We moved into a house a little over a year ago. This house has a water softener which we have never had before. This has happened twice since we've lived here. When you run the water or flush the toilets orange grains come through the water lines. They almost seem like salt. They are very irritating to the skin, almost burning. When this happens what I usually do is unhook the supply lines to the washer and let them run for 2-5 minutes down the standpipe. Then run all the faucets in the house for 2-5 minutes and it seems to be fine for months and then start again. HELP!

Bypass the softener, (see image) C.lose the two bottom valves and open the middle one. And let me know if the colored grains stop. Let me know, Tom

Well I ran some water softener cleaner through the water softener this morning before I got your response and that did not seem to help. This afternoon I bypassed the water softener and it seems to have gotten a little better but it is impossible to tell right now. I will have to wait a few hours and let you know once whatever sediment remaining in the supply lines has had a chance to run through.

Thanks,

Aaron

All right after bypassing the water heater it seems that the grains have stopped so the problem has been isolated to the water softener.