Basically, the resin or mineral inside the mineral tank is specially designed to remove “hard” particles of lime and calcium, by a simple ion exchange process. The resin beads inside the softener tank have a different or opposite electrical charge than the dissolved particles of the incoming water. Because of this electrical charge difference, the dissolved particles suspended in your water will cling to the resin beads on contact, thereby ridding the water of these particles, causing the water exiting the unit to be “soft”. The resin has a limit to how much of these hardness particles it can hold, which is why there are many different sizes of softeners and also why regeneration or brining is required.
Hard water is the type of water that has high mineral content (in contrast with soft water). Hard water minerals primarily consist of calcium (Ca2+), and magnesium (Mg2+) metal cations, and sometimes other dissolved compounds such as bicarbonates and sulfates. Calcium usually enters the water as either calcium carbonate (CaCO3), in the form of limestone and chalk, or calcium sulfate (CaSO4), in the form of other mineral deposits. The predominant source of magnesium is dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2). Hard water is generally not harmful.
A water softener reduces the dissolved calcium, magnesium, and to some degree manganese and ferrous iron ion concentration in hard water.
These “hardness ions” cause three major kinds of undesired effects. Most visibly, metal ions react with soaps and calcium-sensitive detergents, hindering their ability to lather and forming a precipitate—the familiar “bathtub ring”. Presence of “hardness ions” also inhibits the cleaning effect of detergent formulations. Second, calcium and magnesium carbonates tend to precipitate out as hard deposits to the surfaces of pipes and heat exchanger surfaces. This is principally caused by thermal decomposition of bi-carbonate ions but also happens to some extent even in the absence of such ions. The resulting build-up of scale can restrict water flow in pipes. In boilers, the deposits act as an insulation that impairs the flow of heat into water, reducing the heating efficiency and allowing the metal boiler components to overheat. In a pressurized system, this can lead to failure of the boiler.[1] Third, the presence of ions in an electrolyte, in this case, hard water, can also lead to galvanic corrosion, in which one metal will preferentially corrode when in contact with another type of metal, when both are in contact with an electrolyte. However the sodium (or Potassium) ions released during conventional water softening are much more electrolytically active than the Calcium or Magnesium ions that they replace and galvanic corrosion would be expected to be substantially increased by water softening and not decreased. Similarly if any lead plumbing is in use, softened water is likely to be substantially more plumbo-solvent than hard water.
Yes, a softener will cause some pressure loss due to the resistance from the resin bed, but excessive pressure loss can be caused by one or a combination of the following.
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On well water, this is usually due to fine sand coming from the well.
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For softeners installed in the open sunlight (mostly in Florida), a layer of algae can grow and thick pieces of this growth clog the lower distributor tube screen when they start peeling off the inside of the resin tank.
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On chlorinated water supplies, sand can get into the tank from new construction or work on water lines in the area. All of these situations are rare.
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The most common cause of pressure loss occurs on chlorinated water. The resin can be damaged by high chlorine levels and turn to mush. This has the same effect as having fine sand at the bottom of the resin tank.
The solution for all of the above problems is to dump the resin tank, clean and rebed with new resins. One cubic foot of softening resins is enough to properly fill the average residential softener. We can calculate the amount for you, if you provide exact resin tank dimensions.
Water softeners do not remove most taste and odor problems (although they can remove the metallic taste of iron in water).
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Odors are typically caused by hydrogen sulfide (“rotten egg smell”) in wells or “bleach” smell in chlorine treated water; both of these causes can be resolved using an activated carbon filter in conjunction with a water softener.
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The self-sacrificing rod installed in your hot water heater can sometimes be the cause of your odor in the hot water. Having a qualified plumber replace this rod could solve this problem.
There are several things that could cause you to still be getting staining.
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It is critical that your system never run empty of salt.
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Make sure the time of day is correct and that no one uses water between 2 a.m. – 3 a.m. when the system is regenerating. While the system is in regeneration, any water used would be unconditioned (coming straight from the well).
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It could be your resin tank is too small to handle all the iron.
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What size is the resin tank?
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What is the level of Iron and Hardness of the water?
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Possibly you are not regenerating often enough, or using enough salt per regeneration.
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How often does your softener regenerate?
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How many people are using the water? C. How much salt are you using per month?
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Maybe your iron content exceeds the recommended maximum. (1 cu.ft. of resin can effectively remove up to 3 parts per million iron with out additional treatment.)
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On rare occasions the iron could be coming from just the hot water tank. If it is more than 20 years old it could be rusting out on the inside, thus putting iron back into the water. This is also true in older homes, again over 20 years old, that used galvanized plumbing.
Above are the common reasons a working water softener might still be allowing you to get staining. For additional help and recommendations, contact J and P Waterworks, your experienced water quality specialist, for a free analysis. 512-240-5800
The salt not going down could be due to many different reasons.
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Valve is not regenerating due to a mechanical problem.
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Salt may be bridged (become solid) above water that is at the bottom of the salt tank.
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If you have been using pellet salt for many years you could have a lot of undissolved residue at the bottom. This residue will not dissolve and also can block water flow in and out of the salt tank.
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The valve could be failing to draw the brine solution out and if you have a float shut off in the brine tank, it would be prevent the salt tank from overflowing (which it would do if the float shut off was not there).
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The brine refill control could be clogged, prevent water to refill the salt tank.
(Note: It is highly recommended that you contact an experienced water quality specialist to trouble shoot any problem with your equipment.) Call us today at 512-240-5800
We recommend buying salt for your water softener that is very clean; around the 99.5% salt content and up. All softeners can use Potassium Chloride in place of salt. Potassium Chloride tends to melt when it gets wet, sometimes forming a “bridge” inside the salt tank, so we recommend filling the Brine tank only halfway or a bit more when using Potassium Chloride, so you can easily monitor it going down inside the tank after the unit regenerates.
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An average softener with 1 cu. ft. of resins (30,000 grain, 10 ” x 44 ” tank) should use about 6-8 lbs. per regeneration to achieve an economical 24,000 grain capacity (hardness in grains divided into grains of capacity results in the gallons of water that can be treated before resins is exhausted).
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We sell only metered valves with our Fleck brand softeners, since they tend to use less salt than a non-metered unit (i.e. one set to regenerate every so many days with no regards for actual water used).
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The national average is 60 lbs. per month, but that can vary depending upon the quantity and the quality of water being treated.