Would this wet vacuum work for sludge on bottom of water softener?

[andrepurchases]

Hi guys brand new to the forum so apologies in advance if I break any rules... and apologies for the strange username looks like the forum automatically generated it for me ..

I've done some internet research on water softeners.. in my case we have a " Rheem Preferred Plus 42,000 Grain Water Softener " model .. that was installed August 2021... my research indicates any sludge on the bottom of the water softener should be cleaned out.

At this point this is more of a "what if" question since I foolishly refilled the water softener more often than I should have to the point where it's probably going to take at least a few months for the salt pellets to drop low enough to the point where I can see sludge, if any, on the bottom... however one website mentioned that if you do have sludge on the bottom of the water softener you can use a wet vacuum to suction it out.

I was wondering if the " CRAFTSMAN CMXEVBE17250 2.5 gallon 1.75 Peak Hp Wet/Dry Vac, Portable Shop Vacuum with Attachments" I saw on amazon for about $53 would work for this purpose? (apparently it's model number CMXEVBE17250 if you do a search by that on amazon ... not sure if I'm allowed to post links here as a new member otherwise I would have given links to the amazon wet dry vac and the home depot website for my water softener)... I know at $53 it's a very "budget" wet vacuum and you get what you pay for .. but with two kids we're putting through college and a lot of unexpected expenses this year trying to trim my expenses if at all possible.

I know that the even less costly solution would be to just get a shovel and dig in there for sludge but honestly I'm a bit nervous about breaking something inside the water softener if I do that.. it's kind of a big sized water softener , 50 inches tall, not the small kind you can just lug around easily and work with and it's installed outside to boot (we live in Florida).

Thanks so much to anyone who reads this and replies

 

[havasu]

If it sucks, it will work. I don't know how much sludge you have, so pay attention and empty the vacuum as needed.
As far as your name choice, let me know if you want/need a name change. I can easily do that for you.

 

[RS]

I don't understand how there can be that much sludge in the brine tank, that's what your talking about, right? What kind of salt have you been using? We have been using softeners for almost 50 years and I have never seen enough sludge to worry about. Are you sure it's really a problem? I have always just added salt as needed and never seen the bottom of the tank. If it's a separate brine tank, one without the softener sitting in it, you could disconnect it and dump it out and rinse it. A shop vac would probably suck it out just fine, but i would think it would ruin the vacuum, just from the salt fumes.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

If it sucks, it will work. I don't know how much sludge you have, so pay attention and empty the vacuum as needed.
As far as your name choice, let me know if you want/need a name change. I can easily do that for you.

I read his name as Andre Purchases

 

[andrepurchases]

Guys thank you so much for your replies I really appreciate it .. I can live with andrepurchases as my username but thanks for the offer to change it havasu .. it's one of the email addresses that I use so it looks like the forum just lifted it from my email and generated a username for me but I'm not too picky ..

And that's good to know, that there are water softeners where the sludge isn't even a problem at all ! I read online as far as the care for a water softener that you should get rid of any sludge on the bottom in order to lengthen the life of the water softener ... I've been using the " Morton® Salt Clean and Protect® Water Softener Salt Pellets, 40 lb. Bag " .. to be honest I took terrible care of the last water softener, I wasn't even dumping that cleanser thing into the old one before it died.. with my Rheem water softener I have now I'm using the Rheem brand cleanser which I know is probably overpriced but just trying to play it safe in my ignorance ...

I guess I should wait for the water softener pellet levels to drop low enough for me to be able to scoop the pellets out more easily and see if there is any sludge on the bottom (which is also something I have been guilty of, refilling the water softener too soon - according to the website below, if you guys feel it's accurate info that is - I could be wrong maybe it isn't ! - apparently refilling with salt pellets too often can lead to salt bridges) .. this is the website that was recommending that I do that, going to try posting the link hopefully it works given that I'm a new member and all

https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/keep-your-water-softener-healthy/

 

[RS]

If you suspect your having a bridging problem dump a bucket of water in the brine tank, that will knock it down. I add a couple of gallons of water in the tank every time I add salt. At our last house we used the same softener over 25 years, and never had a problem, don't know if we had sludge, I never looked for any!

 

[wpns]

Guys thank you so much for your replies I really appreciate it .. I can live with andrepurchases as my username but thanks for the offer to change it havasu .. it's one of the email addresses that I use so it looks like the forum just lifted it from my email and generated a username for me but I'm not too picky ..

And that's good to know, that there are water softeners where the sludge isn't even a problem at all ! I read online as far as the care for a water softener that you should get rid of any sludge on the bottom in order to lengthen the life of the water softener ... I've been using the " Morton® Salt Clean and Protect® Water Softener Salt Pellets, 40 lb. Bag " .. to be honest I took terrible care of the last water softener, I wasn't even dumping that cleanser thing into the old one before it died.. with my Rheem water softener I have now I'm using the Rheem brand cleanser which I know is probably overpriced but just trying to play it safe in my ignorance ...

I guess I should wait for the water softener pellet levels to drop low enough for me to be able to scoop the pellets out more easily and see if there is any sludge on the bottom (which is also something I have been guilty of, refilling the water softener too soon - according to the website below, if you guys feel it's accurate info that is - I could be wrong maybe it isn't ! - apparently refilling with salt pellets too often can lead to salt bridges) .. this is the website that was recommending that I do that, going to try posting the link hopefully it works given that I'm a new member and all

https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/keep-your-water-softener-healthy/

So that link has got some completely-wrong information in it:

/* resin tank, which is filled with salt-coated polystyrene beads */

which makes me wonder what _else_ is wrong, but if the drawings are correct, you should probably run it all the way down yearly(?), remove all the salt, pull out the grate below the salt, and clean out the area under the grate, to allow the brine uptake to flow freely. If there's nothing to clean out at the first year, then maybe do every 3 years, or whatever.

 

[andrepurchases]

RS thanks very much that is a useful tip I will keep that in mind .. and darn wpns that's disconcerting that the link I was looking to advice has got completely wrong info in it .. but that's good to know thanks for pointing that out... and thanks for the advice as well