This is the greatest forum I've ever seen!

My fiancé and I recently bought a condo and the kitchen sink has virtually no water pressure in the spout, but the sprayer has full pressure.

I have never done any plumbing at all in my entire life, so tonight I took a crash course. I got under the sink and it looks like there are two copper lines (one hot and one cold), and they run to their respective valves (two-knob design). The hose for the sprayer is connected at a point in between these two valves (from underneath).

I originally thought that maybe there was just something wrong with the hot/cold valves, so I dissassembled them (at first without shutting off the water source) and learned very quickly that there is plenty of pressure underneath the stem assembly. That led me to believe that there was something wrong with the actual stem assembly, so $20 later I've got new stems, but still no pressure out of the spout. Plenty of pressure still in the sprayer though.

Any suggestions?

THANKS!

Did you unscrew the screen at the end of the faucet to see if it is blocked w/ debris? You will be surprised what accumulates in the screens. If that is not a problem, there may be air lock. Thoses sprayers are a pain anyway. As a home inspector I've seen more problems with the sprayers. Installing a new faucet is not that difficult. You already know how to shut the water off and replace the stems. A good basin wrench really is all you need. Just follow the directions w/ the new faucet. If you don't want to buy a new faucet, disconnect the sprayer and install a brass cap where the sprayer connects to the faucet and see if the pressure get better.

Yes, I checked the screen, it's clear of debris. I'd like to avoid replacing the sink if at all possible. I'd like to keep the sprayer also if possible, as it's pretty handy for doing the dishes, but I suppose if I disconnected it and it fixed the pressure problem, I could do without it. Could you tell me what a "brass cap" might look like or would the employee at the hardware store know what I was talking about? Thanks so much!

Oops, didn't mean to say "replace the sink", rather "replace the faucet", :)

A "brass cap" is just that. When you disconnect the sprayer from where it connects to the underside of the faucet, you'll need to "cap" the port before you turn the water back on if not, you'll have a big mess. The cap just screws on where the sprayer connected. Use a little teflon tape on the threads then screw the cap on. Good luck

Better faucets have some sort of a valve that shuts the water off to the spout when you open the sprayer. That valve could be stuck. There could also be junk inside the faucet where the spout and sprayer branch off. No sure how you would fix that without removing the stems and blowing air or even water from a hose into the spout.

You could always upgrade to a single handle faucet with a sprayer.

Hi Bob,

All faucets with sprayers have a gizmo called a diverter. Short course in faucets follows. A diverter is just a flap that closes off the spout every time you press the spray handle. The spray is pressured up every time you turn on the faucet. The shut off in the spray handle controls it. The diverter's located at the base of the spout. Remove the spout and clean the crud from around the diverter and you'll be back in business. Regards, Tom

Well, back at it tonight and still no luck. I'm not sure I've been able to locate the diverter. I've attached a photo so everyone can see what my sink looks like :)

As seen in the photo, when I pull the top off the spout, I see a white plastic cylinder. I also disconnected the sprayer from the bottom of the faucet and tried to clear any debris out of there, but found none. I poked and prodded around trying to clean up any gunk I could find, but couldn't find any. Is the diverter visible in this picture?

If it helps, I also tried taking the spray nozzle head off the sprayer and turning the water on, and the water came out of the sprayer hose at full pressure, even without squeezing the trigger (as it was disconnected).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hey Bob,

Pull the chrome plate and check the base of the spout. If you would give me the name of the faucet I might be able to pull up a diagram of it that shows the diverter. The sprayer's always pressured up when the faucet's turned on. It's controlled by the shut off on the sprayer head. Good luck, Tom

I had the chrome plate off earlier and didn't see anything at the base of the spout. However, the white plastic cylinder you can see in the photo is removable, so I pulled it out. The bottom of it looks like a nipple of some sort (possibly to allow water to flow in?). I'm not going to even attempt to describe what it looks like the rest of it does, but this might be the problem. When I removed this piece and ran the water, it flowed freely at full pressure from the opened spout. Sorry, I do not know the make/model of the faucet. Is this piece replaceable? It seems to be the source of the problem.

THANKS!

Here's another thought... is this piece totally necessary? I just reassembled the sink and it's working fine. The only thing it's not doing is stopping the water flow from the spout when the sprayer is engaged (leading me to believe that this piece acts as the diverter).

Bob, take the piece into a plumbing shop and ask them to replace it. In the meantime look over the spout for a name. Also, are the any moving parts? You might clean it up and reinstall it and try again. Good luck. Tom

Speedball-
Thanks a million for all your help. I looked the faucet over and can't find a brand name or anything on it anywhere. Probably the el-cheapo brand. I'll take your advice and take that piece to a plumbing shop and see if it can be replaced. It does have some moving parts, but they are all moving just fine. The very bottom of the part has what looks like a nipple on it, and I can't tell if the indentation at the tip of the nipple should be open or not. As it stands, it's closed, and I tried clearing it out with a toothpick but it seems as though it should not be open. In any case, I have full water pressure for the time being, and that will make my better half so VERY happy.

Thanks again for all your help, I'm sure you'll be seeing some more posts from me very soon, as I run into more fix-er-upper problems with the new place!

Hey Bob,
No doubt in my mind that you have the diverter although it's one I haven't come across. Perhaps if you flush out the valve body and supplies and reinstall it you would have a faucet that worked. Regards and keep those questions coming. Tom

I have a similar problem. To fix a leak in my single handle Delta faucet, I replaced the 2 sets of springs and seats, and the 2 o-rings above and below the diverter. And, I replaced the diverter. The leak is now fixed, but the sprayer no longer works. It had very little water coming out of it before I started, now no water is coming out. I noticed when I replaced the diverter, in the hole at the very back is some rubber material. It seemed like it was supposed to be there so I left it. Should I pull out the rubber in the back of the diverter hole, or leave as-is? Any suggestions on how to correct this problem?

The rubber sounds like its blocking the 1/8th inch outlet to the spray. The spray is pressured up every time you turn on the faucet. When you turn on the sprayer the diverter snaps overto shut off the spout. That's the way they work. Clean out the blockage in the valve body that's preventing the water from entering the sprayer hose and reinstall the diverter. Good luck, tom

Is Tom the man or what?!

Finding this forum and actually fixing something in the house for once has me on a kick. I am now examining the possibility of laying laminate flooring in the bathroom as a test run, then in the kitchen. Get ready for lots of questions!