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dmrlook · Nov 28, 2006, 06:23 PM

Hello all - I have a water softener question. I have a two piece water softener (one for salt storage, the other with the beads in it). I recently cleaned out my salt storage tank since it was empty. I did this by removing the valve/float assembly that runs down the hollow tube, took the salt tank outside, removed the bottom grid, and cleaned it out with the hose. It was loaded with a ton of dirt - amazing. Anyway, after I reassembled it and refilled with salt and enough water to cover the grid by about an inch or two as per the manual, I had it run through two regeneration cycles on two consecutive days. As of today, the water is still hard. Obviously, it is not working. I'm not sure why and thought maybe someone could help. The salt storage tank has two hoses coming out of it. One is obviously a drain in case it gets to full. The other must be where the salt water is sucked from, as well as where water is replaced at the end of the cycle. This hose is connected to the valve/float assembly I referenced above. The only thing I can think of is that the hose is not doing a good job of allowing the softener to suck the salt water out of the tank to regenerate the beads. Does this make sense? If this in fact the issue, what can I do to prime that hose? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

labman · Nov 28, 2006, 09:31 PM

My guess is that in cleaning, you stirred stuff up and clogged the valve assembly. Before you take it apart, carefully examine the hose. Even the tiniest air leak on the suction side will keep it from drawing the brine in.

If the hose seems OK, then do your best to clean the valve.

dmrlook · Nov 29, 2006, 07:27 AM

Originally Posted by labman

My guess is that in cleaning, you stirred stuff up and clogged the valve assembly. Before you take it apart, carefully examine the hose. Even the tiniest air leak on the suction side will keep it from drawing the brine in.

If the hose seems OK, then do your best to clean the valve.

Thanks! Ive looked into that - the brine is being drawn in. I looked into the brine tank and realized that the water level was so low that it did not cover the suction tip. So I added some water manualy to cover it plus an inch or two. I then did a manual regeneration. While it was regenerating, I could taste a strong salt content in the water (but just for about 30 seconds, and then the water lost the salt taste - perhaps that is why normal regeneration takes place at 2:00 AM). Anyway, after the regeneration process, I noticed that the water level in the brine tank was once again below the suction tip. Is this normal? I would think that the tank should be refilled.

At any rate, the fact that I could taste salt, and that the tank is less full than it was before tells me it is sucking. What else should I look for. I will clean the valve assembly tonight.

Thanks,
Rob