Water preasure

[nomolos1]

I just purchased a small farm in Okeechobee Florida. I've been fooling around with the water softener to see if I can get the smell out of the water. I think I did it. (cleaned the airator (what a mess) Now the the next problem is the preasure. I pumped more air into the preasure tanks but not much difference. Any Ideals would be helpful. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[BrianP]

It could be a bunch of things.


First it may be that there is an inline filter that happens to be blocked up. Thats what got me in my first well fed house.

Second do you have a pressure guage on the tank? If so, see at which point the pump turns on and off. Are these acceptable? I think mine are at about 30 and 50 psi. If not, then adjust them. If you can't adjust them, maybe you have to replace the switch.

How much water can you drawn after the pump switches off until it switches on again? Is it possible your tank is 'drowned' (i.e. if you have an old style tank without a bladder). With these, when you add air, you generally open the water, add air till it stops bubbling (so the water level is below the air valve) and them close the water and add air until you are up to pressure.

Finally you may have a partly closed valve or blocked pipe.

Let us know.

[nomolos1]

Thank you for the information. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[rozett]

My system has a pressure regulator attached to the tank that turns the pump on/off as required. Taking the cover off reveals two pressure adjustments. One will raise/lower both the on and off pressure for the pump. The second adjustment raises just the off pressure. Increasing the first adjustment will raise the average water pressure in the house. Increasing the second adjustment will increase the variation in pressure that you will notice before the pump comes back on.

[llewellynsd]

Help here folks,

My system has the well of course (300 feet deep) with the submersible pump. The line then comes into the house and has a pressure gauge on it with a shut off valve. It then tees to a pressure tank or I guess a blatter tank, then a softner and then on through the house.

I have notice a significant decrease in water pressure since the house was built in 1997. Some of that may have to do with the water softner I installed but even since that was installed it has decreased.

The well driller had me check the pressure tank it see if it seems heavy. If I was unable to move it effortlessly by slightly rocking it back and forward then the blatter was ok and did not have a hole in it. That only leads me to believe that the softner is my problem. I did check the pressure on the tank with a tire gauge and it gave me 35 psi.

I activated a bypass valve last evening while the wife was running a tub and she said with the bypass valve on the water pressure atleast doubled.

I've totally cleaned all the little centrifuge screens on the softner and still can't figure out why my pressure is so low. Any ideas? Like I said when I first installed the softner we did not notice any decrease in pressure - I guess it has been so gradual that now we are finally starting to notice. Especally when two spickets are in use.

One other thing, I was going to install an in-line filter on the main line prior to the softner to catch any little particals that may plug the screens but now I'm second guessing that move in fear that it will further reduce the water pressure.

Any ideas?

Thanks Shawn

[fivestring]

"I was going to install an in-line filter on the main line prior to the softner to catch any little particals that may plug the screens..."

I have an inline filter but it is after the tank. It looks like one of the "under-the-sink" units but it filters the whole house, outside faucets and all. Each charcoal filter lasts about 2 months before I notice a decrease in pressure, which reminds me to change the filter. It is not hard to change filters, it's just going under the house to get to it that I hate.

By all means, get a filter but be sure to change it regularly.

[egon]

The zeolite beds in the water softener may be caked and plugged. Talk to the supplier of the unit and find out how to service it or loosen up the bed. There may also be piping and valves which have become restricted by carryover beads.

I would say a little more but it is very easy to flush the bed away if not done properly.

Egon

[llewellynsd]

Egon,
The softner I installed is from Sears. So I guess I'll try to find someone there knowledgable of softners which may be tuff. They usually don't know intricate stuff such as you have mentioned just enough to sell one but I guess it would not hurt to ask.

Feel free to expand on your previous post. To clean the beds would one have to totally empty the softner of the salt. I only use Mortans pellitized salt in which the manufacture recommended.

Shawn

[herbenus]

Sears has a "Water Line" you can call with very knowledgeable people at the other end. I haven't used it in a few years but here's the number: 800-426-9345. Something I did was to install a small pressure tank after the water softener. This gives me a more constant pressure inside.

And here's the website http://kenmorewater.com/customer-ass...ssistance.html

[llewellynsd]

Herbenus,
I called the Sears hotline and the lady recommended that I run a clearner through the softner. I did it and it helped a bit on the pressure problem. Thanks for the suggestion.

The cleaner I used was a white powder that smelled like sulfur and had some serious cautions on the lable and I was sort of aprehensive about running it throughh my softner. I guess it gets all flushed out - do you know? Don't want to endanger my family.

Do you think an addition pressure tank on the out going side of the softner would help increase pressure to the sinks, etc?

Shawn