Learn How to Do Your Own Water Softener Maintenance
Do you want to learn how to do your own water softener maintenance to improve its performance, make it last longer and save money for your family?
Check out my DIY Water Softener Maintenance Live stream. Did you miss the live stream? Check out the replay here and watch for our next live event! Don’t miss it! If you’re not exactly sure how a water softener works, I suggest you check out my video on How does a Water Softener Work here.
Cleaning or Replacing the Injector
Cleaning or replacing the injector or what’s sometimes called the actuator is quite straightforward as this video will show you once they clog the water softener will stop using salt and stop softening your water. The key to completing this procedure is to start a regeneration, bypass the unit to release the pressure inside and then disassemble. You’ll need CLR, rust out or a similar product to soak the injector or just plan to replace. If you are cleaning it, be sure to only use a wooden toothpick to clean out the venturi and leave it soaking in the cleaning solution for a long time. If replacing, make sure you’re replacing it with not only the correct brand but also the correct size for your water softener. Many are color coded
Is Your Water Softener Leaking or is it Condensation?
Whenever cold water runs through a pipe or vessel of any sort that is in a warm, high humid environment you’ll get sweating. On the outside of the media tank you will get mould growth, which is never good. I always suggest insulating the pipes around all water treatment equipment as shown here but also adding a neoprene jackets like these to your brine tank will not only minimize condensation and mold growth the jackets can be washed and reused.
Restoring the Water Softener Media
Water softener media can get coated with hardness and iron and often you can restore the media with a water softener cleaner. Periodically using these cleaners as a preventative measure is also a great idea. This video shows you how How to clean water softener media – read iron out instructions don’t inhale – I cup to ½ gallon of cold water Settings on your water softener – I can’t stress enough how important it is that your water softener is set properly. How do you do that? You need to know your water hardness and if on well water you’ll also need to know the iron and manganese levels too. To the hardness settings add the following compensated values: Iron - ppm x 4 Manganese - ppm x 8 To arrive at the additional compensated load on the softener 3 way bypass – Whenever working around a water softener or any other piece of water filtration equipment that has recently stopped working make sure that there isn’t a 3 way bypass involved that has been left open.
Disinfect Disinfect Disinfect!
Disinfect your water softener media by dumping 2 ounces of chlorine or bleach in the brine well and running a manual regeneration. This will lessen the chance of the water softener media fowling to the point of making your post water from the water softener smell like garbage. I’ve got a great video here that shows you how.
Make Sure the Settings Are Correct For Your Water Softener Including the Current Time.
Why? The only way the water softener knows when to regenerate is if the time is set correctly. If the time is wrong, then it won’t regenerate at the right time and there may not be enough water flow when water is being used elsewhere in the home to properly regenerate the media for your family. Does your Water Softener have a power cell back up system? If you have a power failure and your water softener doesn’t have a power cell back up you’ll at least need to reset the current time. Older models may need you to reset the hardness and other settings. To learn more about the maintenance, winterization and installation of these chemical free iron and sulphur systems and check out the different types available, go to my next video here and I’ll see you there!