Low water pressure and flow in galley sink

[Gofirstclass]

I'm having a problem with the galley sink. All the sinks on the boat, with the exception of the galley sink, have excellent water pressure and flow. The galley sink is just a trickle, less than the diameter of a pencil. It doesn't matter if the faucet is turned to the hot side or cold side or mixed hot/cold, there's just no flow, and as time passes it gets progessively worse.

I've pulled off the faucet head to check the filter at the end of the flex hose and that filter is clear. With the head removed, there still is very little flow.

Any thoughts???

 

[Pyrojodge]

Sounds like the mixing valve is shot. If you've checked the screens that would be my guess. It might be a job but put a new facet on. If that doesn't clear it up then you must have a kinked line.(I hope its a bad faucet)

 

[Art]

If both hot & cold are similar then it must be either the faucet valve or the hose that has the obstruction. Can you take out the mixing valve and inspect it? While the valve is open see if you can clear the hose of any obstruction by taking off the head and blowing air through the hose. Good luck, Art

 

[Lazy Daze]

I'm not familiar with what faucet you have, but... when you say you removed the "filter" are you referring to the aerator? The aerator is where the water directly comes out of (if you stopped the water coming out of the faucet by putting your finger over the outlet, you would be touching the aerator). "Usually" this is the most common cause of the problem you're having.

Likely the problem is somewhere in the faucet (mixing valve clogged, for example, like Jason mentioned), but if you wanted to narrow it down... Get a bucket and disconnect the supply lines (have your water system turned off or the city water supply disconnected). Then turn the water on and see what kind of flow you get out of the lines. If you have good flow there, the problem is in the faucet. If you get bad flow, the faucet is not the problem and further detective work is needed.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Dennis (and others), thanks for the fast replies. The "filter" I mentioned was the aerator screen. It was clean. I'm thinking it probably is a dirty/clogged faucet so the next time I'm down there I'll try to take it apart. The faucet is a single lever mixer type. I found a picture of it. Has anyone taken one of these apart? Any tips on disassembly?

 

[Skuza]

On a side note I like the back splash!

 

[Captain Quest]

I had exactly the same problem with mine, it was only the kitchen faucet that was very slow to a trickle. I replaced it & problem solved

 

[Lazy Daze]

#1 tip: Be sure the water is turned off to the faucet!

You should be able to pop off that top cap (above the handle) to gain access to the screw that will remove the "guts". If you're still not sure, post another picture of what it looks like under the cap and also a picture of the undersides (under the sink).

But, going back to what Jason said, have you looked under the sink at the hose? Is it clear and not kinked?

-- It might be possible that the inner wall of the hose is collapsing - creating a restriction.

Again, I'm just inferring about the way your faucet is put together from other experiences, but it might be easiest to remove the hose from the base and then see what type of water flow you have there. Before you pull the whole faucet apart, that is.

You could take this opportunity to upgrade, but it sounds as if you like the faucet and want to fix it?

 

[Old Vet]

There obviously has to be 2 hoses supplying that faucett..the hot and the cold...and since there is little pressure in either...I'd think it's a pretty unlikely coincidence that both lines are kinked.

Not sure what type of faucett that is but it kinda looks like a Moen. I presume that's a button on top that gives either a solid flow...or when pressed...flow changes to a spray?

My guess is that the problem is in that sprayer head itself.

Pull that head out of its holder and remove the supply line attached to it and see what kind of flow you get out of that hose. If the flow is still low then the problem has to be in the body of the faucett itself.

Good luck.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Old Vet, I've done that (removed the head) and the flow doesn't change. It's still a trickle.

We do like the faucet because it fits well with the decor of the galley. I'll run down to the boat today and see what happens when I apply my magic tools to the faucet, and I'll get some pics as I go for future reference.

skuzza, we had that done this past spring. A neighbor of ours does tile work and we asked him about replacing all the counters to get some color in the interior. My Galley Wench had her heart set on a granite or corian setup. We found out several things: (1) they couldn't put a drip edge on the granite or corian that would keep spills from running off, and (2) if they tried to remove the existing countertop it likely would ruin the cabinets because of the way they're constructed. That would have meant replacing all the cabinets and countertops and it probably wouldn't have looked as nice as what SR put in.

So we had the backsplashes done in the galley and both heads. The tile used in the heads is a slightly different color scheme than that used in the galley. Here's pics of the tile in the heads and the galley next to each other so you can see the difference....

We were real pleased with what he did and how it looked when it was all done.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Seeing your bath fixture, which is definitely a Moen (funny enough, I just changed out that exact fixture - same color, too) in our home's bathroom when I remodeled it about 4 weeks ago)... Vet could very well be right that the kitchen faucet is a Moen. Moen has fantastic customer support. It might also be worth a try to call them.

When you get to the boat - the hose I'm referring to possibly being kinked or bad is the pull-out hose (not supply hoses). Look under the sink at that and then disconnect it under the sink and check water flow into a bucket.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Dennis, the pull out hose is not kinked or twisted in any way. I'm headed down to the boat right now to find out what the problem is and I'll photograph the job.

Thanks to all of you for the help!

 

[dpmulvey]

Could be the hose is not kinked, but collapsed on itself within the protective sheath. If original, it's 17 years old after all.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Could be the hose is not kinked, but collapsed on itself within the protective sheath. If original, it's 17 years old after all.

Right, that's why I'm thinking it's worthwhile to simply disconnect it and test flow into a bucket. Same thing happens with brake lines over time. It's worthwhile (and easy enough) to disconnect the hose under the sink and test flow into a bucket.

 

[Old Vet]

Dennis is absolutely right about Moens customer service. They really honor their lifetime warranty, I've had them replace fixtures for me with absolutely no questions asked. If you can't figure out what's going on I'd call their customer service number and I'd be surprised if you didn't have a complete new fixture at your door in a matter of a few days.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Seeing your bath fixture, which is definitely a Moen (funny enough, I just changed out that exact fixture - same color, too) in our home's bathroom when I remodeled it about 4 weeks ago).

Well I got it fixed, but Dennis, I have a question for you first. When you replaced that Moen faucet did you happen to save it? There's a broken part in the top end of mine and if you're going to pitch your faucet, I'd like to buy the upper handle part from you if you still have it. Just let me know.

So I got to the boat and, amazingly, the faucet hadn't fixed itself in my absence. (DOH!!) I popped the cap off and found a screw that holds the handle assembly down onto the main guts of the faucet. That metal faucet has a plastic piece inside that fits around the main stem body, and the plastic piece is broken. Here's what I'm talking about....

Look at the 1:00 position and you'll see where the piece is missing from, and it's lying just about the 11:00 position.

So I dragged my big body up under the sink (which is no small task in itself) and here's what I saw...


So I undid one of the water supply lines and aimed it into the trash container that fits under the sink and had tons of water pressure. So then I figured it must be that long brass thingie that connected to the bottom of the faucet. It's right at the outlet end of the mixer valve in the faucet, and upstream from the flex hose. I took it off...


and it definitely is a filter and it definitely was plugged. This brown goey looking stuff had grown completely over the filter (I wiped it off part of the filter so you could see the filter) and that's what was plugging the whole thing up.


So I put the whole thing back together and had good water pressure. Long story short, it was a relatively easy fix, very cheap, and all it took was one skinned knuckle.


So, Dennis, if you still have that faucet handle and are willing to part with it, I'm interested.

Thanks to all of you for your help on this!

 

[Lazy Daze]

I'll check tonight to see if I have it. If I do, you can have it - I don't want anything for it. I sometimes keep things like that just in case I need parts down the line. The question is whether or not I kept this particular piece!

 

[Art]

GFC, As mentioned Moen customer service is great. Call them to replace the broken part.

Art

 

[Lazy Daze]

Well, I must have thrown it away. That's not like me to do that, but I couldn't find it. It's funny (well, it wasn't at the time, but I suppose it is now...) how that remodel went... Started with my wife wanting a new faucet. OK, fine, that's quick and easy. Then she said she wanted the vanity top/sink replaced as well because the new faucet didn't match. Well, alright, but this is starting to turn into more of a project and I had a sneaking suspicion of where it was headed. Ended up being a complete tear down - down to the subfloor and studs! And it all started with "Do you think you could replace the faucet?" :smt101

But... nice goo!!! Glad you got it figured out.

 

[Gofirstclass]

That's OK, thanks for checking. I sent Moen an email last night with pics attached so they know what kind of faucet I'm working with. I'll see what they have to say.

Thanks again for all the help.