I think that the pressure in my whole house is "challenged"--not terrible, but not as good as I'd like. The kitchen faucet pressure is really poor and I suspect there is some kind of "water saving" something somewhere in the faucet. I have removed and cleaned the aerating section and cleaned the screens and not found such a device in that section. The pressure is no better with them removed. The faucet is an American Standard pullout that is probably 10 yrs old (same as the house)--could be newer, I don't know. I'm hoping the source of this problem is somehow accessible and that I'm not going to have to replace the faucet. Thank you for any help you can provide.

Diane

Hi Diane,

Sounds like some crud flaked off the pipe walls and is now lodged in the cartridge inlet ports. To remedy this shut the water off under the cabinet and open up the faucet. Pul the cartridge out and check and clear the ports.
Before you reassemble place a pan over the open valve and turn the water back on for a minute to flush and clear the supplies. There should be a strong stream. Reassemble and try it now. The faucet doesn't have a water saver but your shower head has. Regards, Tom

Thanks so much Tom. Could you also tell me how to open up the faucet and how to find and pull out the cartridge? I have no clue as to how these type of faucets are put together. I tried to find some kind of drawing on the American Standard site, but couldn't find any info there.

Thank you again, very much.

Diane

PS Or if you could direct me to some site that might show me how the guts work, that would help. I've Googled and checked "how to" sites, tried to find an installation manual with the idea of working backward... everything I could think of--no luck. There's lots of information on how to replace washers on old style bathroom faucets, though. I can already do that. Anyway, thanks again.

Hi Diane,

Before I can direct you as to what to do I must know what you have. One handle or two knobs on the faucet? Sprayer attachment? Give me all the details you have on the faucet including theage of your hotwater heater and if you flush your heater on a regular basis. Regards, Tom

Hi Tom,

The faucet is an American Standard pull-out type. It has one handle and the sprayer is also the faucet which pulls out. I found numbers and letters around the opening that I unscrewed to get at the aerator. KK (with a square around that) P 741, a vertical line, A NF (with a circle around the NF,) N-type symbol, AIRFORCE. I tried typing in various combinations of the above on the American Standard site but it just kept saying "no information."

As far as I know, the hotwater heater is the same age as the house--10 years. It's gas. We've only been in the house for one year so I don't know any history. We have never flushed it and didn't know we should.

I have noticed a grayish-whitish grunch around all the water exposed areas of faucets in this house. Some places it has hardened into a cement-like substance. I'm constantly washing off what is removable which appears to be what is most recently deposited. I have rings around the water lines of all the toilet bowls that I have been unable to get off with any of the products that say they will remove it. (I even fell for what is apparently an internet joke about using Coca Cola--made sense to me at the time. Duh.)
Anyway I have thought we must have hard water mineral deposits. I have not had the water tested. I have never dealt with this substance before, or had hard water. We recently moved from Oregon to Washington and I thought this must be one of our new experiences.

Now that you mention it, it sure makes sense that this gunk would be plugging up anything susceptible. Like I said though, once it hardens I haven't found anything that will remove it.

Thank you so much.

Diane

Hey Diane,

Click on: http://www.plumbingsupply.com/amstan...enfaucets.html
And tell me if any of these are your faucet.

"Now that you mention it, it sure makes sense that this gunk would be plugging up anything susceptible. Like I said though, once it hardens I haven't found anything that will remove it. "
I've had good luck with C L R. Regards, Tomj

Hi Tom,

You found it! I'm pretty sure it's the "Reliant+" 4205-104-208. Still haven't found any other numbers on my faucet to be absolutely sure, but it looks like it.

I tried the CLR in the toilets--didn't work, but I'll try it around the faucets.

Boy I'm so happy to finally have found some help! Thank you so much!

Diane

Tom!

With your help in finding the numbers I was finally able to find diagrams and installation and troubleshooting info on the American Standard site!

Thank you! And thank you, again. I was so frustrated and flummoxed. With your initial instructions and the info on the site I think I might be able to get this done. Won't be able to get to it until the weekend, though. I'll let you know what happens.

What a hero!

Thank you again!

Diane