We moved into a 40+ year old house and did some remodeling on our own. In the kitchen we installed a new countertop, sink and faucet. The faucet water pressure starts out OK and then dwindles to a trickle after some use. After a bunch of trial and error I figured out that the problem was in the valve of the faucet (forgive me if my terminology is off). It’s a 3-hole Moen faucet (one hole has the handle, one the faucet spout and the third is the sprayer).

Inside the faucet is a brass valve with three holes. One leads to the faucet, one connects to a hose for the sprayer and one is the inlet for the water from the handle. When I disconnect this valve, the water pressure from the inlet hose is very strong, so I know the problem is in the valve itself. I basically take the valve outside and spray it through with a garden hose sprayer. That seems to solve the problem as I then reassemble the faucet and water flows well. But, again, after some use (1-3 weeks?) it eventually slows to a trickle and I have to repeat the process.

I know that the underlying cause is our galvanized piping. We get a lot of the rusty granulated stuff in our aerators and I’m almost sure that is what is gumming up the valve.

OK, given all of that information, is there anything I can do to avoid taking the faucet apart every couple of weeks other than re-piping the whole house? Is there a better faucet/valve that would be more resistant to this clogging?

Any advice appreciated.

Ok i’m not handy at all so bare with me. 2 days ago my kitchen sink started to shut off when I turned the pressure up (low pressure ran fine) so I removed the aerator and the pressure increased slightly.

So it stayed like that until this evening. Now I’ve loss all pressure..barely a trickle coming out. Any suggestions?

Periodically, the pressure in my kitchen faucet gets so low the water reduces to only a trickle. Happens with Hot or cold water. The sprayer however works fine. Problem usually occurs after the faucet has been running for a while (but I cannot always recreate it when I want to…it is sporatic). I have a single handle Moen faucet. I have removed Aerator. I have replaced the cartridge. The valves are fully open. No pressure problems anywhere else in the house. Any ideas?