Hello everyone,

I have had this issue for some time now, whenever I turn on the kitchen facet, the water runs for a second, then sputters as if there is water in the line(s), then runs normally. If I use the water for a bit, then shut it off and notice it continues to drip...i can solve the constant dripping by, once again, turning the facet on and running it until the air is purged from the tap, then everything is fine.

I should note that, once the water runs it does not sputter after that...only in the first couple of seconds for a bit.

I am on city water, not a well.

Here are some of the things i have noted,

1. this only happens in the winter time when its cold outside and

never in the summer.

2.There appears to be no cracks in any of the lines running to the tap and can see no leaks or dark spots on the ceiling downstairs where the water lines would run.

3.none of the other taps in the house do this.

4. seems predominantly with the hot water tap, although the cold water tap has done this as well.

The apparatus you see attached to where the aerator goes allows us to branch the water off and filter it...i have run the tap with it off and it still does the same thing.

Any thoughts or idea's?

Like I said, the air seems to be cleared out in the first couple seconds of running the water, and all is dry under the the sink.

Thanks

 

You might try going to your water heater, place a bucket under your pressure relief valve outlet pipe and open the pressure relief valve briefly... see if any air comes out. Remember that the water will be hot, so don't burn yourself. If you get some air, keep it open until you get solid water with no spurts of air.

 

@Xspleeper,

I don't actually have a dedicated water heater, what I have is a heater coil inside my furnace that supplies all the hot water requirements.

 

Are you saying you have a boiler? At some point you are probably going to have a spigot or a purge valve. Not really going to be able to tell you how to find it... you are the one looking at it.

 

Yes, a heater coil off the boiler that supplies all the hot water taps in the house. I will include a pic.

 

I will move this thread to the boiler forum, they will be able to tell you which valves to open. Looks like you have a schrader valve with a cap on top of it. (Like your car tire valve stem) Be sure that cap it not on tight, it should just be loosely held on. The pressure relief valve is right next to it. But I'm unsure which spigot would be best to open to release any air trapped in the system. So hold tight and someone else will assist you.

My inclination is to say to open the pressure relief valve but let's see what the boiler experts say.

 

That relief valve is for the boiler only and not for the coil. Unfortunately I do not see one for the coil which you should have. It is a different rating than the one on the boiler and goes where your spigot is since no other accommodations have been made.

SupplyHouse.com - Plumbing, Heating & HVAC Supplies - SupplyHouse.com

Cash Acme Brass 1/2-in Mnpt Pressure Relief Valve in the Pressure Relief Valves & Regulators department at Lowes.com

14737-0150 - Cash-Acme 14737-0150 - 3/4" FWL-2 Pressure Relief Valve (150 PSI) (supplyhouse.com)

The relief valve you want is either 1/2 or 3/4", depend what your faucet is. Looking closer it looks like your faucet on the coil is all soldered so you might have more work than just unscrewing the faucet and replace with relief valve if you elect to do it.

The one you want is set @ 150 psi. I believe you can get it locally if you check around if that's more convenient.

Hope this helps a little.

 

@IAS295 as far as i can see your hot water boiler system has a thermal coil that routes domestic water through and is heated by the furnace itself to supply hot demand. You mentioned that the sputter also came from the cold water tap...but not as often. This is NOT a furnace issue and confused why you would post this in this section (???) anyway...in cold temperatures air in the system is a normality, however you state that it is only happening on the kitchen tap system. If both cold and hot taps give the same result, and none of the other taps are displaying this "sputter" then suffice to say it is most likely the aerator or the tap assembly itself. iF you had a crack or break in the line, then the other taps would sputter as well. Process of elimination tells me that...since both the cold and hot are displaying the same result with different branch feeds...it has to be common to one thing...and that would be the tap assembly itself. Regardless...next time pick the correct forum to help solve your problems...for future reference it does not belong here.

 

@TAXPOOR..Thank you for your response, i think you may have answered my question albeit in a round bout way. My original thread was on the "plumbing./plumbing & piping" forum but was relocated.

 

The people in this forum are the best ones to answer your question about air in your lines, which is why it was moved... and you got your answers. There was never any threat to remove the thread, so your concerns are unwarranted. All we are trying to do is get you the best answers. But you need to be cooperative.