Water Softener Update

[oakumboakum]

In January 2021, I noticed the water was not being softened. I decided to replace the 23 year old resin. I dumped out the old resin and installed 16,000 grains of resin. The house is vacant and my sister uses the house once a week and I use it once every three weeks. With the new resin, the water was once again soft. In June of this year, the water was hard again after regeneration. I checked the salt tank and saw that the water was dirty. I cleaned the float assembly and bought a 5 gallon bucket at the hardware store. I dissolved 12 pounds of salt in five 1 gallon Crystal Geyser water bottles. I poured the 5 gallons of water and dissolved salt into the 5 gallon bucket. I put the float assembly in the bucket and started a manual regeneration. My Autotrol 460i water softener draws in about 4 and 3/4 gallons of brine.

The water is now 1 grain hard, as measured with the 3 bottle water hardness procedure. I normally see the water 3 grains hard after a regeneration.

 

[Admin Sorso]

In January 2021, I noticed the water was not being softened. I decided to replace the 23 year old resin. I dumped out the old resin and installed 16,000 grains of resin. The house is vacant and my sister uses the house once a week and I use it once every three weeks. With the new resin, the water was once again soft. In June of this year, the water was hard again after regeneration. I checked the salt tank and saw that the water was dirty. I cleaned the float assembly and bought a 5 gallon bucket at the hardware store. I dissolved 12 pounds of salt in five 1 gallon Crystal Geyser water bottles. I poured the 5 gallons of water and dissolved salt into the 5 gallon bucket. I put the float assembly in the bucket and started a manual regeneration. My Autotrol 460i water softener draws in about 4 and 3/4 gallons of brine.

The water is now 1 grain hard, as measured with the 3 bottle water hardness procedure. I normally see the water 3 grains hard after a regeneration.

Your water softener had trouble regenerating due to a dirty brine tank. Cleaning the float assembly and manually dissolving salt improved performance, likely restoring proper brining. Since the house is mostly vacant, stagnant water may contribute to buildup. To prevent future issues, regularly clean the brine tank, check for salt bridging, and consider a time-based regeneration cycle. Also, using a resin cleaner periodically can help maintain efficiency. Your troubleshooting worked well—just keep an eye on maintenance!