16 year old softnener. Water pressue drops from 40 psi to 22 psi when the downstairs toilet is flushed. Could this be caused by the water softener?

It can be but other fixtures should also cause the same drop like flushing another toilet or turning on your tub spout. Does anything other than the downstairs toilet cause the drop. If no then I suspect we have a different issue. Can you tell us more details?


Good move using the bypass, you took away my next suggestion all on your own. Does sound like the softner is the problem. At 16 years its probably pretty "used up". Many can be rebuilt with new resin and even new valves but it may be time to get some estimates on a new softner. Old ones are still old after they are rebuilt. PS don't use the comment box, just type your answer where it says ANSWER THIS QUESYTION. They made changes to this site and nobody really know how to use the comment box yet

The washing machine causes the whole house to lose pressure while it is filling. Using the shower is OK unless one of the aforementioned fixtures is being used. I am currently bypassing the water softener, and am not getting any pressure drop.

How old is your house? What material are the pipes? Copper or galvanized? Back to you, Tom

16 years old with copper pipes

There typically will be about a 10psi pressure drop through a residential water softener. If there is an in-line filter before or after the system this will contribute to the pressure loss also. There can also be a restriction in the outlet manifold that draws conditioned water from the bottom of the softener tank. It can become plugged with iron and sediment. Also if your system has an upper basket this can become plugged and restrict the flow. If resin has become iron bound this can also contribute to pressure loss through system. I suggest you have a reliable water treatment service tech examine equipment to determine if one of these problems may be the cause. Many times the manifold, upper basket can be cleaned or replaced to resolve these issues.
RJ

Hi rjh2o...

Great info. and I'm sure someone will come along soon enough and find it to be very helpful, but just so you know, you are posting to a thread from back in 2010... ;)

Hopefully, idonotknow is all set by now!

Look at the dates before posting if you really want a reply from the original poster. Otherwise, feel free to drop tidbits you think will be helpful to others down the road... never hurts when info. Is correct and helpful!

Thanks...

Mark

We had a water softener guy out to check it out. After 16 years the softener was used up and needed to be rebuilt or replaced. We also recently replaced our hot water heater with a new high efficiency unit. It turned out that hot water was going back up on the cold water side and into to the water softener. This caused damage to the softener. We installed an expansion tank, a check valve, and had the water softener rebuilt. Everything has been working fine since.