at the end of the faucet. Is that correct?

GARY: (INAUDIBLE)

TOM: OK. Well, when you remodeled the kitchen, did you do new plumbing work at the same time?

GARY: Yes.

TOM: Very often, what happens is you get little pieces of solder that end up inside the copper pipes and as soon as you turn the water on, they advance themselves towards that aerator at the tip of the faucet. So this could actually be a fairly simple fix.

What I want you to do is to go to that kitchen faucet and unscrew the tip of it. Unscrew the aerator. Inside, you’ll see a series of screens and washers. Take them apart and put them in a line, one after another after another, in the same …

LESLIE: So you put them back exactly the same way.

TOM: (overlapping voices) Right, exactly. The same order. Don’t ask me why I know to do this. (laughing) It can get very confusing. But take them apart and put them in a specific order so that you can actually clean them one at a time. You may find pieces of solder or pieces of grit that are inside. But the fact that you have all of the faucets in the house that are really strong except for this one means it absolutely has to be the aerator. Or, if by some chance it’s not that, then you need to check the valves that are feeding that. But that should be a very, very simple fix, Gary; one that will have you … have that pressure restored in no time.

Gary, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.