LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Matt on the line calling in from Des Moines, Iowa about water pressure. Tell us what’s going on.
MATT: Throughout the house, the water pressure in the upstairs, in the bathrooms is completely fine up until I go to do dishes.
TOM: OK.
MATT: Once I turn the faucet on, it trickles out (inaudible at 0:03:15). And I’ve replaced some of the piping downstairs, so I’m wondering maybe if it’s the water heater or the faucet itself.
TOM: So it’s only the faucet in the kitchen that this is a problem with?
MATT: Yes, sir.
TOM: Now, how old is this faucet?
MATT: I couldn’t tell you. My girlfriend’s house. She’s lived there about four years and I know it hasn’t been replaced.
TOM: OK. Have you ever removed the aerator?
MATT: I have not.
LESLIE: The tip of the faucet.
TOM: OK, so that’s the first thing to do. Unscrew that aerator and see if your flow is instantly and magically restored. Because the aerators get clogged with a small bit of debris that gets inside the water. You know, it could be a little piece of solder or a piece of mineral deposit or something of that nature and it will log inside the aerator and it will clog it and you’ll get almost no water out of it. If you pull the aerator off and you’ve got – all of a sudden, the pressure is restored, then there’s your problem.
Now, you want to clean out that aerator. Take my advice: take it apart like – it’s like three or four pieces; remember the order in which you take it apart.
LESLIE: Put a piece of paper down. Label one, two, three, four.
TOM: Like one, two, three, four, yeah.
LESLIE: Because it’s so easy to get confused.
TOM: It’s like a puzzle when you go to put it back together again. It only goes together one way but if you don’t get it right, you’re going to be really frustrated.
MATT: OK, great.
TOM: Alright?
MATT: Sounds great. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us, Matt, at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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