Water Softener causing HUGE Pressure Drop

[Chris Shearer Cooper]

I installed a water softener in our residential house 13 years ago (a Kenmore Genius II model 625.348670) and have pretty much ignored it that whole time (except for giving it new potassium when it asked nicely).  Now I'm seeing that it's causing a huge drop in pressure and/or flow which I think has been growing over the past 3-5 years.

 

When I turn on the laundry tub in the basement full blast (it has just a standard-issue kitchen-type faucet), the faucet in the kitchen stops running completely.  Zero flow.  If I switch the softener into bypass mode, I have plenty of water in both places.  This happens all over the house, not just those two sinks, but those made an easy test.

 

There is a note on the machine to check the venturi regularly (which I have not been doing) but I pulled it out and it looked absolutely fine, no buildup of any sort or clogging.

 

What should I do with this beast?  Is there something I can replace, or do I need to get a whole new unit?  How can I figure out what is going wrong?

 

As always thanks in advance for your advice,

Chris

 

[mark mac]

You on a well or city water?

[electro_doc]

I think you need to look and see if there's not a screen or filter you need to clean.  Is there a way to back flush it and clean it.  Maybe you can get a parts breakdown and see what you can find out.  You obviously have a restriction  in the system causing the problem.

 

Doc