Any plumbing people around

[The empressof all]

The faucet in my kitchen sink was old and gross and a few days ago pretty much stopped working. I was only getting a dribble of a flow out of it. I went ahead and bought a new fancy one and had my usual handy guy and friend install it. He found a leak as well and replaced the lines under the cabinet. So my new faucet looks terrific, I have new lines....But I still not getting anything more than a dribble out of it. My friend was here till around 11 last night and couldn't stay to problem solve but will return tonight.

I would really like water to my kitchen sink...Yes, the water is turned on underneath the sink. I'm not having flow problems anywhere else in the house. Is this the harbinger of a major catastophe to come? Any ideas of what we should think about?

[NMDemDist2]

1. the filter is probably clogged

right at the end of the faucet where the water SHOULD come out is a removable piece

wrap a towel around it and get the pliers and remove it from the end of the faucet

clean the grit out of the screens then replace

not unusual for a new faucet

:hi:

[The empressof all]

2. He did that....

But I'll have him double check. Weird it would be happening to the old faucet as well as the new one...That's what's getting me alarmed that it's something more serious.

[Robb]

3. How certain are you the valve underneath the sink is fully on?

They're persnickety to say the least... and they have a lifespan. If there isn't anything in the new faucet stopping the water, start working back.

Did the old faucet gradually slow to a trickle, or was it sudden?

[The empressof all]

4. It was rather sudden

When I had the old faucet I noticed it slowed to a trickle then the next day it was fine again....Then it stopped pretty much to just a drip which led me to believe it was the old rickety faucet that I wanted to replace anyway. The brand new fricken $150 Moen that was installed last night never got a flow beyond a soft stream which is where I am now. My dishwasher and Fridge lines in my kitchen are both working fine.

I'm living in house hell right now. We flooded out right before Christmas and I need dry wall work and flooring still to be done. SO the two dogs and I are living in one room, sharing one computer and one tv. We aren't getting testy with each other yet but if I can't make food or have to go through 50 million gyrations to make coffee...I just might have a major melt down.

...Oh and to top it all off my contractor bailed out on half our job and is getting pissy on us.

[amerikat]

5. both hot and cold water are slow?

Do you have separate hot and cold valves or a single control.

[The empressof all]

6. I have a single control faucet

Both the old one and the new one have temp controlled by one single lever. Both the hot and cold are running at the same pressure which at this moment is a gentle stream. When I press the button on the faucet that goes to spray it's the same gentle flow.

[amerikat]

7. I think you have some debris in the faucet.

It must be after the shut off valve(If only one line was blocked you would have pressure greater on either the hot or cold side). Perhaps a piece of rubber washer, o-ring or some
scale that came loose from a pipe or valve? That would account for the first faucet
getting clogged and when you changed to the new faucet the debris fell back down the
feed line and when you opened up the new one the debris was forced into the new faucet.

That's my theory, let me know how it turns out.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. How old is your house?

If you have old galvanized pipes, that'd be your problem. Galvanized pipe gets a form of plaque inside, quite literally, just like coronary arteries. It is metal corrosion and it can close a pipe off completely.

If you have copper or plastic pipe, then this is not an issue. Galvanized pipe was installed as recently as 50 years ago. Maybe even less long ago than that. The upside is, you can do selective replacement over the years as the pipes clog.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. If you turned your water off (to do some work) and then turned it back on, there may...

.....be some sediment clogging the:

1.) Shut-off valves

2.) The cartridge in the new faucet. You might have a bad cartridge - I went through 3 Danze cartridges before I got one right.

3.) The aerator screen on the faucet head (sounds like you have that one covered).

When you shut off water and turn it back on it can kick up sediment in the line and/or the hot water heater. Every time we shut the water off in our condo building we have to clean out all the aerators in the building - one of the faucets in the othe units has a screen IN the faucet so we have to dismantel it every time.

I would disconnect the faucet and flush the valves under the vanity to see if you have pressure there. If you do, it's the faucet or screen. If you don't have pressure it's more of a pipe/valve problem.


A real good source I use for plumbing questions:

http://www.plbg.com/forum/list.php?1

There are several old turd-herders that post there and know their stuff.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

10. Usually the hot water valve

is the first to go. If your faucet was old so are those valves. So as was said, disconnect the water lines from the new faucet ,get a bucket and turn the valves on first the hot, check for pressure ,than the cold. Ok so new valves. Since those valves are going to be removed you will want to do a pressure check on the lines.Also serves to flush out the pipes. Somebody that has done that befor should do it,because somebody needs to be at the house water shut off valve when that is being done. Use bucket. Sometimes hard deposits build up back behind the valve in those pipes, more often the hot where the water is fed from the H. water tank.

We take a polk er or even a small screw driver and break apart the hard deposits at the plumb out where the valve connects.

Could be further back ,if so you may need to have some pipes replaced. But more often than not, it's bad valves and build up back behind the valves.

And there is also the possibility of a defect faucet, but from what you describe, it's hard deposits.

Should be a fairly simple fix.

[The empressof all]

11. It was Debris in the new faucet

Thanks all for your ideas and help. It calmed me....With the bad luck I've been having with my money pit I was anticipating a geyser to spring up out of my kitchen floor at any moment.

It's all fixed and now my faucet is way too nice for my kitchen.

[NMDemDist2]

12. whew! I have had that happen before and I know the $$$$$$ anxiety it causes

then feel silly when it's such an easy fix

:hug:

and I am doing a $100 kitchen makeover right now

just got the new hinges and the new handles will be here Monday, but i'll be out of town

the new hinges alone are making a HUGE difference!

[The empressof all]

13. Well You know I want out of here ASAP

I'm thinking though that after they finish up after this flood damage (damn--didn't get a drop of water in my kitchen) I'll put in some of that new no glue vinyl on the floor, get some new laminate for the counter top and paint the oak cabinets. I have old wall paper that is already peeling so that shouldn't be too much of a nightmare to get off. My appliances don't match but they're all in relatively good shape and fairly new. I could get away with quite a bit of bang for my buck. It might not be what I would choose for my dream house...But I'm not there anyway and it'll be a heck of alot nicer than what I'm living with now

[NMDemDist2]

14. i'm the queen of cheap makeovers

let me know if you want some input, PM me and I'll send my email, we can swap pics

:hi:

and you'll be amazed what you can do with less than $500

:hug:

[The empressof all]

15. I've been holding off because I thought I'd want to move walls

Screw that---I'm keeping the galley kitchen. I don't cook massive meals anymore other than on holidays and I've been able to accomplish fabulous feasts. I'd love some more storage for the "equipment" but I have way too much crap and should be downsizing anyway. How many muffin pans do I really need after all.

When I'm ready...I send you photo's of what I got now and I'll take you up on your offer. I'm thinking of just going white with the cabinets with a brushed nickle knob and then doing the laminate in a dark color (Not Grey though)

:hi: :hug:

[NMDemDist2]

16. laminate on the counters you mean? they have a nice black 'granite'

that would be good with white cabinets. the key to that is the right 'white'

there are so many white paints.... my MiL wanted to paint her cabinets a nice white with blue accents in the door panels, and the white kept coming out either yellowish or grayish or just plain dirty looking

poor thing, she painted those damned cabinets 7 times before she got a 'true' white :wow:

she'd keep using a different door to 'test' so her kitchen looked like a mix and match bin for a couple months!!

:wow:

a dark color will show the dust though....

edit to add, I wanted to paint my cabinets and got vetoed by my step mom and Mr.K so I got all new hardware instead....

I can't wait till the pulls get here, the hinges got done today and they look FANTASIC :bounce:

here what they look like...



with these knobs (which are only two, the pulls work on most of the drawers too)

[The empressof all]

17. We painted the god awful pink and green sponge painted cabinets white

We have a kitchen on our top floor that was just gastly! Just did a plain bright white and it still looks great. I'm doing the dining room right off the kitchen in a butter yellow with a medium wood laminate on the floor. I like white and yellow together with Martha green as an accent. I've been mulling over all paint chips for weeks now and keep going back to the same themes. So I'll probably paint the kitchen a celery kind of green (but a little darker) go with the white cabinets and the dark granite look counters. I've seen the one you mentioned and I like it too.

Honestly, I'm so ready to sell I'm just not willing to go through the agony of having this on the market for months on end. I'm going to list it in June as a fixer (Although it will look pretty good for a fixer) and just get the hell out of here. It' way too big for us...I don't want to deal with the three acres and some young family who want to have some close in land would love this place. I already told the SO I'm not messing around another year here. I'm not going to get what I could have gotten two years ago on his place but our home values haven't totally tanked here yet so I'm hoping to make somebody very lucky.

[NMDemDist2]

18. are you headed this way then??

:bounce:

if you know you're selling, for sure go neutral. it helps to know you're leaving when you remodel

I painted my (new) kitchen a green too remember? I so want to paint these crappy cabinets, they look OK at 15 feet and like the cheap pressboard crap they are when you actually *look* at them

sigh

[The empressof all]

19. Mine are similar in color

They're from the late 70's so I don't have knobs but very similar in design and color to yours

I'm going for a rather "neutral green" Very pale but still green. The Butter in the dining area and hallway will brighten up a dark space. It's more of a pale yellowy white but without the brown tint alot of creams have. It's a dark area so I think it'll be ok. If people don't like it screw it...I'll repaint it white.

I don't know if we'll be moving down your way soon. We're stuck here because of our health insurance and the kid will be in college another two years. Our plan is to take a massive road trip and look around. We're going to go down the coast and over to AZ and then Santa Fe/Taos/Albuquerque. I'd like to see parts of Texas, then head up and do Graceland and the Smokey Mountains. Then we'll end in either Florida or NY (or maybe both) to see family.

I'm dreaming of a two month road trip. But first I have to get my hip done. Oy!

[NMDemDist2]

20. you've got some work ahead of you

that hip replacement is a workout according to my friends who have gotten one.

stick to that damned diet, it will make it soo much easier on ya

:hug:

[The empressof all]

21. I know...I'm doing good it's just so slow

I'm down 50 pounds but I'm stalled to a crawl and with not being able to exercise much it just makes it harder. I'm going to have to switch things up on that front. Sometimes changing your plan helps kick start you. :shrug: I also have a history of Staph which is never gone and makes me higher risk during the healing process. I'm hoping they can do the surgery in May or June. Doctor would have done it a year ago it's that bad but I'm scared and want to reduce as many risk factors that I can control.

[NMDemDist2]

22. have you read that thing on what to do before you go into surgery to

help reduce your risk of staph?

I'll dig around and find it if you don't have it......

[The empressof all]

23. No I haven't seen it

If you can find it I'd love to see it. After I had my kid I developed it at my c section site...Awful! I still get little flare ups here and there. Drives me crazy

[NMDemDist2]

24. here you go.....

http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/ThePulse/34550

http://www.stopinfectionsnow.com/15steps.html

[The empressof all]

25. Thanks so much

There's some great info there. I didn't know about using that soap prior to surgery...I'm going to look for it this weekend. I'll also grill the Dr. about his infection rates. Oy...

[NMDemDist2]

26. we need you around

to keep the mods from flinging all the water out of the hot tub

:evilgrin: