Today we are going to take some lessons from the physical world to apply to programming and troubleshooting in general.

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The Problem: Water Pressure

Recently we have had a problem with water pressure in our main bathroom sinks. The secondary bath upstairs had no problems, neither did our shower. But the sinks in the main bathroom were a weak trickle, even with the hot and cold water opened all the way.

It was very strange because the sinks are downstairs, the water heater is upstairs. Downhill pressure shouldn’t be where the problem is.

Guess Number One: Clogged Aerator

Many modern sinks have a part called an “Aerator” that breaks up the water flow. This serves a couple of purposes. It makes the water flow smoother and wider. It helps conserve water. It stops the water from splattering as much when it hits your hands or whatever else you put under the stream.

From a quick search, I found that sometimes water pipes get debris in them and a screen like an aerator is a likely culprit for catching this debris and getting clogged.

Now if you look up how to remove an aerator, the top results will tell you to just unscrew it from the tip of the faucet with your hand. That did not work for me. Our aerators where tucked away inside the faucet with no way to grip them.

Turns out this is called a “Delta Aerator” and you need a special tool to unscrew it. It is called a delta aerator wrench. The aerators and wrench looks like this:

So I order the wrench and it comes in pretty quick. I take the aerators out and inspect the faucet (** IMPORTANT **: make sure you plug the drain before unscrewing the aerator). No debris seems to be stuck there, but we scrub the aerators and soak them in vinegar and water solution to clean them. Reinstall them back in the faucet and . . . no change.

Guess Number Two: Clogged Pipes

The article that talked about the debris mentioned that sometimes it get stuck in the pipes and hoses under the sink and you have to clean them out. To be honest, I was a little scared of making a big water mess.

But I put on my adult hat, grabbed about 4 towels and a plastic bowl and got to work.

There is an important series of steps you should follow when messing with these pipes.

1. Shut off the water valves – your sink may have simple valves for the hot and cold water that are easy to either twist close or push / pull closed. Make sure you do this before doing anything else.
2. Place down towels, drip pans, or plastic sheets – just in case, put some water damage prevention measures down before unscrewing anything. No need for an insurance claim to come out of this.
3. Turn on the Hot and Cold taps – make sure that nothing comes out. This means the valves you shut off in step 1 are working.
4. Turn the taps back off
5. Disconnect a hose / pipe from the tap underneath the sink and check for debris – Try running a pipe cleaner type brush through the hose or pipe. You may need an extra long one to be thorough.
6. Reconnect the hose or pipe carefully
7. Open the water valve
8. Turn on the tap and test

Unfortunately, this did not fix our problem either. And it was no picnic because there was quite a bit of stuff stored under the sink that I had to pull out to get to the pipes and then put back.

Guess Number Three: Back to the Aerator

At this point I was almost ready to call a plumber. But I had one last thing to try. The upstairs sinks seemed fine. And when I had accidentally turned the water on with the aerator removed in the downstairs sink, the water came out strong (and made a bit of a splashy mess).

What if the aerator was clogged but in a hidden way or was broken or faulty? It seemed silly since the downstairs and upstairs sinks should have the exact same aerators, but I took the aerator out of the upstairs sink and put it in the downstairs one and voila, it worked like a charm. Then I put the bad aerator upstairs and got only a trickle.

Problem solved!

As a bonus, the delta aerator wrench that I had ordered from Amazon (see link above) came with a pack of various sized replacement aerators. These allowed for a much better water flow than the ones that came with the house. This made my spouse very happy, and as they say “Happy spouse, happy house.”

Troubleshooting Lessons

So what can we learn about troubleshooting from this.

First, isolate the problem area. By working my way outward from the aerator to the pipes, I was able to narrow down where the problem area was. This made the possible solutions more clear.

Second, try low risk solution first. Taking the aerators out was really no risk and the tool was very inexpensive. I tried this before moving onto unscrewing pipes.

Third, try solutions that are on the edges of your comfort zone. Use guides and risk mitigation tools (towels in this case) to stretch yourself and learn. It will help your confidence and you will grow.

Fourth, question your assumptions. I assumed that the aerators would be the same since they all looked the same and all came with the house. Questioning this assumption led me to the solution and saved me from having to call a plumber (expensive).

I hoped this helps you whether solve an actual plumbing problem or just a better framework for problem solving.

Keep getting wiser, stronger, and better.