Something's not adding up here, Chicago Kitchen faucet, 2 handle 8 inch spread,

Very low pressure at the spout, although "decent pressure up to the supply including the fixture stop/valve.

Homeowner claims sudden loss of pressure at this sink, and only this sink,

With a 2 handle faucet with 2 cartridges, what are the odds of two
"suddenly" clogged cartridges, if it had one cartridge, I could understand loss of pressure at the spout.

But how does he have loss of pressure on both sides?

It's Chicago Obama sucked the life out of it

Check spout screen and/or cartridge in spout. (Depending on model)

Is it a pull out faucet? If it is, pullout the small "water saver" cartridge where the hose and faucet join.

There is a cartridge in the spout?

This faucet is about 20/21 years old,not exactly cutting edge.

Not a pull out.

can you unscrew the fitting off the end of the spout, they usually have a little screen in them that will get clogged.

Pulled the spout off and things looked normal there, although I'm really not all that familiar with Chicago faucets.

I believe it's the two cartridges, but the homeowner tells a different story, which can be common.

I can tell you that in california "C" means "caliente" the "H' they just install wherever they want because they don't have a clue where it belongs

If there is a pull out sprayer for rinsing dishes on the side, with hose coming from the center of the fixture under the base of the spigot, the diverter is stuck favoring the sprayer or it is worn out in some other way. Take the swivel spigot off and you'll find it in the base. There may be a rusted out spring or other malfunction. If no parts are available for something of that age, just remove the whole diverter. They will end up with a slower stream in the sprayer but the spigot will work normal again.

No sprayer..

Kenneth, it sounds as if you do more service type work than I do, so I'm not sure I can offer much insight, but I'm wondering if maybe one of the 2 cartridges has been flowing poorly for a while and now the 2nd is going bad also, causing the owner to take notice. I can see where someone might not notice flow from the hot side cartridge getting slow since it's usually blended with cold, so that's my suspicion - hot has been slow for a while and now the cold, too.

The only other thing I can think of is a clogged aerator on the spout, but that's a no brainer and was probably the first thing you checked.




Boy, ain't that the truth. It can get pretty frustrating trying to trouble shoot a problem when the homeowner is supplying some of the clues.

I don't like to direct people to other forums, but I've found some pretty good info on this site - some helpful and knowledgeable plumbers over there, too.

https://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/f11/

'bout time you showed up, what the hell?

I also suspect two bad cartridges, but the home owner says sudden loss,

I didn't have the cartridges at the time, and his place is 50 miles from nowwhere, these are the ones you cant win.

Sounds like one of those situations where it's hard to come out ahead.

If you don't mind, keep me posted on whether or not the new cartridges do the trick. I always try to file away information on odd plumbing and HVAC issues for future reference.

Good luck!