If you have a water faucet that has a weak or intermittent water flow, you might suspect there’s a problem with the faucet or the water pressure…and that may in fact be true. But it could also be a clogged aerator, which is a problem you can easily fix yourself.
Your aerator is the small fitting that screws into the bottom of your faucet. Its job is simple – to mix water with air so a nice even flow of water comes out (without an aerator, the water would come shooting out like a garden hose with no nozzle). The aerator contains small holes or vents to let air in. But those same holes or vents can also collect mineral deposits and sediments that can block water flow.
So how do you clean a clogged aerator? Simple: just remove it from your faucet and soak it in a cup of white vinegar overnight. In the morning, just rinse it and re-install it to see if a cleaning helped.
Although a simple cleaning may have fixed the problem – it’s often a good idea to replace the aerator so you don’t have to worry about it. Replacing is as easy as cleaning the old one.