Loss of pressure on hot side of single handle Moen sink faucet: Solved

[frank1492]

Well...sort of. At least the problem no longer exists. I removed the stop valves, checked both them and the flexible tubing to the Moen and could not find any evidence of blockages. Still, I replaced the old style stop valves with ball types. At some point while I was testing the flow with aerator in place the flow stopped completely. The aerator was clogged with white, hard debris, assumed to be calcium. I have no idea where in the system this was originally lodged, but I now have full pressure on both hot and cold sides. (I guess I would still suspect the cartridge itself although it was thoroughly inspected and is clear plastic so any debris should have been detected.) The perplexing part is the water comes from a reservoir not a well and should be very soft. Was this calcium or something else, and if calcium, why? Thanks all for prior help. Frank

[Ed Pawlowski]

That makes sense. Ever pull the anode of you water heater? We did that on one at work recently and it was covered with white crud that looks like calcium. There was a recent thread about all of this a couple of weeks ago. My guess is that a glob of crud was hiding, possibly in the valve body of the shut off and slowing flow.

I suggest you flush the water heater as they often have deposits on the bottom.

[jamesgangnc]

That white hard debris may be the remnants of the tube from inside your hot water heater.

[frank1492]

Please recall this is a Marathon all-plastic heater. I assume the above comments still apply.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If the minerals (or whatever solids) come from the water, they still apply.

[jamesgangnc]

I had one of those suckers. I tried to get in the recall but got told my heater wasn't supposed to have that problem. But it did and I took what was left of the white plastic dip tube out which was practically nothing and drained a ton of white bits the size of large grains of sand out of it. It was interesting how the tube seemed to uniformly disintigrate into the same sized grains.

It was pretty easy to tell these were not calcium. They were more of a bone white.

[hrhofmann]

By stop valves, do you mean what are commonly called shutoffs?

[frank1492]

Unfortunately the aerator containing the bits went out in the trash, but my recollection is that the debris looked exactly as you describe it- large grain of sand size, bone white. Trying to melt them would have cliched it. What should I do at this point? The water temp seems fine. Thanks all for your help. Frank

[frank1492]

Yes, shutoff. I have seen right angle ones referred to as "angle stops."