Water pressure galley sink

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Over time (6 months) we've noticed the water pressure from the galley sink faucet was declined quite a bit. I checked and there are no kinks in the line, I've cleaned the head of the faucet with CLR to clear out any calcium deposits and the pressure only increased slightly. The interesting thing is the water pressure from the head sink is just fine. Have any of my fellow Tugnutters had this problem that might be able to share their thoughts?

Jim F

 

[Levitation]

They cut the PVC tubing to length at the factory with hacksaws and in the past they have done a poor job of cleaning the filings out before gluing up the joints - leading to water pump failures and clogged faucets... They seem to have gotten a handle on that problem - but maybe a new employee on your boat...

Is the flow slow with the aerator removed from the galley spout? I had to ditch my aerator because of poor flow... WM will have aerator parts if that turns out to be the problem...

Is the flow slow for both cold and hot? Should be the same... If not, that raises other possibilities... I'm going to assume it is the same, for the time being...

If it remains slow with the aerator removed then there are likely to be PVC filings piled up either inside the faucet valve itself or at the tee-off from the main line going to the head/shower...
Take the galley faucet valve apart and clean it out would be the next step...
Failing that for a cure, would be to open the valves at both sinks - galley/head,(remove the aerators) - and blow out the lines from the galley end - i.e. backwards for the galley faucet - then turn the water on and flush both faucets... First set the faucets for cold water (both) and blow that out...
Then reset the faucets for the hot side and blow it...

Ah yes, the joy of owning a boat...

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Denny:

You are a wealth of information, thanks for all the helpful hints. I'll work on this over the next several days and see what happens.

When are you heading back to Florida and what are your plans? If you get to Key West before the end of March please let us know. Are there any other Ranger Tugs owners in Key West?

Jim F

 

[Levitation]

Jim, at the moment the plans are fluid...
We are driving to Ft. Myers beach about the middle of the month... At this point I am roughly planning on floating the ICW across the state to Port St. Lucie to visit friends... I suspect we will not get to Key West, but you never know...
Machinery rebuilding here is going slower than anticipated... I shouldn't even take the time to go back South, but the boat is there and needs to be fetched home for the summer... If you folks are going to be back on Traverse Bay this summer we can definitely meet up for a cruise...

 

[knotflying]

Jim,
I had the same problem twice in the galley sink. There is a small strainer between where the hose connects to the faucet head. Unscrew the hose from the faucet head and remove the screen. Run the water without the faucet head to clear out any other stuff that may be in the line and then clean the screen. I bet you will be golden after that.

 

[walldog]

Jim,
I had the same problem twice in the galley sink. There is a small strainer between where the hose connects to the faucet head. Unscrew the hose from the faucet head and remove the screen. Run the water without the faucet head to clear out any other stuff that may be in the line and then clean the screen. I bet you will be golden after that.

I have cleaned that strainer that connects between the faucet head and the hose a couple of times. It helps, but the pressure in the sink is no where near as strong as the pressure in the bathroom sink. Since I get trash out each time I clean it, maybe I have a blockage at the valve.

 

[commander bill]

From my experience your water tank may contained "white plastic powder residue" from when the tank was drilled for plumbing during installation. Over time this material will end up in the strainer of the sink. Disassembly is required to clean it and it may occur again until all the material is removed. I have never seen this affect the head sink.

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Like several we've had water pressure problems in the galley sink and today I solved it by doing something I'd not read on Tugnuts before and thought I'd share what we did that may be helpful for others. First of all I followed the advice here and by Andrew to take the faucet head apart and clean everything but we still had very little water pressure. Andrew was kind enough to even have a new faucet head sent to us and it made no change either. Today I cleared out everything from the cabinet under the sink and decided to disconnect the flexible metal hose from the underside of the faucet. There is a small set screw that when taken off let's you simply pull the coupling from the faucet line. When I looked inside the end of the fitting that's attached to the flexible metal line it was clogged with debris and or calcium deposits and not letting the check valve let water thru. Once cleaned out and everything reassembled I had water pressure strong enough to power wash the siding of our house. If you're still not happy with your galley water pressure you might try this cleaning procedure or make note for the future if and when you lose pressure, it worked wonderful for us.

 

[Levitation]

Ahhh, the pleasure of solving the problem... Your findings are duly noted and I will attempt to find time to pop my hose off just for a look see...

We are still chipping away at the shower pump in between wrenching on farm machines... Doing similar as Rich in putting in a switch with auto-off-manual - and a new pump and float.. Where we vary is the switch is mounted behind the lip of the cabinet door under the sink so that it is out of the direct spray of water... The other difference is that RIch can climb mountains (and does) and I can only bend over for a few minutes at a time before the left leg goes limp and I fall down... Switch is wired and installed and the next thing is to cut the wires on the pump/float and wire it into the circuit...

Just wiped a coat of wax (Meguiars NXT Techwax 2.0) off the starboard hull and was driven inside by rain as I wiped the last square foot... Looks like we will be working in the shop the rest of the day... That is OK, we have weeks of work sitting around in here - which is why my formerly pampered boat sits out in the rain...

Looking forward to visiting with all you again this winter...

 

[RProffer]

Faucets are required by lay to have a flow constrictor to conserve water. I find the flow inadequate, so I always remove it. The constrictor, besides restricting water flow, can also allow crud to build up behind it and reduce the flow further. I leave the screen aerator installed to keep water from splattering.

On some faucets, the constrictor is part of the screen aerator. A knife blade edge can separate the two. On other faucets, remove the aerator and the constrictor will be found on the faucet. Again a knife blade edge can help remove it. I hope I described it well enough.

 

[AGLyme]

Trailertrawlerkismet. I followed your 12 year old suggestion on my 11 year old 31 and it worked as you said. Thank you !