RAinsoft Softener and still etched glass

24 gpg city water ~ I could retire on that kind of water!

If your AQ is providing zero grain water 24/7 you need to cut in half
the amount of soap/cleaning products you are currently using.

What is the capacity programed into the AQ? It should not be below 30.
What brand of salt blocks are you using? Diamond crystal or Morton?
Do you have high levels of chlorine? You may need a carbon filter ahead of the AQ.

Do any of your neighbors have softeners?
Do they have the same issues?

Okay--I think I explained this wrong. I told you we are CLUELESS! We program in 24 hardness because that is what is written on our little keyboard flap. Must have been left by installer?? Its written on there 24 hardness, which we dial in and 32 capacity. We put 2-25 lb blocks of Morton system savers into the tank. We've had it at that forever. BUT, we've also had etched glasses. This is our third set of glassware in 5 years. On the third set, I did cut in half my soap usage. It still didn't help. Our county is notorious for very hard water. I called the water dept. to see if there are other problems and explained what was going on. They were very nice to me, said they don't hear of etched glasses with softeners, no complaints in my neighborhood. Have had problems with maganese in the past but that would leave black stains. I hope we are just doing something really stupid in how we input something because we just keep going around in circles on this one. Don't know anything about high levels of chlorine. The water doesn't smell of chlorine...?

Have your water tested to find out how many grains per gallon (gpg) of hardness your water has.
Program this Hardness number into the AQ, set the Capacity @ 30 and enter the total weight (pounds) of Salt that you have in the brine tank.

Once you confirm the softener is working properly flush your water heater from the bottom.

Let us know if any of this helps.

Thanks! We'll give this a try.

We had one more question---what kind of mainenance should we be doing on our water softener? We've basically left it alone for 5 years. Are there filters or hoses or anything that should be cleaned or replaced? Our local rainsoft dealer has never contacted us about "routine" maintenance.

It will need new O rings on the piston and brine injector.
The Tri-Guard will get re-sealed to its base when he O rings are replaced.
Plan on installing new drain and brine tabs.
Replace the 9-volt with a new Duracell.

Since the AQ is obsolete it would be a good idea to get it serviced by your local dealer sooner than later.
I'm assuming they are competent and have the parts ...

First, Thanks for all your advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to help us.
I had our water tested at Sears Hardware today. They told me it was 19 grains per gallon. So I guess we dial this number in now instead of the 24 we were using. Could this have caused our problems? Can water be too soft and harm dishware, metal etc.?
Another thought, we had a Culligan man in this past weekend. He did a total solids in the water test. It was fairly high at the tap with no filter. Not too bad with our drinking water filter but even with that not completely zero. Could undisolved solids in our water cause a sandblasting effect on our dishware? You mentioned a filter idea before the water softener in a previous message. What would you recommend? I'm anxious now to drain our hot water tank to see if that provides us with any clues.
This one has been a real p[uzzler for a lot of people.

Set the Hardness @ 19 and the Capacity @ 30.
Your water does have a high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and you would benefit from RO or distillation for your drinking and cooking water.

The filter ahead of the softener I mentioned would be a backwashing carbon filter.
Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) is great for filtration, taste&odors, chemical/chlorine reduction, but it will not reduce TDS.

I don't think you can eliminate the etching. The water is to hard, the TDS is to high and the exchange ratio is to high.
You are better off with soft water, but there are some trade-offs in your particular situation.

Hope you're still there H2O Man! We've flushed our water heater. The water was terrible in the beginning. Interesting that the water seems worse since the flushing. The bath water for my children seems cloudy which wasn't an issue before. I have more questions about our system as I've been reading other posts and trying to figure out exactly how ours should work. I know what the triguard is---should it be full or empty? Ours is empty...I just checked it. Also, should the tank with the salt blocks be full or empty or somewhere in between? Everytime I look at it, its empty. Shouldn't the brine solution be in there? I'm sorry if these are dumb questions but I want to understand how this works. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us!

I'm still here

You tend to stir things up when you flush the water heater.
Wait for it to settle and flush it again - and then again ...

Both the Tri-Guard and brine tank stay empty when the system is in service.
The Q pumps a measured amount of soft water into the brine tank, it sits and dissolves
the salt block for 2 hours then draws it all back out during the regeneration.

It sounds like your system is working as it should.

Have a great 4th of July!

We'll try some more flushing of the tank. I've talked to our neighbors about the water. No one else seems to have our problems so it seems unique to our house. We keep ruling out the water softener system so I guess we'll have to go in a different direction. As always, I thank you for your advice. Have a great Fourth with you and yours!

New RainSoft customer......What am I up for??
Hello. I just got a new Amazon Gold purifier a few days back and not surprisingly, while browsing for comments on this equipment by other users, I've seen all kinds of comments, a lot of complaints but also some in favor.
Being such an expensive piece of equipment and the 'amazing' things promised by the sales man it'll do over the years.........I just have one question to ask:
Is there anyone in Ajax Ontario (or at least Durham region) who can give me their experience with this system if any???
Again and even though I already got it I'm most definitely curious to know from anyone who may happen to read this and lives in the aforementioned area. Of course, I asked him to give me references but best way is to ask anyone out there who may give me a totally unbiased opinion
Anyone??
Thanks!

Moris.

if you lived in south florida i could help, i would contact a certified water technician to come out and do a thorough test on your water before the system and after the system, most water companies do this for free, sometimes it might be time to get in with the updated equipment, they have them where they use less water and salt during generation