Kitchen faucet comes on strong but then tapers off
 

We've had an issue with our kitchen faucet as long as we've lived here: When you turn on the water in the kitchen sink it comes on strong but almost immediately the water stream dwindles to maybe half as much - sometimes more.

This is a double handle single spout faucet and it happens with both hot and cold water. You can sometimes get it to work a little longer by not turning the handle all the way on.

Does this sound like something that can be repaired or do we need a new sink? What would you call that? I can look up how to videos to fix things but I'm not sure what to refer to that as. (I love how to videos online to learn how to fix things.)

Sounds like a pressure problem, you might have a leak or there may be one in the line, contact your local water authority and see what they have to say about it.

I should note that this is the only faucet in the house that does this. Does that make a difference?

My amateur diagnosis just from this part is that what you've got there is a boy faucet.

Do you rent or own?

If you own, I'd take it apart.

If you are renting, I'd call the landlord.

Disclaimer - I don't know anything about plumbing.

Definitely a pressure problem. Pressure builds up when it's off which is why you get a decent burst to start (and can mitigate it if you don't turn it all the way on). However, I don't see how the faucet itself can be to blame. Is the kitchen on the far side of the house, away from your other faucets? There must be some issue with water getting to this particular spot.

I think a pressure issue would manifest itself in more than just one faucet. A partial blockage could account for the effect, but since hot and cold, which travel through separate pipes, show the same effect it would seem to indicate an issue in the faucet itself.

I had the same sort of issue. Replaced the whole faucet and fine. At my office we get a huge deposit build up as we are on well water. Try to unscrew the - well you know strainer type thing (5 years in hardware and this is how I describe it). We do that at work and it takes out all the sediment and it works better - for a while.

I say tear down the house and rebuild

I told you I knew nothing about plumbing. :blush: