1 year after moving into my brand new home, I was brushing my teeth when I noticed some black dirt coming out of my bath faucet into the sink. I shut off the water, and wondering more, rubbed my finger on the faucet screen where the water runs out, and my finger was black. Then I turned on the water and rubbed again on the screen and lots of black dirt flowed out! What a mystery, what was I dealing with?

Wanting to clean it, I tried with my fingers to unscrew the screen. No luck, wouldn’t move. So I got a pair of pliers and tried, and learned pliers can’t remove the filter screen either, in fact can damage it. To see what was up, I had to put my phone camera underneath, take a photo, and saw this plastic faucet screen was unique with little indentations all around the rim. Time to do some research!

Digging up the documents the builder provided when I selected my bath décor, I saw I should have Chateau Faucets made by Moen. Going to Moen’s website, they had a faucet identification tool where you can upload a photo of a faucet and it identified I had Moen # 4925 Chateau faucets. Reading more, I found the “screen” is actually an aerator assembly and to remove it requires a special plastic tool that is included when you buy a new aerator kit. I contacted Moen support and they said the builder should have left the tool somewhere, but not so. So, I ordered part 180158 (aerator with tool) for $11 directly from Moen (actually ordered 4 for my 4 faucets.) I did shop around locally, but no luck at home stores and Amazon had not-much-cheaper Chinese knockoffs that troubled me, wasn’t sure they would work. So I stuck with ordering the real thing from Moen. It took a about 8 days to arrive.

Using the tool, I removed the aerator while looking down above the faucet, turning clockwise (which is counter-clockwise if I was under the faucet looking up). Sure enough, when the aerator was out, I saw it was gunked with slimy black dirt in the screen and circular groves around the rim. I could see dirt inside the aerator, too. With no aerator on the sink now, I ran water until it ran clean, then installed the new aerator. Hard to think a 1-year old aerator could be so dirty when all I do at this sink is brush my teeth and wash my hands.

Now, perhaps without removing the old aerator I could’ve cleaned the outside somewhat with an old toothbrush, rather than replace it. But inside the aerator I saw dirt, and I read aerators have to be replaced over time anyway. With my new one installed, it was immediately evident I had stronger water flow than before, so spending $11 was worthwhile. I certainly feel better when brushing without worrying about black dirt on my toothpaste!