I have a kitchen sink that has a disposal connected to it that I replaced about 6 months ago, and the faucet has a diverter/hose built into it as well. Today it started making a whistling sound when the water is turned on. It will whistle for about 2 to 4 seconds and then stop. It's not a real high pitched whistle; it sounds like a child's recorder being blown softly. The sound sounds like it is coming from underneath the sink, rather than the faucet. Can anyone help me fix this?
Sink plumbing makes whistling noise like a recorder when water turned on
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Jadnashua
Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
There's a small check valve in the line for the sprayer assembly. It may have started to stick a bit. It could be debris, or mineral deposits. If you have the manual or can find it online, it may show you where it is, and how to take things apart to check.
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Thank you. After I posted this someone in the house flushed a toilet, and I heard that same sound again, and I think the sound came from the same kitchen sink. Does this new info change your opinion, Jim?
Jadnashua
Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Momentarily dropping the pressure by opening another valve could still let it be that. Another easy thing to check is that the shutoffs underneath the sink are fully open. If they are multi-turn, they'll have a washer, and if that's loose, it can make some noise when water is run. IT usually sounds more like a moan or hammer verses a whistle, though. If you actually use the sprayer, can you make the same sound?
Last night the last thing I did was check the shut-off valves (and they are quarter-turn kind) under the sink and they both seemed to be open all the way, but I went ahead and closed them and reopened them all the way anyway. Since I did that I've only heard the whistling noise a few times, and the sink has been used way more than that.
I think I'll just monitor the situation, and do the clean-out of the sprayer if it seems like it's going to be persistent, or gets worse.
I've been monitoring the situation for 3 or 4 days, and I still have the problem, but it seems to be a bit different, since it will now happen also when someone turns on the water in a different bathroom, or flushes a toilet, or the dishwasher is on and the water turns on, or the washing machine is running and turns the water on. It still sounds like a low-toned whistling noise (similar to a child's recorder), and when it whistles, it will last from the moment the water turns on and then stop after 5 to 8 seconds. The sound still comes from under the kitchen sink. I doesn't always whistle, but it seems to most of the time.
...also, I can't remember what brand of faucet it its, so I'm not sure where to get the manual for the sprayer assembly to clean the check valve, but I did manage to figure out how to remove the head of the sprayer and kind of rinsed it out under running water and put it back on, and that didn't seem to improve the situation.
