How To Service A Water Softener

This post contains affiliate links.

You have had your water softener for a few years now, and so far, and so good! Y'all take been adding salt to it regularly and the h2o feels great, merely should you have your water softener serviced, and if and then, how oft?

How often you need to have your water softener serviced volition vary based on water usage, the characteristics of your h2o, and the size and type of water softener that you lot have. A water softener that has to work harder will tend to demand more frequent servicing!

Many people don't think near servicing their water softener until in that location is a problem, and past that time information technology can be an expensive service.

Having your h2o softener serviced oft plenty based on your particular state of affairs will help to extend the life of your water softener while keeping more money in your pocket.

What is washed on a typical water softener service that would make a departure in how frequently I should have it serviced?

A water softener relies on water menses to control a big part of the functions required for it to do its regeneration procedure properly. When the parts of the water softener that command the water flowing through it get chock-full, worn or out of alignment, the water may not become used properly.

Cleaning or replacing the injector/venturi.

A very mutual problem that can develop inside of a h2o softener that is frequently office of a water softener service is the brine injector getting clogged or the screen protecting the injector becomes chock-full.

The injector (sometimes referred to every bit a venturi) of a water softener is what creates a draw to use the saltwater from the water softener brine tank.

If the injector is non working correctly because it is clogged or blocked, the h2o softener will not get a sufficient dose of brine to remove the hardness that it has collected.

If your water contains sediment, the sediment tin can get lodged in the injector and restrict or even completely block the injector h2o flow. If the water cannot menstruum through the injector, there volition exist no depict to draw the saltwater from the alkali tank.

Sometimes the sediment can simply exist cleared from the injector with a small castor or pick, but I recommend replacing the injector to be sure that the organization will work correctly.

Iron build-up on an injector volition likewise cause it to go clogged and no longer be able to create a sufficient draw to use the salt water from the brine tank.

If your water contains iron then you might need to service your water softener more oft because of the iron build-up.

A brine injector is non very expensive and they are not hard to change, simply pull the old one out with a needle olfactory organ plier or selection, make sure that the hole where it belongs is clean, and press the new one in place.

Cleaning the screen that helps to protect the injector/venturi.

Considering sediment in your water tin greatly affect how well the injector in your water softener work, most water softeners will have a screen to cease sediment from getting into the injector.

This screen is often in the shape of a small tube or cone and is located correct adjacent to the injector. By communicable sediment in your water, the screen can keep the injector articulate and therefore you may need service to your water softener less often.

The more sediment or fe that you have in your water, the quicker this screen can get chock-full. If your h2o has sediment or iron in it, you lot may demand to take your water softener serviced more than often than if your h2o was free of sediment and fe.

Checking your water softener settings.

Naturally, you desire to make sure that your water softener is prepare correctly so that it is non using too much water or salt but still doing its chore of softening your water and removing iron from your water if you have iron.

This is often merely making sure that the clock, hardness, and other settings on your water softener are set correctly.

It is very important that your water softener settings are checked on a regular basis considering something as simple every bit a power outage that may just final for a few seconds, could make your water softener lose its programming and you could exist getting slightly hard h2o and not even know information technology.

This may not seem like that big of a deal, but over fourth dimension, merely a little hardness in your h2o tin build upwardly in your hot h2o heater and the plumbing in your abode causing major, and costly problems.

And then servicing your h2o softener annually, or at to the lowest degree checking your water softener settings yourself once a year is of import for maintaining soft h2o in your home.

Testing your water.

Testing your h2o should be an annual routine at least. Testing your water hardness with a simple hardness examination kit is very easy to do, and only takes a few seconds.

Also, if yous accept a history of having atomic number 26 in your water, an iron examination kit will allow you know if your iron levels take inverse, and therefore your water softener settings should be inverse.

Whether you service your water softener yourself or accept it washed past a professional person, I highly recommend using a unproblematic water testing kit for testing your water for hardness and fe once a yr if not more ofttimes.

Can I practise the service myself?

Y'all certainly tin can do a basic almanac service on your h2o softener yourself. The central things that you will need to do are clean or replace the injector, and clean or replace the screen.

Testing the water and checking the h2o softener settings is recommended, but not always necessary every time that you lot service your water softener.

What kind of water softener do you have?

Although different brands of water softeners may soften your water in the same manner, some may crave servicing more often than others.

A non-electrical water softener relies on a potent and steady flow of water to perform its water softening functions and considering it works with a complex series of gears and pistons, even a tiny bit of sediment can crusade the entire system to stop working.

Since not-electric water softeners are so susceptible to issues due to sediment, installing a sediment pre-filter is highly recommended.

Depending on the amount of sediment you get coming into your dwelling, this sediment pre-filter may only need an occasional change, or in some cases, it will need to be replaced quite frequently.

Replacing an inline sediment filter cartridge is not very hard, only not replacing information technology oftentimes enough tin can effect in poor h2o force per unit area, salty tasting water and perhaps, an expensive water softener repair neb.

Some water softeners use softened water for the brine tank which means that it uses water that has already been treated to create the brine that it needs to regenerate its water softening resin.

Past using h2o that has already been treated past the water softener to make the brine, the alkali volition be cleaner and free of hardness and iron which can build up on internal parts of the water softener which volition lead to having to service your water softener more often.

Not all water softeners tin do this, and if your water is free of iron, in that location should not exist a considerable difference in how often your system will need service because of this feature, merely when fe in your water is a problem, it can be a huge benefit.

What's in your water tin touch on how often it should exist serviced.

Ideally, a water softener will merely have to remove some hard minerals from your water but that is oft not the case. Dissolved iron in your water can gradually build up to clog openings and cause extra vesture and tear in the internal parts of a water softener.

Not-dissolved fe in your water tin can clog injectors and screens very quickly when a high volume of water is beingness used and tin cause valves and pistons to wear out much faster than normal.

If yous do not service your h2o softener often enough, the build-up of the fe inside of your water softener can significantly shorten the life of the system.

In some cases where the h2o contains a high corporeality of iron and there is a high volume of water being used, a water softener may demand to exist serviced several times a twelvemonth to maintain soft and iron-free h2o.

Does your h2o softener have a pre-filter?

Although a water pre-filter is not actually part of a water softener, it can play an of import office in the operation of a water softener.

Protecting a water softener from sediment and other debris that could cause information technology to malfunction is very important and therefore irresolute a water softener pre-filter should be a consideration when judging how ofttimes your h2o softener system needs to be serviced.

While the actual water softener parts may simply demand to exist serviced in one case a year, the system pre-filter may need to be changed several times a yr.

Each h2o situation is dissimilar, so it is of import to change your pre-filter when your situation calls for it.

How much h2o practise you use?

Naturally, the amount of water that you use volition determine how often your water softener will take to work and will make a difference in how often your water softener will need to be serviced.

A water softener in a habitation with a single person using 50 gallons of water per twenty-four hour period will of form not need to be serviced as oft as the aforementioned water softener in a abode with 5 people using 300 gallons of water per day.

This is why the thought of "I Size Fits All" certainly does not apply when buying a water softener . If you think that y'all can just buy the smallest water softener and make it work harder, it may cease upward costing you more than money in the finish if you lot have to have it serviced more than often.

Has your h2o usage inverse?

As your water usage changes, so volition the need to service your water softener. A growing family volition put more demand on your h2o softener so you may at once serviced your water softener one time every few years but at present detect that it needs to be once a twelvemonth.

On the other terminate, a dwelling house that now only contains 2 people considering the kids accept all grown and left the nest may have needed their water softener serviced annually, only now discover that they only need to service information technology once every several years.

The simplest way to determine if you should increase or decrease how often you go your water softener serviced is to cheque that the water coming from your h2o softener is soft.

Information technology's not complicated at all to check that your water is soft, a simple water hardness test kit is all y'all need to exam your h2o once or twice a year so you will know if your water softener needs to be serviced.

Did you let your water softener run out of salt?

For most h2o softeners, letting your organization run out of salt is not a problem unless you leave it without salt for a long period of time or if you lot take iron in your water.

Without salt, iron can brainstorm to build upwardly on the water softening resin, and eventually, it volition coat the resin to the point where the resin will no longer be able to soften your water.

If y'all let your water softener run out of salt for but a brief time, it is not probable that enough iron will build up to crusade any permanent impairment to the resin, merely if yous occasionally let your water softener run out of salt, servicing it annually would be a wise idea.

If you are worried almost damage to your water softening resin, using a dose of h2o softener resin cleaner a few times a year will assist to go along your resin working better.

What would happen if I don't have my water softener serviced often enough?

If the injector in a water softener gets chock-full or restricted, it volition not create the correct amount of draw in which to pull the brine from the common salt tank.

Due westithout a sufficient dose of brine, the water softening resin inside of your h2o softener will not become properly regenerated which ways that you will become hard water.

This may non sound all that bad, but hard minerals in your water volition build up inside of your hot water heater and cause it to piece of work less efficiently which volition stop upward costing you more coin on your fuel bill.

Somewhen, difficult mineral deposits tin totally ruin your hot water heater and you will need to have it replaced.

Hard minerals tin slowly build upwards in your plumbing and create poor water pressure throughout the home, and you volition find hard h2o spots on your h2o fixtures. Hard h2o build-up can likewise cause your fixtures to wear and corrode.

The problem with not servicing your h2o softener often enough is that the difficult water will gradually get worse, and you may never even know that it was in that location.

Since your water will non get from perfectly soft correct to very difficult, many people don't realize that they have hard h2o until it becomes very difficult.

By this fourth dimension, at that place may exist hard water build-up in your hot water heater and plumbing that could be causing problems.

Get your water softener serviced as often as your situation needs. Test your water a few times a twelvemonth to brand sure that your h2o softener is working correctly and never let your h2o softener run out of salt.

There is no exact time as to how frequently y'all should get your water softener serviced, but I advise servicing it once per year if you have atomic number 26 in your water, or if you take a abode with high water usage.

If y'all are a unmarried or two-person home without whatsoever fe in your water, yous might be but fine but having your water softener serviced every few years.

Freewateradvice.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Assembly Program, an affiliate advert programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advert and linking to Amazon.com. We too participate in other affiliate programs which recoup us for referring traffic.