Kitchen Faucet Pressure Improvement

Welcome to the first full day of Autumn.

I have returned from my morning travels. I ventured out and took the faucet back to the Depot and then looked at what else they had. Nothing I looked at worked. Partly because the valves on our supply lines are half inch and all the faucets I looked at were 3/8's.

I decided to come home and remove the faucet we have and search for whatever restrictors I could find.

I have tried and tried to remove the nozzle from the hose and all it does is spin. I messed with it a bit and found that by pushing on it and then turning it, it started to spin off. Somehow, pushing on the nozzle unit engaged the threads and I was able to remove it. 

Upon turning on the water with the nozzle removed, I got quite a much more powerful stream of water than we have been getting. That told me the restrictor was in the nozzle head. One of the first things I got to come out of the head was a big chunk of rusty sand. I banged it several times on the counter and got more sandy residue out of the head. I also removed some plastic pieces that were in there that I assumed were causing flow problems as well.

And I was right. The water pressure is much better, and I can live with that, for now. 

So, that all turned out to be a much easier fix than I anticipated and much less expensive than a new faucet, which is a good thing.

Now I can turn my attention to the Boiler Room and getting an idea of how we want to place the shelves.

Inspections and Shelvings

I got a call from the Spokane Building Inspector first thing this morning. He said he would come by around 10:30.

I was out on the front porch reading the newspaper when he walked up. His name was Eric. I took Eric down to the Boiler Room and showed him the new outlet and the Boiler. It took about three minutes for him to say it all looks good and he was outta here.

So, my concerns about him finding problems down there from other projects we have done were assuaged, and we still get to live in the house.

Next project was to get a new faucet for the kitchen sink and to look at some shelving racks for the Boiler Room,

We went to Home Depot and bought a faucet and also looked at some racks. The stuff they had there wasn't what I had in mind, so we went to Costco.

To make parking even more fun at Costco, they had a huge section closed off as they are planning to repave the whole thing...one section at a time.

We got in and found the racks, and I think we are going with the really solid one that is six feet tall and measures 48" x 24". At 95 bucks, I think we will get two.

Once we got home, I started check out the new faucet and quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work.

So, that's going back and we will figure something else out.

 

Faucet Inspection and Boiler Inspection

I got under the kitchen sink today to see if I could figure out how to improve the water pressure. The first thing I did after removing all the stuff under the sink, was to disconnect the hot water line of the faucet from the hot water supply line. I attached a short hose that I was able to direct into a bucket and turned on the valve.

The water pressure was quite strong, much better than what the faucet delivers. 

And it only took about thirty seconds for the water to turn hot.

Obviously, we are replacing the faucet. We will go to the Depot or some place and see what we can find. However, before I open up the new faucet and install it, I'm going to closely inspect the old faucet and see if there are limiters in the hoses that keep the water pressure at such a useless force.

So, stand by cuz this is not resolved.

In Boiler news, Element Air hired an electrician to come in and install an outlet in the wall next to where they hung the new boiler. Apparently, the electrician pulled a permit. 

Other than our re-roofing project a few years ago, there has not been a permit used on this property for anything we have done.

Because the electrician pulled a permit, the inspector told me that Element Air needed a permit to install the boiler. 

So, after some wrangling around, we now have a permit for the boiler, and I guess the inspector will be calling on Monday to arrange the inspection. 

Because I have done all the wiring down in the basement, I'm just a little worried about getting the inspection. My plan is to show the inspector as little of the basement as possible.

I guess that would include any access to this Blog.

Tankless Success

I have just completed my first tankless hot water shower. It was lovely. The water was hot for the whole shower, and it took about the same amount of time for the water to get hot in the shower.

Our kitchen sink is another matter. I just timed it and it took over three minutes before the water was hot.

We have had an issue with the kitchen sink since the remodel. There is not a lot of pressure in the water flow which adds to the time it takes for the hot water to get to the sink.

I'm considering buying another faucet to see if that solves the water pressure problem. Another fix for the hot water delay is to buy and install an under sink hot water tank. It's a small one-gallon tank that will serve the kitchen sink only. 

We have resisted doing this because we did not want to lose the space the small water heater will take up. I'm investigating the possibility of installing the small tank in the basement.

Boiler Installation - Finally

The days are getting shorter and the night are getting cooler. So, it is perfect timing that the guys from Element Air have started installing our new boiler yesterday. They got the new boiler unit hung and vented.

Remember this?!

This is how it looks at the moment. 

Quite a difference.

We have so much more room down in that space. We are thinking of purchasing some nice, sturdy shelving racks that we can place down there. In the meantime, they have a lot of work to do.

Zane has just told me they won’t get it done today because their suppler is out of a crucial part.

One of my projects for today was to put away all our air conditioners for the season. We have one in the kitchen and one in each of the big bedrooms upstairs.

It turned out to be a fairly easy job. The most difficult part was getting the kitchen a.c. upstairs to be stored. I’m not supposed to lift anything that heavy even though it is well within my capabilities. But Susan won’t let me.

So, we carried it up together. It went very well and everything is packed away for 2026.

Now all we need is a furnace.

Wedding Report

The wedding is in the books and the best thing we can say about it is, “IT IS OVER!”

Everything went very well. The weather was just right. Not too hot and not too cool and no rain.

We had right around 50 people and it was all very manageable. Susan and Mark did the bulk of the work concerning getting all the food prepared, out, and cleaned up. Well, lots of people helped with the cleanup.

As I said earlier, it is over and we have decided we will never do it again.  The people that have wedding venues and operate them definitely earn their money.

Here are some pictures.

First Mow

It's been about two months since the new lawn was installed. It received its first mowing yesterday. It looks pretty good. Here is a before and after picture but it's thrown off by the amount of sun in the first picture.

We are approaching the big wedding weekend, which is only a few days away. The stress factor is arising.