Waterboss Water Softner and Low Water Presssure

[thoalex]

I'm being told by my water company that my water softner is probably causing my problems with low water pressure. I'd like to test their theory but I can't figure out how to bypass the water softener. Is the only way to do it with a bypass valve external to the device? Or is there someway to do it internally with the device itself.

I think they're full of it anyway, the softner isn't cycling when I'm experiencing low water volume. Any other ideas what it could be?

[jdp38]

If you can bypass it externally, and the bypass is working, then that's all you have to do....to see if it's working, put it in bypass then manually regenerate, it should start like normal then drop to nothing........don't assume they're full of it, the pressure drop is common if the resin has failed.....water connot flow as normal........when you are on a chlorinated system, the chlorine can break the resin down over time :(

[thoalex]

There is NOT an external bypass. If there's any kind of bypass it's going to be internal to the machine's workings.

The reason I think they are full of it is that at different times of the day, everything is fine with the pressure. It's only 7am (usually Monday) where it is crap. And the thing isn't running then, I've checked.

Thanks for the reply.

[GregH]

thoalex,

There is no way to determine where the pressure drop is without installing guages at a few points in your system or putting a bypass at the softener.
All that is needed are a few fittings and three valves to put in a bypass.

Anything else is just guesswork.

[rav12]

Not sure how old your unit is but some Waterboss softeners have an integrated bypass. You need to take the top cover off and you should see a wheel underneath the cover. This is used for bypassing the softener. Just turn to the bypass position and check. Unless the softening media is coated with sediment I cannot see why the softener should cause this.

If you have any suitable point you can measure pressure before the softener like a pressure reducing valve or a garden faucet, you can hook up a water pressure guage and take a reading when the pressure is low. This will confirm whether the softener is responsible.