Water Softener help

[DW1015]

Ok, I'm RENTING a house that has hard water and has a water softener. I had been in the house for a couple of months and realized that the salt level in the softener never changed. The system IS NOT ON BYPASS, I made sure of that, I'm getting water flow. When I went to poke around in the salt, i realized that it is a solid block. It looks like the pellets in the bag, but they are fused together. So from about halfway down the tank to the bottom is a solid chunk of salt. How can I break up/dissolve the salt without removing the tank??? I am not going to pay a plumber to come out, and the owner of the house doesn't feel it is worth his time/money. The hard water bothers my skin, so I would like to find a way to fix this. Any suggestions???

[Rick-Meister]

This is known as a salt bridge. Use a broom handle to start poking holes in the salt. Or use a shovel to break it up

[RLM]

I wouldn't break up the salt pellets in the brine tank. You might punture the tank that are usually plastic. My softener uses salt blocks.

guess is the timer is not set correctly.

[bob]

[clare]

Use 5 gallons of very hot water.

[Boden]

Look here:

[tnom]

Whatever method you use to break up the solid salt bridge make sure that you only use one bag of salt at a time. Keep the salt level as low as possible to prevent this from happening again.

[justalurker]

Hot tap water will dissolve that salt block without any chance of damaging the brine tank. As the salt melts and separates remove and discard it. Ultimately you'll end up with a lot of water in the brine tank and that should be removed.

As stated above, it's a good idea to only put enough salt in the brine tank to cover the water so there isn't lots of weight on the salt at the bottom.

Also a good idea to clean out the brine tank once a year before the BIG salt block forms.

[retired54]

Call the landlord the unit needs to be serviced. You don't need a plumber.

Olddog

[olddog]

I've never heard that but you maybe talking about another system. I just talked to the serviceman for Rain Soft and he said to fill it up. Mine holds about 250lbs. But I do get mine serviced each year. He didn't say anything about cleaning the tank but I'll ask him next time he comes.

Olddog

[justalurker]

If you keep the brine tank full of salt that puts a lot of weight on the wet salt on the bottom. Wet salt + weight = salt bridge and that is regardless of the brand of water softener.

Keeping enough salt in the brine tank to cover the water and adding as needed results in fewer salt bridge problems.

If you're paying Rainsoft for yearly service and they are NOT cleaning your brine tank then what are you getting for your money?

As far as your Rainsoft serviceman... sometimes you can't teach an old dog new tricks and sometimes you can't teach an old dog any tricks.

[retired54]

You probably have some good points but I know they are not going to clean the tank. That would involve taking all the salt out. I'd think that is a owner's job when the tank runs low. He probably didn't say anything because the tank appears clean. I don't want to pay him extra to do that anyway.

I'll keep the weight thing in mind but so far no salt bridge problem. It's full now so I'll let it run down and see what's cookin'

Thanks

Olddog