LESLIE: Mike in Oregon, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you?
MIKE: Hi, I was wondering, is there anything that I can do to increase my water pressure in my bathroom sink.
TOM: Do you have good water pressure in other places in the house?
MIKE: I have excellent water pressure in the shower and the rest of the house is fine.
TOM: Yeah, it you have water pressure in the shower that’s great and water pressure in the bathroom sink that’s lousy, then there can be one thing and one thing only that’s causing this and that’s an obstruction of the sink faucet. Have you tried to take off the aerator off the sink faucet? That’s the tip of the end of the faucet. Have you taken that off?
MIKE: No, I haven’t taken that off. But I can do that.
TOM: This is going to be a miracle.
LESLIE: Wait until you see, Mike. (Tom chuckles) When you unscrew that tip of the faucet, make sure you very carefully, number one, watch out for falling debris because there’s going to be a ton of it. But also, when you take apart the pieces of the aerator, put them in order that you’re removing them because it can get a little confusing. And make sure you really clean things. You’re going to see there’s a lot of debris and particles and rocks and stones, even. You’d be surprised what comes through the faucet.
TOM: Yeah, when you pull that aerator off then turn the faucet on, stand back because the flow is going to be massive. You can’t have a water pressure problem in one faucet and have it be perfect everywhere else if there’s something wrong with your piping. It’s the problem with the faucet and it’s very common to have an aerator get blocked. You’d be amazed that you only have to block it a tiny bit to do a dramatic reduction in water pressure. So take the aerator off, clean it, put it back together. You could even soak it in a little bit of vinegar and water. That will loosen up any mineral salts that are blocking it as well. Put it back together and you’ll be good to go.
MIKE: Very good. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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