Does a water softener cause a loss of pressure in your pipes?

A common concern when buying a water softener is whether you’ll still have enough water pressure afterwards. In this blog, you’ll find out how much pressure loss a water softener actually causes, why this is barely noticeable in practice, and when a water pressure booster is actually worthwhile.

How much pressure loss does a water softener cause?

In every water softener, whether electric or non-electric, the water is passed through the resin. This inevitably results in a slight loss of pressure. With Mooiwater water softeners, this loss is very limited: if you draw 11 litres of water per minute from the tap without a water softener, this drops to around 10.5 litres after installation. In practice, you won’t notice this at all, and it is therefore never a reason to water pressure booster (pressure booster) to be installed.

Why is a drop in water pressure actually worse without a water softener?

Without a water softener, water pressure actually continues to drop over time due to limescale build-up in your pipes. That loss of pressure is certainly noticeable, and the only solution is then to descale the pipes after all. With a water softener, you won’t have that problem: those 10.5 litres from the example above will simply remain 10.5 litres, year in, year out.

Why do dual-cylinder water softeners result in greater pressure loss?

A water softener with two cylinders, as is the case with most non-electric water softeners, has one drawback: as soon as one cylinder is being flushed, only one cylinder remains available for water softening. During this flushing process, this leads to additional pressure loss, as all the water must temporarily pass through that single cylinder.

When might you still need a water pressure booster?

Sometimes a water pressure booster is still needed, separate from your water softener. For example, if you’ve finally got a rain shower that should provide plenty of water, but the standard water pressure in your home is simply too low for it. For situations like these, we also have competitively priced water pressure boosters in our range.