Moen Kitchen Faucet - Low Water Pressure
Hi, I have a 5-year old Moen kitchen faucet that abruptly lost water pressure a couple of weeks ago, while the water pressure in the rest of the house is good.
Some background... I have been going through the faucets in our home, gradually fixing various dripping issues. I started replacing the 1225 cartridge in our 1-handle, pull-out spout, Moen kitchen sink. (This is the faucet with the current low pressure.) Replacing the cartridge stopped the leak, and the water pressure was fine. A couple of weeks after that, I turned off the water supply to the house to fix a leak in our shower. After fixing the leak, I turned the water supply back on, and water pressure to all of the faucets was still good. One note, I was the only one home after turning the water back on, so water usage would have been low during this time. Also, I left to pick up my family, so there would have been a day where no water was used.
When we all got back, the kitchen faucet worked fine for the first few times, but then the pressure suddenly diminished and hasn't been the same since. Both the hot and cold water have the same low pressure. This has been an issue for approximately 3 to 4 weeks now.
In researching the issue through the askmehelpdesk website, I went through all of the solutions that I could find. I have dismantled the faucet and did not find anything blocking the aerator or inline filter. I have not found any loose particles in the diverter. I have cleaned the cartridge several times, and have not found anything. I even took the cartridge apart to clean, which I hope was not an issue... I have poured water back through the hose and the inlets to make sure there were no blockages there. I have done each of these items 3 or 4 times, but the water pressure to the kitchen sink has remained consistently low.
The pressure to the dishwasher, which is through the same hot water line to the sink, appears to be fine based on how loud it is and from plastic cups being tossed around.
I am trying to expand my solution search, so I did flush out the hot water heater this weekend and then dismantled and cleaned the kitchen sink again. While outside flushing the tank, I turned the outside spigots on to flush out any particles there. One spigot was fine, but the other outside spigot would not turn on and appeared to be frozen. (We live in TN, and the temperatures have been running 15-25 degrees fahrenheit.) The outside spigot that would not turn on receives its cold water supply right below the kitchen cold water supply. However, since both the hot and cold water have low pressure, I am not sure if this could be the issue. It was also similar cold weather when the issue originally started, and, along with the low usage, may have frozen somewhere in the line. However, we have had temps in the 50s during this period, with no improvement to the kitchen water pressure. Temperatures are going back up over the next couple of days, and I will try the line again. I will also try spraying some water on the pipes in the crawl space to see if anything appears frozen further up the line...
Any ideas or other suggestions to try?
Thanks!!