Low water pressure after filling water softener

[verge]

Hi everybody! Need some help.

I've been out of town for a few months and forgot to instruct the wife to refill the water softener with salt. I finally got around to it yesterday and filled it.

This morning, I went to give the kids a shower and noticed the pressure start dropping. Within a minute, it dropped so low that it barely was coming out at all. I checked the faucets all around the house and same issue: super low pressure, barely anything but a skinny stream.

I went to the water softener and hit the bypass and boom: water pressure restored! What is causing this? And how can I fix the problem?

Any info is greatly appreciated! Thanks for your time.

 

[speedbump]

Since hitting the bypass gave you great pressure again, we can be sure it's the softener that's holding back the flow. Adding salt or the lack of will not plug a softener. Not backwashing by being unplugged can. Other than the ion exchange that takes place in a softener, it's a simple filter and will collect things and begin to plug up. Most softener valves allow you to do a manual backwash. If you know how to start one, see if the valve advances through the different cycles over a period of 1.5 to 2 hours. If not, the motor in the valve is dead. Or the unit is not getting power.