My water softener needs cleanout

[John Larkin]

5 year old EcoWater home water softener. It sat idle and unconnected for about 6 weeks. I hook it back up and seems to be fine. I am getting clogging at faucet screens with a substance that looks just like brown sugar but gritty like sand. I opened the top up and down in the resin tank there is similar buildup of sheet-like rust. It comes out in big pieces (1" x 3") and some smaller that have broken up. Has anyone ever washed out one of these tanks? This isn't the brine tank; this is the resin tank which looks similar to an oxygen tank for welding. I can always wait until tomorrow and contact the manufacturer but it'd be nice to resolve today if I could. Thanks for any help.

 

[Intercooler]

You can remove the resin and acid/caustic clean the tank then fill with new resin. The problem is resin is expensive and may cost as much as a new one.

 

[S2V6RACER]

Fill a 5 gallon bucket with warm water and add "Iron X" to it. Click the softener to the brine draw cycle and unhook the tube going to the tank. Insert the tube into the 5 gallon bucket and let it draw into the softener and sit over night. Unplug the softener after it draws in. The next day plug it back in the next day put it through a regeneration.

There is no need to re-bed the softener. You may want to do this treatment a second time if it need be. It is good to do this every year if you have high iron. The capacity of your softener gets depleated when iron coats the resin.

You must be sure you do not have bacterial iron in your water, this can be found in your toilet tanks as a slime that coats the inside of the tank and your parts.

What is your iron content before the softener in parts per million?

 

[John Larkin]

Heh, I have no idea. I just know I get white spots on my dishes. Lime is prevalent here though the city says the water is 12ppm hardness. Yeah right. The only problem with your solution is that the softener is plumbed directly to the inlet pipe from the house main water line. So I really can't hook another line to it unless I go buy a new fitting from the company (specific to the softener). This is a pretty lo-tech unit. It either recharges or sits idle. Though I appreciate the replies, I think I will wait and call the manufacturer tomorrow and see what they recommend. Lord knows I am tired of goofing around with this thing. I've already cleaned every debris trap in all my fixtures at least once.

 

[S2V6RACER]

All water softener have to have a line going from the softener head to the brine tank. You have to manually watch the cycles to catch it in the right cycle. It is tricky.

Hardness is measured in Grains per gallon, 12 grains is "just" hard water.


Good luck.

 

[scottyb]

Ted,
I've noticed some resin on the ground around the softener after a cycle. It's not a large amount, but I've noticed it for maybe a year now. We still have soft water, but I figure the days are numbered. Do you think that something is worn allowing it to slip out?

TIA