[tugboat1968]

We have no water pressure in our bath room and now low pressure in our kitchen. It started with low pressure, hot water only in the tub, hot water heater is located within 5 five of feet of the tub. It then worked its way up to the sink it the bathroom, we only get a trickle, both hot and cold water. It is now working its way to the kitchen sink, low pressure, hot water only. We are hooked up to city water, but not sewer. Some tell us that the vent is clogged up? IF so how do you clean this out. To make matters worse we also get a gruggling noise when the washer drains. I think we need big HELP.






















































































































































































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[labman]

The vent has nothing to do with the incoming water. It sounds to me like you are getting foreign matter in your water plugging up the water passages. Start with the aerators. They are little things that screw on the end of the faucets. Unscrew one and see if there is a little screen clogged with junk. Carefully note how it is put together. Sometimes they are tricky to get back together. Shake or scrape all the junk off, and put it back together. That may fix the problem.

Drain water out of your hot water tank using the valve at the bottom. Let it run until the water is coming out clear and clean. Do so monthly. Your hot water heater will use less energy and last longer.

If none of that helps, it gets tougher. You need to disconnect the pipes, and then force water or air into the faucet to push the junk out the opened pipe. Many houses have very few places to disconnect pipes or shut the water off. Usually you can right at the faucet, which may be where things are plugged up. You might even be able to shut the water off at a faucet, remove it, and run water back through it from another faucet.

You may want to install a whole house water filter to prevent this in the future. It is not too big of a job. You remove a short length of pipe near the water meter, and put the water filter in its place. Then when your water pressure drops, just replace the filter. You want a valve on either side of it. Try to buy ball valves. They are quick and easy to use and leak less than other types.

The washer gurgling could be a vent problem.

[speedball1]

Hey Tug, If you have a older home with galvanized piping then you could have mineral buildup that cuts back on both volume and pressure. In my area we have started to repipe older homes with galvanized pipes. If you're not sure if you have galvanized pipes scrape a bit off a water pipe coming out of the wall. Galvanized will look silver. Labman has addressed your water problem in detail. Let me address the problem you have with your drainage. Washer pumps discharge with much more pressure and volume than just draining a tub or sink, so if you have a vent problem a washer discharging its load will alert you first. Vents relieve the suction caused by water draining down the waste water pipes. If a vent is blocked the system has to vent somewhere so it vents through the nearest trap. The gurgling sound you hear is the air being sucked through the water in the trap. The answer to this would be to run a sewer snake down the washer vent. Sometimes the kitchen and washer vent is combined but I would definitely check the vent closest to the washer. A birds nest, a dead critter could be the cause but something's up there blocking the air flow. Hope this helps. Tom