Pro Handyman Blog

If you turn on the water at your kitchen faucet and the pressure is low, you can do a couple things to diagnose the problem You probably have the tools in your garage and it won’t take you much time at all. By the way, if you have really bad pressure throughout the house, and not just at the kitchen faucet, these tips won’t help you much.

The first thing I do with low pressure at faucets is to unscrew the aerator at the end of the faucet. You can probably use your fingers, but may need pliers. Wrap the aerator with cloth or something to prevent scratching it if you need to use tools. With the aerator removed, look into the aerator and see if it has a bunch of debris in it. If it does, clean it out with whatever is at hand. Screw it back on the faucet and turn the water back on.

If the pressure is still poor, go under the sink and make sure the valves controlling the water are fully open. If you still have poor water pressure at this point it will require some more digging. If you have a single handled faucet, you can replace the mechanism inside (either a cartridge or springs and washers), or try removing the water supply lines from the faucet . Turn the water off, remove the supply lines and point them in a bucket and turn the water back on. You want to make sure you are getting good pressure from the water supply. If you are, then you know the problem is with the faucet and you can choose to repair it or replace it.