Residential Water Softener FAQ

1. What type of salt should I use in my water softener?

  • Salt should read 99% pure and should be either pellet, nugget, crystals, or solar salt.

  • Salt pellets are the preferred type of salt for our brine tanks. This type of salt has the lowest chance of creating insoluble buildup & salt bridges. This means less cleanup time & money spent on maintaining your water softener

2. How much salt should I put in my water softeners Salt/Brine tank?

  • The water softener will consume 15 lbs of salt every time it regenerates - so you should maintain a minimum of 12” on top of the salt platform

  • We recommend keeping your brine tank at least one quarter full of water softener pellets at all times, and no more than top of the brine well for serviceability. Make sure that the salt level always remains a few inches above the water level

3. What’s the difference between water softener pellets and crystals?
  • No difference - this is all based on the manufacturer. The pellet claims high water usage and the crystals claim low water usage. Pellets also claim less bridging of salt

  • Difference - Water Softener Salt crystals: made from evaporating salt water in shallow outdoor ponds. The sun and wind evaporate the water and leave behind a layer of natural salt crystals

  • Water Softener Salt pellets and cubes: made from small salt granules that are compacted together to form a large pellet (pillow shape) or cube (square shape). The larger size of pellets and cubes may make them less susceptible to bridging than smaller salt crystals

4. How do I adjust the hardness on my water softener?

  • Hardness level is set by the installer based on the water tested. The water softener can’t change the natural hardness of your water, It can only remove hardness through the process for end use.

5. How do I test my water softener to know its working?

  • You can purchase a hardness test kit from your local home improvement store, online, or from your local dealer/ installer

  • Run water at a faucet for 3 minutes and then draw a sample- use amount of water needed based on test kit instructions – unit should test less than 1 grain or 17.1 ppm

  • Put the system into a manual regeneration and verify that the system is cycling through all of the cycles properly

6.How do I know if my water softening system is working?

  • Using the hardness test kit will confirm if the unit is working correctly

7. How often should I add salt to my water softeners Salt/Brine tank?

  • When water is not noticeable in the salt tank

  • Maintain a level by the user – (2 - 40 lb. bags)

  • If you own a water softener, you'll want to check your softener's brine tank a least once each month to make sure you have enough salt

8. What maintenance is needed for my water softener?

  • The brine tank / salt tank should be cleaned annually. Remove any salt and put in 5 gallon pail. Mild dish soap and water to rinse clean – return salt from pail back into the brine tank/ salt tank

  • Check salt level in the brine tank/ salt tank monthly

  • Cycle valve manually annually

  • Check for leaks annually

  • If you have elevated iron in your water it doesn’t hurt to run a product called Iron out through your water softener once a month. You may also install a Resup Feeder that will automatically add the cleaner.

9. Why is there water in my water softener salt tank?

  • The water in the brine tank/ salt tank is there to make a brine solution which is needed to regenerate the Cation resin in the fiberglass tank

  • The regeneration process takes up to 4 hours – so it is there for the next regeneration

10. Why is my water softener not using salt?

  • Confirm that you don’t have a salt bridge – this is a hard candy like shell that prevents water from making contact with the salt

  • Water meter not working

  • Timer not working

  • Plugged injector in the injector assembly

11. Why do I have high water level in my water softener salt tank?

  • Brine line not connected correctly – drawing air

  • Brine valve failure

  • Plugged injector

  • Plugged drain line

  • Verify the feed water pressure is 35 psi minimum

12. Why does my water softener run water to the drain?

  • The unit runs water to the drain when it’s in regeneration – this last for about an hour and a half – this is normal operation

  • If the unit is running water to the drain continuous this is likely a seal issue in the valve head and will need to be rebuilt – consult local dealer/ installers

13. How often will a water softener regenerate?

  • The unit will only regenerate once a day based on model and programming

  • The unit will regenerate based on a calendar day or a water meter

14. When will my water softener regenerate?

  • The regeneration time setting from the factory is 2:00 AM

15. Why does my water from my water softener have a salty taste?

  • This could be a component failure brine valve, injector – consult with local dealer/ installer

  • Check brine tank tubing and confirm there is no kinks or restrictions

16. What if I can’t have salt in my water supply?

  • Potassium Chloride water softener pellets are an option to replace the sodium.

17. Why when I turn on a faucet air comes out?

  • This could be a loose brine line connection from the valve to the brine tank/ salt tank

  • Brine valve / air check failure in the brine tank/ salt tank

18. Why is there resin in my floor drain?

  • Air getting into the system

  • Brine line connections are loose causing the unit to pull in air into the system

  • Drain line flow control restrictor missing or damaged

19. Why is my water pressure low?

  • The resin is the tank has turned into a gel- chlorine damages resin – resin will need to be replaced

  • The resin tank has fine sediment in it

  • Hot water back up into the water softener – damaged distributor tube

20. Why do I have little colored beads in my toilet, or why do my faucet screens plug up?

  • The unit was plumbed in backwards

  • The distributor in the resin tank has been damaged

21. How much water is going to the drain when my water softener regenerates?

  • The amount of water discarded depends on the size of the unit, see the specification table in your owners manual.