Bathroom faucets only trickling water, kitchen is fine

[ToiletFlapper]

House was vacant for maybe 2 weeks and fine, even during a cold spell. All faucets worked normal well into December. Had heat on low. End of December I go and check the house and the bathroom is now trickling water out of the bathtub faucet and the bathroom sink. Check the kitchen and it's fine. Turned the heat up and now hit an even colder spell of 23 below freezing temperatures. Curious to know if anyone has any ideas on what is going on?

Water heater is about 12 years old maybe. House is 75+ years old so it has galvanized plumbing.

 

[Terry]

Are the slow faucets on outside walls?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ToiletFlapper]

Are the slow faucets on outside walls?

The tub faucet is close to the outside wall but not coming out of the outside wall itself. The bathroom sink faucet is closer to the interior of the house. But, the kitchen sink is on an outside wall and has no issues.

The bathroom sink and kitchen sink faucets have been replaced in the past year.

Only time I've ever had an issue was with the shower head when I bought the house. It was trickling when you turned it on, but just needed a new shower head. This I don't know, considering the kitchen faucet was replaced within the last 6 months and the bathroom faucet was replaced about a year ago.

 

[Terry]

You can clean aerators on faucets and flow restrictors on shower heads. It can also be that some of the galvanized is getting blocked.

 

[ToiletFlapper]

You can clean aerators on faucets and flow restrictors on shower heads. It can also be that some of the galvanized is getting blocked.

Yeah, I saw the thing about aerators online when googling, but the shower head was replaced long ago and worked just fine for 6 years up until a few days ago. The bathroom sink was replaced 15 months ago exactly. Yet both have this issue. Also, how do you clean the aerator or flow restrictor on a tub faucet? I don't recall seeing anything to take off.

 

[Terry]

The tub faucet? Most don't have aerators unless they are German. It could be the tub cartridge or the pipes leading to that faucet.

 

[ToiletFlapper]

Well, Terry, it was indeed the aerator at least for the cold water in the bathroom sink. Took the thing off and bam, sediment and rocks galore came out with a gush of water like a river. Unfortunately the hot water was still only a trickle, so the water heater is my next target. Do I need to drain the tank and wash it out or just drain it? It's a PITA since it's a gas WH. I might just have it replaced, it's about 7+ years old, at least that's almost how long I've had the house. I could tell they had replaced it a few years prior. Might just be time to go. But why did this come on so suddenly???

 

[Terry]

The serial number on the water heater will give you the age on the water heater.
You can try flushing it and see how that works though. I wouldn't drain it down though unless you have some hot faucets open to allow air to come into the tank at the top. It's not good to drain a tank without allowing air back to it or you create a vacuum that can collapse the tank.

 

[ToiletFlapper]

Well, I got the sink hot AND cold working fine just by removing the aerator AND the line under the sink to the hot water handle then putting it back together. Unfortunately attempts by me and a plumber to do this with the shower made no difference. It seems that the mixer valve/pipe in the wall has 90% cold water coming out of the right hole, not much from hot. Blew out the cartridge, etc. nothing. Plumber thinks I need to re-pipe the whole house. I'm skeptical since the sink had the same issue with hot and cold but I got both working and the shower was not working at all but now cold is working just not hot. I dunno...super frustrated as it's a rental and I have tenants waiting to move in.

 

[Reach4]

You could benefit from a second opinion visit, and hopefully a fix, from another plumber. Here is a website that lists Kent: https://terrylove.com/order.htm

 

[Jadnashua]

With galvanized, the hot side tends to rust out faster than the cold.

Some of the faucets (I have a Grohe like this) have filters on the inlet pipes before the cartridge or the spout. You can only check, clean, or replace them after you've removed the faucet to gain access.

 

[Terry]

I just repiped a home in Bellevue that wasn't getting hot to the showers anymore. After the repipe the homeowner said it was the best shower he had in six months. Galvanized was never made to last forever. And where it meets brass, like in a shower valve, it closes right off. And like Jadnashua mentioned, the hot always goes first.