SOLVED: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Elkridge 38RSRT has very low water pressure at the kitchen faucet. It's the goose-neck pullout sprayer type. I removed the sprayer head thinking it was clogged up, nothing. While the head was removed I tried the water and the pressure is horrible even when the spray head is off. I also checked for cut off valves and could not find any thinking they may be partial closed, none to be found. Anybody else ever had this issue? How did you fix it?

All the other faucets and tub/showers work great!

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

I'm inclined to think that the faucet itself may be clogged. Can it be removed and back-flushed?

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

There may be a flow restrictor in the flex hose that feeds the spray head. There was in mine.
Remove the restrictor and your flow will increase.

Peace
Dave

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

I have fought this several times even though i have an external incoming water master filter. It can be due to hard water deposits that form inside the
piping/valves.

There are no water shutoffs typically installed on ANY of the fresh water indoor plumbing faucets. I added a Sharkbite brand shutoff to my toilet.

After turning off the house water pressure, I first removed the spray head, and make sure that it is free of a restrictor washer disc or clogs. Next put a thick towel down under the undersink faucet supply hoses. A small bowl to catch water may help too. With 2 sets of pliers remove the PEX supply hoses from the faucet hose connection points. There will be some dripping. Check to see if there are restrictor disks or hard water deposits you can remove here. If you have an air compressor, fully open the faucet so that water would normally flow from both the hot and cold sides, then blow compressed air in a backflow direction from the spay head fitting to the inlet hose points. This should clear any possible deposits in the faucet, but you may have to do a complete disassembly of the valve(s). Last of all put the ends of both supply hoses into a pitcher (an assistant is very helpful here, or if alone you could try a duct tape setup), go outside and turn on the water supply for about 10 seconds then turn it off again. This should flush out any possible hard water deposits in the supply lines. Re-assemble everything normally, turn the water pressure back on, and check the results.

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Depending on the floor plan layout, the kitchen faucet usually has the lowest flow/pressure. It’s due to the distance from the incoming source and the convoluted plumbing with multiple little 90 degree elbows. And if the neighbors are taking showers, it can reduce to a trickle depending on the CG pressure.


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Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Turns out there is a check valve on the inlet hose after the mixing Y. I shut the water off and took the whole thing apart. Blew out the lines and then with help from my better half, flushed the lines completely out. Put it all back together and it works a 1000% better.

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Bob-The-Builder said:

Turns out there is a check valve on the inlet hose after the mixing Y. I shut the water off and took the whole thing apart. Blew out the lines and then with help from my better half, flushed the lines completely out. Put it all back together and it works a 1000% better.

Click to expand...

UPDATE!
It was working great but now it has lost pressure again at the sink. Has anyone removed the check valve? What does it do exactly?

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Bob-The-Builder said:

UPDATE!
It was working great but now it has lost pressure again at the sink. Has anyone removed the check valve? What does it do exactly?

Click to expand...

Guess I don't understand how your plumbing is set up. Why is there a check valve after the mixing wye? And why is there a wye at the sink? I just can't picture it. With my older rig, the only check valve in the hot water system is on the outlet of the water heater tank.

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

JohnDar said:

Guess I don't understand how your plumbing is set up. Why is there a check valve after the mixing wye? And why is there a wye at the sink? I just can't picture it. With my older rig, the only check valve in the hot water system is on the outlet of the water heater tank.

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Because it is a single handle goose neck faucet with the pull down sprayer. the hot and cold connect to the faucet and then a single quick disconnect hose comes out of the mixing valve. That quick disconnect is where the check valve is. It's plastic, cylindrical in shape. Only allows for water to move in one direction. I am assuming to keep it from siphoning back into the water system if you leave the sprayer in a sink full of water.


My question is, Is the check valve needed? That's the cause of my little to no stream at the kitchen sink.

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Bob-The-Builder said:

Because it is a single handle goose neck faucet with the pull down sprayer. the hot and cold connect to the faucet and then a single quick disconnect hose comes out of the mixing valve. That quick disconnect is where the check valve is. It's plastic, cylindrical in shape. Only allows for water to move in one direction. I am assuming to keep it from siphoning back into the water system if you leave the sprayer in a sink full of water.


My question is, Is the check valve needed? That's the cause of my little to no stream at the kitchen sink.

Click to expand...

Depending on the internal construction, it's also possible the purpose might be to prevent mixing hot and cold water affecting other fixtures in the plumbing system. If you remove it, I'd suggest holding on to it in case you find your hot shower becomes lukewarm.

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

danemayer said:

Depending on the internal construction, it's also possible the purpose might be to prevent mixing hot and cold water affecting other fixtures in the plumbing system. If you remove it, I'd suggest holding on to it in case you find your hot shower becomes lukewarm.

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10-4, I think I'm going to remove it. I don't see it affecting other faucets because it's after the mixing valve. As long as the faucet is off it cannot back flow water. We don't take showers at the same time were washing dishes.

Re: Pressure at kitchen sink is low, both hot and cold

Bob-The-Builder said:

Because it is a single handle goose neck faucet with the pull down sprayer. the hot and cold connect to the faucet and then a single quick disconnect hose comes out of the mixing valve. That quick disconnect is where the check valve is. It's plastic, cylindrical in shape. Only allows for water to move in one direction. I am assuming to keep it from siphoning back into the water system if you leave the sprayer in a sink full of water.


My question is, Is the check valve needed? That's the cause of my little to no stream at the kitchen sink.

Click to expand...

Ours is also a pull-down sprayer, single handle style but not quite the newer goose neck type, though. But the photo is what my lines look like. Unfortunately, I don't have one showing the PEX lines (red & blue) that connect to the faucet's lines. But I really don't recall seeing anything between the hot PEX line and the faucet's hot water line that looks like a check valve (and I've been in that sink cabinet plenty). The flow for both cold and hot is the same with ours.

Good chance the check valve is defective. Personally, I'd remove it and see how it goes.

While you're playing with plumbing, you might want to locate your anti-siphon valve for your black tank flush line and move any electronics they might have installed under it. Enough of us have experienced the joy of the **** thing breaking while in use and dumping a flood behind the walls.

Here it is! Took this bad boy out and boom! Lots of pressure.

Bob-The-Builder said:

Here it is! Took this bad boy out and boom! Lots of pressure.

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I wonder if that's a check valve or a "water saver".

danemayer said:

I wonder if that's a check valve or a "water saver".

Click to expand...

I'm thinking a check valve. It only allows one way flow. Water savers just restrict the flow but they operate in both directions.

Bob-The-Builder said:

Here it is! Took this bad boy out and boom! Lots of pressure.

Click to expand...

Maybe that is why our 2017 Big Horn 3575el has low pressure at the island sink. Will have to look for the check valve when we return to the NW in the Spring. Chris