Recently our main kitchen faucet flow started to diminished quite a bit. It's a Delta Leland model. I opened the aerator and found lots of soft rubber pieces clogging it. I cleared that out and immediately the flow improved.

The problem is these pieces continue to accumulate. Every day or two there the pieces return.

A quick search revealed this:

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.p...plastic.63111/

I'm unsure of how to troubleshoot where the rubber pieces are coming from. That post seems to suggest the valves under the sink, but could it be further upstream in the water supply? The fact the pieces continue to accumulate, now for several weeks, makes me think the gasket or whatever rubber source is larger.

The rest of the faucets in the house seem to be flowing normally, but it's hard to be objective. They don't have an easily removable aerator for me to inspect.

 

Typically it would be the hot side that would crumble first.
Do you have those old style type valves under your sink ?
You could shut the water main off to the house and unscrew the valve assembly to inspect the washers. Old hoses could decompose too but that is not as common as the valve washers.

 

Thanks for the response. The plumbing install is 5 years old.

Here's what part of the undersink area looks like...... https://imgur.com/20OMf7O


Are these what you mean by old style valves?

The left side valves are for hot water. The top line goes to the sink. The bottom to the dishwasher.

The right valve is the cold water. (The hanging cable is the extendable neck of the faucet. The red handle is the outside spigot shutoff valve).

 

I wouldn't expect 5 year old valves to start falling apart but they could be.
You can unscrew the bonnet off to check them out.
The supply lines don't look like rubber so they should be ok.

 

Are you 100% certain that the pieces are rubber?

How is your water provided? Are you on municipal water or a well? If on a well there are other things that could shed pieces of rubber like shaft seals on the pump and the bladder in your pressure tank.

 

I also agree with PJ and PD, but for the fact other sink utilities are not affected. I'm going to assume that the kitchen faucets are the closes to the hot water tank. Try flushing the tank. Draw off about one or two gallons with from the lower spigot of the tank and see if any debris is in the buckets.

 

Do you see the black rubber pieces in the dishwasher ?
Some dishwasher fill valves have screens on them and that could become an issue too.

 

Thanks for all the troubleshooting questions.

1. The pieces feel very rubbery and are soft. Attached is a picture of the aerator. Most of the time it is much more clogged than this.


https://imgur.com/a/gD26kik

Initially I thought it was bark or other detritus, but it's definitely man-made and rubbery.

2. I'm on municipal water.

3. I just ordered an aerator wrench to open up the other sink aerators to check if they have similar debris (they are the recessed type and not accessible otherwise).

4. I haven't looked specifically in the dishwasher. I'll check the small drainage container in the dishwasher.

5. I have a tankless water heater. Is there still something to flush here?

 

It's recommended to flush a tankless heater at least once a year. But I'm not convinced that is your problem. It sure looks like "o" ring deposits.

 

Another area you can look that might be more easily accessed than the dishwasher is the clothes washer intake. Usually there is a screen either on the end of the inlet hose or on the machine at the inlet.

If you are regularly getting that much rubber whatever it is there can't be much left. I'd think the source would make itself evident by leaking or not working properly. You can try closing valves like the shutoff under the sink and see if it actually stops the water. If not and the valve leaks then you may have found the source.

 

As a small update, I looked at all the aerators in all the sinks in the home (1 bathroom sink on the same floor, 5 sinks on the floor above) and none of them have the rubber bits like in the kitchen.

 

New update:

Plumber came out and looked at and replaced the valves. The gaskets within them were not crumbling, so they were not the problem. (Would have been odd after just 5 years I think).

As a test, he ran the water through both hot and cold lines before the faucet and examined the output, and no black bits showed up.

Then, he ran the water through the faucet and black bits appeared. The usual places he could get to in the faucet were unrevealing.

So in the end, it looks like I need a new faucet.

 

Bizarre, but at least you found the source. Thanks for letting us know.

 

As a final update:

Apparently the inner lining of some Delta faucet hose assemblies, as pictured here:


can break down and start to release these black rubber bits.

Some reviews that comment on this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...SIN=B004Q02GPM

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...SIN=B00A39FSAK

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...SIN=B00A39FSAK

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...SIN=B00A39FSAK


I received a warranty replacement from Delta--a different looking black nylon hose product so maybe an update to the old design? After replacing it, no more black rubber bits.

Just a general FYI in case anyone else has similar issues.

 

It's a good thing you figured it out. If the inside of the hose is breaking down leaks might not be far behind.