We have a vacation home on a well.We have good pressure if we only use one item at a time.However,if we flush a toilet the pressure elsewhere drops to practically nothing.This drives my wife up the wall if she is trying to do laundry.Also you cannot shower if someone uses the bathroom or if laundry is going.this is a manufactured home with gray plastic piping.
We are the second owners and we did not have this problem when we bought the place 3 years ago.In fact,we did not have this problem when we were here last Jan.any suggestions?
Thanks,robreuff.

i have an idea from experience tht this may not be your pipes. the water level in the well has probably dropped. You might consider adding an auxillery pump to the water tank. they go in the line between the main pump and the tank.We once had this problem with water too low and the pump we had was almost touching the bottom of the well.

Thank you for your reply.What I do not understand is that we have a pressure tank in the house that is set to 50/30 lbs.It shows good pressure at all times,even when we flush the toilet,but we lose pressure on all our other faucets until the toilet is finished filling.My Dad has a well at his house in Pa.[we are in N.C.]and you can shower and do anything else and never notice any pressure drop.
This house is a vacation house and we did not have this problem in Jan.when we were last up here.We do have an inline filter for sand but have never had any problems as long as I changed it at least once a month.
robreuff

i'd like to advise something.

i never lived in an area where the well is my source of income, as far as water. i'm in a city. moreover, the toilets that we have here have a water pressure nozzle to the left of it, at the bottom. if water pressure decreases because of the toilet, just turn the nozzle down so that the water in the toilet fills up slower than it normally does when the nozzle is up high.

i believe, if this is what you have at the bottom of your toilet, robreuff, it would be an elimination of some of that problem.

If the water pressure was fine last year and it is not properly working now. It sounds like the holding tank.

Does the well pump turn on every time you turn on a faucet? And run until you turn it off. Or does the well short cycle when it runs. The way you can tell is to have someone flush the toilet or turn on a water faucet while you watch and listen to the guage and pump pumping water into the holding tank. If the pump runs only for a few seconds then turns off only to turn on again (short cycle) You lost pressure in the tank somehow. It sounds like either the pressure in the holding tank has been lost and the tank is water logged. Does the water pressure when the faucet is running come up and down in short intervals. If so not enough air in the tank. It is advised that the system be serviced by a professional well person and not a plumber (sorry guys) If you wait to long you can burn out your well pump and that can cost a lot to fix. Be sure to watch what this person is doing. Most likely he or she will add air to the tank. Once you see how its done, It is something you can do yourself if need be next time.



This is common condition with older style tanks that do not have a bladder inside. If your tank is a older steel tank, you should consider replacement.

Thank you for your reply.The problem was we were getting so much dirt from our well that the tank was filling with dirt as well as the filter.We have finaly gotten it straightened out.Bob Reuff