Anyone know anything about water softeners?? Salty water taste

[doogie]

Just recently, my water tastes salty after the softener goes through its periodic regeneration. It requires running the water for a bit to purge the salty left-overs out of the lines... then it is fine.

Being a Culligan, there is almost no DIY troubleshooting information available. I hate to call them in, but could use some help on how to troubleshoot this system.

 

[etc1006]

Is the salt over/under filled? Or if it is low, it may be past it's useful life for the flush... I used to deal with them years ago, but a lot of this newer stuff is goofy... Also check all your bypass valves and whatnot to make sure none are allowing back flush in. One may be bad or you may need a check valve...

 

[tjm73]

I have a system that seems to be over softening. The water is now too soft and feels slippery. Thoughts?

 

[19COBRA93]

I have a system that seems to be over softening. The water is now too soft and feels slippery. Thoughts?

That's how all the soft water I've ever had felt.

I ditched my system about 6 months ago because of the salty taste and was told something in the system had failed or was improperly working. My system was really old anyway so I just disconnected it.

I'm currently in the market for a new system as I can't stand hard water.

 

[doogie]

Is the salt over/under filled? Or if it is low, it may be past it's useful life for the flush... I used to deal with them years ago, but a lot of this newer stuff is goofy... Also check all your bypass valves and whatnot to make sure none are allowing back flush in. One may be bad or you may need a check valve...

Makes sense. I will tear into when we get back on Sunday.

That's how all the soft water I've ever had felt.

I ditched my system about 6 months ago because of the salty taste and was told something in the system had failed or was improperly working. My system was really old anyway so I just disconnected it.

I'm currently in the market for a new system as I can't stand hard water.

I am getting tired of the salt based system as well. It has never done a stellar job as we still get some hard water deposits from this well water. And if this one ends up needing any significant repairs, I am following your approach. Not only does the salt get expensive, but it seems like a huge waste of a quickly depleting natural resource.

 

[01yellerCobra]

All the water softner set ups I've had required an RO system to get the salt out of the drinking water.

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[tjm73]

There is no shortage of salt. I grew up 5 miles from the American Rock Salt mine in Livingston County NY and 10-15 miles from the Morton Salt production facility in Wyoming County, NY. There are massive amounts of salt in this area. They've been mining for decades (since 1884) and barely scratched the supply that's available here.

 

[19COBRA93]

We have no shortage of salt here in Utah (Great Salt Lake). In addition to that, the amount of salt we could pull out of ocean water is immeasurable.

It's amazing the amount of salt my little 30 gallon salt water fish tank uses just to match ocean water levels.

 

[Bullitt3478]

I am a plumbing contractor, is anyone up late at night that maybe running water during the regeneration cycle? This will draw salt water into the system. If not then it sounds like something in the regen cycle itself is messed up,may not be back washing,final rinsing etc. under normal operation you should never have salt in your water. The brine solution is only used to clean the activated resin in the resin tank. The it's washed out of the system into a drain.
For the guys above who's water is too soft,most softeners have a hardness setting on them, turn the setting down to harden the water a little. I suggest going down in small increments until you get it where you like it. It will always be slick feeling, that's just the nature of a resin based softener, but you can adjust the hardness on most units.

 

[Mystickeith50]

I am a plumbing contractor, is anyone up late at night that maybe running water during the regeneration cycle? This will draw salt water into the system. If not then it sounds like something in the regen cycle itself is messed up,may not be back washing,final rinsing etc. under normal operation you should never have salt in your water. The brine solution is only used to clean the activated resin in the resin tank. The it's washed out of the system into a drain.
For the guys above who's water is too soft,most softeners have a hardness setting on them, turn the setting down to harden the water a little. I suggest going down in small increments until you get it where you like it. It will always be slick feeling, that's just the nature of a resin based softener, but you can adjust the hardness on most units.

This exactly.....I do this for a living. 95% of the time the salt water taste is due to either someone running water during the regen or the timer on the softener itself being broken or not working properly. Majority of heads are set to backwash at 2am when no one is using the water. When there is a power outage the clock gets off and the backwash is adversely affected as to how far the clock is off. Also as stated before the slimy slippery water is a byproduct of mineral free water. You can decrease its effectiveness of removing hardness but in doing so it will also decrease its ability to effectively take the iron out of the water which is what alot of softeners are installed for. Any other questions feel free to ask.

 

[doogie]

Thanks for your input. I must have an something up with the hardware as the time is set correct, regen is still set for 2am and aside from a periodic overnight toilet flush, there is no substantial water running over night as it is just my wife and I in the house.

 

[Mystickeith50]

A toilet flush is usually 2 gallons. You would be surprised how much two gallons of salty will frig up the water lol. There is also a possibility if this is on a well system or even a public water system that there is a problem with the pressure and gpm delivered to the unit. Depending on the size of the unit, they need a certain amount of psi to properly clean the bed, flip it, and then get rid of the salt. If the proper water pressure is not delivered to the unit via a bad pressure tank, pump or something else it could leave salt in the system when it's done.

 

[doogie]

We are on a well, but nothing obvious has changed as the water pressure at the tank sits at 60psi (which is normal). Until recently, the salty water issue never occurred so it would seem odd that periodic toilet flushes would all of the sudden cause it. If it happens again, think I will get everything checked out.

 

[mr. anderson]

ooh, not to mess up the ops thread, but I am thinking of having a SW softener added to my home but have a quandry on the install since the main water shut off valve is in one of the jack-n-jill bedroom closets(weird location but whatever). I would like to locate the water softener in the garage with hot water heater closet and reconfigure the hot water heater to a tankless unit, the closet is in on the same side of the house but in the middle of the house. Also, here in Oklahoma, so my home is a cement slab foundation. any recommendations to do this? also are the $500 water softeners from lowe's anygood?something like this:http://www.lowes.com/pd_63540-43353-WHES40_4294822072__?productId=1095185&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=
I am not a large consumer of water, just me and the wife in the house. no ankle biters other than cats.