A broken water softener is leaking

[CDB]

Good day, I have a broken water softener sitting outside the house for years, it is still connected but the switch was turned off. This morning I found it is leaking, please see the video. What could cause the leaking, and how can I stop it? I would appreciate very much you help.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Looks like the bypass valve is in the bypass position and the valve itself is leaking. Is that a Fleck stainless steel valve? If so perhaps watch this video:



If you aren't comfortable trying that yourself then call a plumber, or I guess whichever soft water company installed that unit.

 

[CDB]

Looks like the bypass valve is in the bypass position and the valve itself is leaking. Is that a Fleck stainless steel valve? If so perhaps watch this video:



If you aren't comfortable trying that yourself then call a plumber, or I guess whichever soft water company installed that unit.

Thank you pasadena_commut for your reply. Two and half years ago, my household water pressure became very weak, a plumber came to check, told me it was because the switch of this broken water softener was not shut off, he shut it off, and then my water pressure went back to normal. At the time he said that it was okay to leave the water softener as it is, so I did not think it was necessary to be removed. Since then, it hasn't caused any problems until now.

I watched the video, it looks like it is the problem my broken water softener is having. I don't know much about water softener, it has been broken for more than 10 years. no longer in use. Would replacing the fleck bypass seal gasket be the only way to stop the water leaking? Is there anything on the water softener I could switch off to stop the water passing through? Or should I consider to have it removed permanently. I would appreciate very much your advice.

 

[Aggie83]

Or remove the water softener if you don't need it. Have someone do the pipes so that it would not be difficult to put in a softener should one be desired.

 

[pasadena_commut]

It is really hard to tell but it looks like there are two 6" (?) nipples connecting the pipes running up the wall to this valve, with what appears to be pipe dope on both ends. If that is the case it should be possible to unscrew them to release the water softener. At that point you could probably put together an adapter from hardware store components that could be screwed in using those same nipples.

But only if you think you or some future owner will plug another water softener in at that position and height.

Otherwise it would make more sense to cut the two vertical pipes at the same height close to the ground and solder on two elbows and a pipe to connect them. You might want to call a plumber to do that if you have no experience soldering pipes. (It looks like copper.)

The pipes you see probably are spliced out of a pipe many feet in from that wall under the house. While you could revert the plumbing back to that original form, or nearly so, at this point you might as well leave at least a stub of this pipe where it is, just in case.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Also, why not fix the water softener? Presumably it was installed because your house has the same very hard water that is common in Southern California and parts of the Bay Area. The control valve will screw off the bypass valve, and it in turn can be screwed off the tank. Then you can replace the ion exchange resin or service the valve. Or have a soft water company do it for you.

Note, the anode rod in the water heater (assuming it is a conventional tank unit) should match the water type. The metals are a little different because the pH of the water is different. Only matters if you service the water heater - change the rod, flush the sediment. If you are one of the majority of people who just throw out water heaters every 8 years instead of servicing them, then never mind.

 

[CDB]

Thank you Aggie83.

Thank you pasadena_commut for your input. At this very moment the plumber is removing the water softener for me, the price is $160.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Given the cost of plumber's these days in California that is a very good deal. What city is this?

 

[CDB]

My city is Walnut. I also got a quote from the company that originally installed the water softener, their price is $200.

Here I attached a photo of the finishing look.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Walnut is about 15 minutes away. That fix should be good for a long time.

Before we moved in there used to be a water softener of some type in our garage. Like everything else in the house it was plumbed with galvanized pipe. The pipe is like a capital letter "H". The water to and from the rest of the house goes through the bottom "legs" of the H. The water to and from the (absent) softener used to go through the upper "arms" of the H. There are 3 shut off valves present, one in each of the arms and one in the horizontal bar in the middle. The valves in the arms are off, the one in the bar is open. These were sturdy brass gate valves. The one in the middle eventually failed closed (we often used it as a house shut off) and was replaced with a ball valve. None of them ever leaked water onto the floor in 28 years. If posts on the web are any indication the shut off valves like the OP had are prone to sudden leaks, sometimes massive ones. Seems like it might be safer (albeit probably more expensive) to use the (old fashioned?) set of 3 valves instead.

 

[havasu]

If that was an old salt water softener, I'd recommend calling your city. My city will pay you $250 to remove those salt systems, since it is hard to remove the salt from the sewer system. It is at least worth giving the water department a call?

 

[pasadena_commut]

Apparently California changed some water related codes about 10 years ago and that ended up banning salt based water softeners in some locations. Technically I think it just made it possible for locales to issue a ban, because for some reason or other prior to that they could not. For instance, I believe Santa Clarita and other communities that get at least some water from the Santa Clara river have banned this type of water softener. Hopefully they get most of their water from that river, so it will be surface water, and not very hard. I think that it might also now only be legal to put soft water into the hot pipe. That would definitely be a change form when our house was built (1957), where the water softener was plumbed into the cold line upstream from the water heater, but after the pipes for outside irrigation had forked off.

 

[CDB]

Thank you all for the above information.

All I know the plumber did was to cut off the three pipes from the water softener which connected to the wall and sealed the loose ends up. Here I attached a photo. By the way, discarding the water softener is not included in the service. It is extremely heavy, I can hardly move it!

 

[pasadena_commut]

It is extremely heavy, I can hardly move it!

It is probably still full of water. Water is heavy. An empty 40 gallon water heater is around 150 pounds, but fill it up and it would be nearly 500 pounds.

The valve and controller should screw off the tank in the picture. At that point there may be an open threaded pipe of some sort poking up or just a big hole (in which case look in with a flashlight to see what you are dealing with). Fill a flexible plastic tube that will fit down into it completely with water, put a thumb over one end and quickly jam the other one as far into the tank as it will go. Put the thumb end near the ground and let go with your thumb and let it siphon into a bucket or down the driveway. If tiny plastic beads come out stop and only drain into a bucket through cheesecloth or something similar to collect them. The beads can go into the trash.

Ideally there will just be hard water or soft water in the tank. Since it is broken I guess there is a slight chance that it is full of salt water. You don't want to pour salt water anywhere other than a sewer. (Ie, not into the ground because it will kill the nearby plants.) Since it has been sitting for years you probably shouldn't taste it to find out. If you have an ohmmeter you could collect a little water first (stick in a short piece of tube until it is in water, put your thumb over the end of the tube, pull it out and put it in a cup) then measure the resistance between the two probes. If it is significantly lower resistance than your usual tap water measured exactly the same way assume it is salty and dispose of it accordingly.