New softener settings/setup..what do you think

brinewatch 2008 had come to a conclusion and the results are in:

SOAPY WATER...did some dishes in the sink but the real test was as shower...i had a heck of a time getting the soap off my hands and the washrag only needed lathered up once as opposed to multiple times. Sorry if TMI.

So i can say equivocally the softer does work..sometimes. Now just to figure out if it's the salt at the bottom of the well causing a clog or something else? I'm personally guessing it does get clogged since one time it didnt drain the well on that one fill. Also it has resumed its normal 6lb level.

Given all that has happened and the result...what do you think my next course of action is? there's less than 1/2 tank of salt but it probably will take a month to use it all. I definitely will wait until it's near empty and reposition the well to be seated perfectly vertical. Until then i guess i'm stuck with salt leaking in it.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

The brine well does not fit tight to the bottom of the tank so salt can get in under it or you poured some salt down it if you left the lid/cap off it. That is not a problem and can not cause any problems.

luckydriver wrote:

can you check that statement again? you are saying the well should NOT fit tight? ... Well thing is, i just noticed that the well is on an angle. And now it appears more salt chunks came in on the one side of the well. Are you saying that whether salt goes down the well or under the well it cannot cause any problems? seems to me if it gets under there the line can become clogged up.

Check my statement?.... I've built a few thousand softeners in my time... The brine well does not fit tight to the bottom of the tank so salt can get in under it or you poured some salt down it if you left the lid/cap off it. That is not a problem and can not cause any problems. The "line" can not block up. Salt in the well is not a problem. Take the 2310 valve out of the well and see for yourself if you don't believe me OR BETTER, ask the guys that say it is a problem why and what problem(s) it can cause.

So now you have suds. And now I guess you need to figer out why I had you do two manual regens at max salt. The salt in the well had nothing to do with the cause of the problem. Lift the 2310 and brine pick up and see for yourself IF salt can block the water flow. BTW, I'm glad I could help and you're welcome; any time. What is TMI?

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Gary Slusser wrote:

The "line" can not block up. Salt in the well is not a problem. Take the 2310 valve out of the well and see for yourself if you don't believe me OR BETTER, ask the guys that say it is a problem why and what problem(s) it can cause.

So now you have suds. And now I guess you need to figer out why I had you do two manual regens at max salt. The salt in the well had nothing to do with the cause of the problem. Lift the 2310 and brine pick up and see for yourself IF salt can block the water flow. BTW, I'm glad I could help and you're welcome; any time. What is TMI?

too much info....maybe sometime i will pop the assembly out of the well to see how far off the floor the line is hanging so I have a better idea what's going on. Without seeing it for myself i would in theory think that if salt got lodged under the line, it wouldnt draw.

So do you have an opinion as to why none of the water got drawn from the tank on my 2nd generation of the day since you say the line cant possibly be clogged?

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luckydriver wrote:

boy this thing is loud. Usually my wife is up late and so heard it a few weeks ago but i got up one time in the middle of the night and wow, so much louder than the old culligan

thru trial and error i discovered if i hold the drain hose as it comes out of the value, i acted as a 'quieting' agent. This was weird behavior. So i pulled the drain line away from the wall a bit and sure enough stuff quieted down. I guess the water running thru the hose and against the wall made the wall vibrate. I put a rolled up paper towel behind the hose and its a bit quieter now.

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i totally forgot to post this before....when both the water guy and myself tested the soft water out of my faucet...it was 7 ish

when i fill my spa from the presumably untreated water faucet...the PH is way over 8.0 and i have to put in stuff to decrease it.

i thought softners dont affect PH? or does the hose or something else affect the PH?

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i'm updating this thread for 2 reasons:

1. my wife cleaned her coffee pot with cleaner and crap kept coming out..someone informed me that since the water is so hard, there's probably tons of scale in there and just trash the coffee pot (she wont use soft water to drink and i dont blame her)

2. I forget if i posted this before so just will again: when i had a tech come out months ago, he found out i had a water leak somewhere. He turned off all the water, waited 10 min, then turned it on and you could hear it 'run' to fill up again. So he figured the gallon meter was letting the slow leak past it without registering and no wonder the water wasnt so soft because of the misreading there.

so i got out my toolbox and fixed that darn pesky toilet leak finally. And voila! I think i have pretty much softwater all the time now. (and hope to save on water too) I think i can tell when it's getting 'low' and not so soft but dont feel like adjusting the gallons just yet. All the dishes/clothes etc are coming clean just fine so i hate to toy with stuff.

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Water leaks are some of the biggest problems we have with demand operated systems. I do the best I can during a plumbing audit to discover any leaks but you an't get everywhere.

As you said, leaks can be slow enough as not to be registered on the valve and sooner or later hard water starts to beed through.

Here is a drip calculator to give you an idea fo how much water can be wasted.

http://www.awwa.org/awwa/waterwiser/dripcalc.cfm

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

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So did you ever decide that your brine pickup tube wasn't blocked, and can't be blocked, by salt in the bottom of the brine well? It isn't an open ended line, all pick up tubes have a screen or something to prevent that.

The coffee thing having hardness scale build up is due to not using softened water, which makes much better coffee, tee and all other beverages than using hard water to make them. RO water is even better.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

So did you ever decide that your brine pickup tube wasn't blocked, and can't be blocked, by salt in the bottom of the brine well? It isn't an open ended line, all pick up tubes have a screen or something to prevent that.

i haven't looked down the tube in months. ( would have dissolved by now anyway) Just added 2 bags of salt since original purchase and soon time for some more. So i guess it's about 7 40lb bags for 1/2 year. Not too bad.

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luckydriver wrote:

Gary Slusser wrote:
So did you ever decide that your brine pickup tube wasn't blocked, and can't be blocked, by salt in the bottom of the brine well? It isn't an open ended line, all pick up tubes have a screen or something to prevent that.

luckydriver wrote:
i haven't looked down the tube in months. ( would have dissolved by now anyway)

All softeners leave a few inches of water in the bottom of their salt tank and most add more water at the end of each regeneration. The fresh water lays on top and mixes with the brine some but... That water is totally saturated brine, and that means that just like too much sugar in a glass of iced tea can't dissolve regardless of how much you stir it, the salt that is in the water in the bottom of a salt tank can not dissolve.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

All softeners leave a few inches of water in the bottom of their salt tank

FYI - ECOwater softener/conditioners do not leave a few inches of water in their salt tanks.

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That's wonderful. I suppose they also dry the bottom of the tank.

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New softener settings/setup..what do you think

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