Water Softener

[Bob]

Hello all,

I have a questions about house water softener. It is about 2 years old. It stoped working a couple of months ago and we had a technician come out and look at it. He said that the system said we use 400 gallons of water to quickly and it shut itself off (so far the water bill hasn't shown that).

A few weeks later it still did not appear to be working so we called them back and the technician came and test the water and it was not right which we knew and this time said that the water had changed and the hardness was high so he reset the system again. He told me that our water was high in chlorine and that the chlorine might mess up the unit at some poin t in time and we should think about a chlorine removal system.

It was still not working so he came out yesterday and looked at the water and checked the unit, this time he asked me I remembered what he said about the chlorine. He said there was no resin left in the unit. That the chlorine has eaten all the resin away and that he would have to order resin and out it in.

I don't know how to look at it so I have to assume that there is no resin. Other people in the neighborhood have softeners without chlorine removal systems and theirs has never had a problem and theirs are older.

What could cause the resin to be gone? Just a defect in the unit? Or is the chlorine story really true.....

[Punch]

did you ever think to call a different company to check the unit, sounds like this guys is taking you for a ride.

I want you to see if you have a salt damn, take a broom handle and shove it into the salt, until it reaches the bottom of the unit.

punch

p.s. you with culligan?

[Gary Slusser]

"Bob" wrote

Chlorine damages softener resin and it depends on how much chlorine is in the water as to how long it takes to damage it but it's usually about

5-10 years before evidence shows up. But it is not responsible for removing resin from the media tank. Excessive regenerations will do that through friction wear of the beads. Normally chlorine damaged resin goes to mush which tends to keep it in the tank as globs.

What does cause the resin to leave the tank is the drain line flow control and high water pressure. If you have too much pressure and a smaller than required DLFC for the unit, resin can be flushed out to drain. Having the unit installed backwards, the inbound water to the outlet etc. could also do it. So check that with the arrows on the by-pass or control valve.

There are other things that will cause a softener to not work properly but none have to do with causing an inadequate amount of resin. So what brand or make is the softener, or at least the make of the control valve? How old is the unit? If you bought the unit from that dealer, he should be able to come up with a better reason for the resin being gone and make it right at no cost to you.

If you'd like to add to or replace the resin yourself, I can help with that and supply the resin etc.. If you're at all handy it's not that hard.

Gary Quality Water Associates

[Bob]

That is the impression I am starting to get. Even worse, I think he made a mistake the first time that caused the resin to be flushed out somehow. No, this is an ARS unit, not culligen........

[RikC]

it's probably the brine float.

rik

[Mike]

Might want to check the venturi/valve at the output of the brine tank. I had a Kenmore softener with the same symptoms. Found the plastic venturi inside it's enclosure had become brittle and broken up, preventing suction & siphoning of brine solution out of the tank.