Whether or not you know exactly what it is, we’ve all heard the team “hard water” thrown about. Essentially, it’s water with a high level of minerals in it – usually magnesium and calcium that comes from limestone and chalk deposits. It can have some moderate health benefits, but can also cause some potentially serious problems to your plumbing.
That’s where your water softener comes in. Its brine tank fills up with water, where it saturates the untreated water with salt – also known as sodium. This newly saturated water passes through the resin tank where millions of polystyrene beads pull in the sodium molecules before any excess salt water is cleared out of the tank.
Following this, the brine tank fills back up with hard water that passes through the resin tank. The polystyrene beads switch out the sodium currently attached to them with the magnesium and calcium found in the hard water until all of the sodium molecules are gone. This is when the whole process restarts – but not until the polystyrene beads are scrubbed clean and the wastewater is drained.
4 Signs Your Water Softener Isn’t Working Properly
If you notice any of these signs, it may be time to call in a plumber to fix your water softener.
1. Your Water Softener Is Making Strange Noises
If you’ve had a water softener for a while, you’ve probably noticed it runs a regular regeneration cycle. The gentle humming sound of the motor should be familiar to you. If your water softener starts making squealing or grinding noises during the regeneration cycle, that’s a sign there’s a problem with the motor.
2. Your Water Is Harder Than Normal
Soap scum, limescale and an inability to get a lather out of your soaps and shampoos are all signs of hard water.
3. Your Water Softener Brine Tank Contains Too Much Water
When a water softener works efficiently, there should only be a small amount of water in the brine tank. If you notice the salts are fully submerged, this means there’s too much water in the tank and the salts won’t be working as well as they should be. Fortunately, this is usually easy to rectify.
4. Your Water Has a Strange Smell
If your water has a sulfur-like odor to it, this could be a sign of bacteria in the brine tank. Most manufacturers recommend cleaning your softener annually. Check the manual for details on how to do this.
Common Water Softener Issues
Here are some of the common issues that can happen with water softeners.
1. Clogged Filters or Injectors
A clogged filter can lead to poor water pressure. If you replace your filters and find you still have poor water pressure, check that your softener is appropriately sized for your home. A clogged injector could cause your brine tank to overflow.
2. Issues With the Motor
If your water softener’s motor fails, it won’t be able to start the replenishment cycle. If resetting the softener doesn’t make it start up again, call in the professionals to have it inspected.
3. An Overflowing Brine Tank
The brine tank holds the salts that regenerate your water softener’s resin beads. If the brine tank is overflowing due to a broken valve, stuck float or clogged injector, the water softener won’t be able to regenerate properly.
Water Softener Maintenance Tips
Here are a few simple steps to make sure that your water softener is running at full strength:
- The Brine Tank: If you’ve been adding too much salt to your water softener, or if you’ve been adding it too often, a hard crust or dome of salt could form inside your water softener’s brine tank. Take a stick and break it up, then throw it away. You can clean up any remaining sediment with a shop vacuum, and use soap and water to give the rest of the tank a good scrub. Be sure to rinse it out before using it again.
- The Resin Bed: Depending on what minerals you have in your water, you may or may not face this issue. However, if your water contains iron, it will eventually foul up your resin bed and ruin its ability to remove hard water particles. To fix this problem, run some rust stain remover through the system, following the listed directions along the way. After this, clear out the wastewater by running your water softener through a manual regeneration – you can do this by finding the regeneration nob under the cover over the control valve. Take something like a flathead screwdriver to depress and turn the knob into the “Service” position.
- The Resin Tank Injector: Dirty salt can build up in the injector over time, and that sediment needs to be cleared out before the water softener is back in commission. First, shut off the water by engaging the machine’s bypass valve. After that, run the softener through a manual regeneration to relieve the water pressure. For the last step, take both of the caps off the softener’s head and clean out both the injector screen and injector.
Additionally, to keep your water softener running at peak efficiency, follow these best practices:
- Check your system’s salt levels and replenish them as necessary.
- Clean your brine tank once a year.
- Look for salt bridges in the tank and remove them regularly.
- Replace your water softener resin every 10 years.
- Use a prefilter to remove contaminants from your water supply.
With proper care, you can expect a water softener to run well for at least 10-15 years. If you’re having problems with your system and these troubleshooting tips don’t help, it’s time to call in the professionals. Replacing the whole machine can cost upwards of $1,000, but a repair may only cost a fraction of that amount. At bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, our plumbers are ready to help any time of the day, any day of the year. You can find your nearest bluefrog Plumbing + Drain location through our map, or you can call us at 888-794-0341 to schedule your free home consultation.
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