Rainsoft water softener. Not using any salt?

[tammywerner]

Hello I hope someone can help me. We moved into our home about a year ago and it has a Rainsoft water softener that was not hooked up. (The owners said they didn't like the way it tasted and they unhooked it) My husband hooked it back up about a month ago and we put two bags of salt in it. From what I can tell it has not used any or very little salt. It does run through its cycles and water goes out the drain. But should I see water in the salt and how much? I can not tell that there is any water going into the salt at all? Thanks for looking and hope someone can shed some light on this it is making me crazy. (I have never had a water softener and don't know what I am looking for it to do.) LOL Thanks again!

[SJF]

Probably the best thing you can do is to go to an aquarium, or a swimming pool, supply store and get a water hardness test kit (about $5). If it shows that your water is completely soft, quit worrying. Depending on many factors, the unit may use only a small portion of that two bags of salt in a months time.

If the water is not shown to be soft by the test, you'll probably be best off to call for service. I just installed and adjusted a replacement unit and I can tell you that, without some technical ability and suitable data, adjustment and/or repair is likely more than you want to undertake.

Presumably, the softener was installed by someone who thought the untreated water was too hard. Check with your neighbors. In many areas, the municipal water is as soft as you'd want it. It depends on the source. Even in those areas, there are water softener salesmen.

SJF

[SJF]

In further reply to your question about water rising into the salt --

If the unit is working properly, water will rise a few inches into the salt but not necessarily far enough to submerge the two sacks that you added.

SJF

[tamrad11]

[bremen68]

Howdy Tammy,

Basically the water softener works like this... Your water goes through the tank with resin pellets in it, the pellets take the hardness out of the water and gather it on themselves. After so much water is run through the system it need to be "recharged" . This is done by flushing the resin tank with salt water. The system is usually set to do this at night so the salt water doesn't get into your pipes for you to drink. The system automatically fills the salt tank with water, then draws that water into the resin tank, it then flushes the resin tank with fresh water and that's the water that you see going down the drain. After it clears the resin tank it resets and the cycle starts again.

Normaly if the system is working correctly you shouldn't really get a "taste" from having the softener. It doesn't add salt to your water to soften it, it uses the salt to recharge the resin only. About the only time you'd get salt would be if you happen to draw water while the system was recharging or if the system was running during the day.

Your system should have a place for you to set it to real time, and it should pretty much fill the salt tank to make the brine to recharge the resin. I don't know how difficult it is to change the settings on the softener, but you might be able to get a manual from a rainsoft dealer.

Good luck!!!

[SJF]

I meant that you should test the water you are now getting from your softener for hardness. If it shows that the water is now soft, the unit is working OK. It might save you the cost of a service call. In any event, it will be a rather inexpensive test. Perhaps you can take a sample to someone who sells softener who will test it without charge -- hoping to sell you a softener, of course. Sears does this I understand.

SJF

[Edwin Pawlowski]

There are different types of kits. Some will test hardness and tell you how many grains of hardness you have so the softener can be set up properly. If you want to know if the softener is working, a simple yes/no kit is available for $10 or less. You just put five drops of chemical in the water. If blue, it is soft. If pink, it is hard.

Taylor Technologies makes a series of kits. R-0854A is about $6.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Or the OP could go to a store that sells water softeners (e..g., HD, Lowe's) and will likely find a stack of water hardness test strips free for the taking alongside the display of softeners.

Perce

[Re Anderson]

replying to tammywerner, Re Anderson wrote: When the regen starts water fills the tank with the salt but only a few inches or so. With two bags of salt you probably wouldn't see the water in the holding tank. You shouldn't taste any salt in the water. Conditioned water does have a different taste than water full of minerals. It's a "no taste". Our first Rain Soft unit finally died after having bought it in 1987 - yes 1987. We just upgraded to a EC4. If the system hasn't been used in awhile, I'd set up a service call to have them check it out. It's worth the cost. And no, I do not work for Rain Soft. Just a satisfied user.