[Schmeeve]

We have been having an issue with our water pressure. Starts out fine eventually trickles off to a very very slow stream. Flush a toilet while a fixture is running and it falls off completely. Showers are impossible!

I will attempt to attach photos to assist in understanding my set up.

Well water- I have checked the pressure tank and the pressure on the main line all seem to be in order. I noticed that a stupid plant which is over grown must have been wind blown and got snagged on the power cord to the water softener. I also noticed that the clear housing that looks like it hooks up to the overflow back into the (brine tank?) has a bunch of nasty stuff built up in it (see pic). I doubt this is normal.We have been noticing a change in the pressure for about a month but it was hit or miss and not that bad at first. Now it is horrible. I did some research but its difficult to sift through things related but not specific to your problem unless you are well versed in these things. One suggestion i saw was to switch the softener system to bypass. I did this with no change. The other thing I read about was that if a softener is unplugged for a while that it can cause build up in the valves and lines and gow bacteria and gunk up the works and can be harmful?! I have 3 small children and would like to know what is the likely problem and solution.

Also like to note that we do not fill our tank with salt regularly. We have had issues with the over flow and cycling and kind of gave up on it, but I never knew about bypassing previous to this problem. So the system was always on doing its thing without the aid of salt. Please advise and thank you!

OK forget the pictures, when I put them to the allowable size you couldnt see anything.

 

[Akpsdvan]

One thing to do would be to plug the softener back in and make sure that there is salt in the salt tank or brine tank and start the unit into a regen or cleaning cycle.

The softener resin is built up with what it has been removing and now needs a number of regens to restore pressure through the house.

 

[Mrdippy]

Get rid of the softener..sounds like you dont care about it. It is a filter, so without salt to clean it you got your reward of neglect.

 

[Schmeeve]

r. Drippy thanks for your helpful response you flamed me for no reason. What I didn't let you know since it has no baring is that our builder built us a house with Chinese drywall and we have many other issues, I am not a plumber and have had the over flow repaired a number of times and had it adjusted becaus it kept pouring salt water onto my lawn and killed all the grass next to my house. It never worked properly and the only thing that helped was to not have salt in the tank. So call it my penance for neglect but you have no vested interest and are of no help so why even post here?

I am here for helpful answers not snide comments.

 

[Schmeeve]

Akpsdvan do you think that adding salt will help clear it if there are any clogs? I will pick up some salt and try to regen the softener tonight.

 

[Schmeeve]

As I said I have it on bypass and still no pressure. Maybe the lines are clogged? It starts out ok but not for long.

 

[Akpsdvan]

If the system is in bypass then the plug is some place other than the softener.

Where is a good question and with out seeing what the lay out is, or if there is another filter in there that has pluged up...

If there is a pressure tank, there is an out side chance that it is water logged and part of the low pressure.

What part of the country are you in and what was the water test, ie iron hardness ph ...

 

[Schmeeve]

Inline schematic: well pump (good switch not running unless needed with good pressure) // to bypassed softener // to pressure tank (reads appropriate pressure) // to hole house filter (have not checked yet for build up) // to house.
I live in Florida with horrible water and shallow well. I thought about the pressure tank and when I went out to check is when I noticed the softener unplugged. I would like to check the tank but not sure of proper proceedure to do so.
Main off after pump, run water out, check for pressure? Please advise. Thanks!

 

[Bob999]

Inline schematic: well pump (good switch not running unless needed with good pressure) // to bypassed softener // to pressure tank (reads appropriate pressure) // to hole house filter (have not checked yet for build up) // to house.
I live in Florida with horrible water and shallow well. I thought about the pressure tank and when I went out to check is when I noticed the softener unplugged. I would like to check the tank but not sure of proper proceedure to do so.
Main off after pump, run water out, check for pressure? Please advise. Thanks!

The install order should be well pump to pressure tank to whole house filter to softener. Try removing the filter element from the whole house filter housing to see if it resolves the pressure issue.

 

[Akpsdvan]

What Bob says............

I hate it when the softener goes into the line up between the well and the pressure tank... there is going to be nothing but PROBLEMS.......!!!!

So if the softener is in bypass and that whole house filter has not been looked at.. I would bet the bank that is the PROBLEM.........The filter should be changed any where from 1month to 6 months... there are times that one can go 9-12 months... but really 12 is the best any one can get out of a filter even if there is only little to no build up on the filter.