Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [water-softener]

For questions regarding the installation and maintenance of devices that remove "hardness" from mains water and thus prevent the formation of limescale.

134 questions
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what is the brown foam and sludge in my water softener brine tank?

My water softener's brine tank has a brown foam on top of the water. the water itself has brown particles in it. My plumber said this is brown "iron" algae and it will not harm the system. but he also said the crud can clog the inlet filter to…
user21298
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Unsure what these water softener dials are for

I have a Rainsoft water softener with a mechanical timer with 3 knobs I can turn. The first (the small one with the arrows) turns a large wheel to adjust the time. This time, I assume, is supposed to be the current time. The second is a dial that…
Nathan Merrill
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How do you access the Rainsoft water softener "advanced" settings, such as hardness?

The user manual says that this setting is setup "by your Rainsoft dealer" when the softener is installed. Well, I bought mine off of Craigslist and I don't know how to verify if the settings are correct. Does anybody know how to access the hidden…
Jim
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Is water taste an indication that my softener is failing?

My softener uses potassium chloride and it seems to affect the taste of the water when it recharges. The bad taste would come and go after a few days time. I put it on bypass and the bad taste has gone away. I put a small piece of the potassium…
Bruce
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How do I measure how hard my water is?

Following on from How can I remove calcium deposits from a drain it looks like my water softener may not be working. How do I measure how hard my water is?
Guy
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What is this in my water softener?

My water softener was filling up with water and when I called the tech specialist, they said it was my O-Rings were damaged and needed replacement. On taking the top parts off the drum, the inside of the OUTLET piping going into the house is a brown…
Andrew Findlay
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How to clean water softer salt tank without disconnecting?

About 6mo ago, I replaced my 20+yo water softener with a Morton M34 model (resin tank inside salt tank). When I disconnected the old one, I put all the salt from it in a box in my laundry room instead of disposing it. Well, a couple weeks ago I had…
kinar
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Does a water softener only need to be plugged in to recharge?

I gutted my house and have yet to get an outlet wired in by my water softener. I still use hot water on occasion while I'm at the house so I want to make sure the water is still softened to avoid deposits in my water heater, pipes, and faucets. …
w.brian
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Will shutting off water to house hurt a water softener?

Will shutting off the water supply to the house hurt a water softner?
Steve
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Why does my water smell bad after the water softener?

Just bought a house, and I don't really understand how the water softening system is set up. Here's my best guess: Water from the well is pretty hard, and very iron filled. It smells enough to smell it across the room. But: it does not smell like…
Derek Lucas
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What is the white crystals in my water softener? and how to clean properly

I bought a Hague WaterMax 63BAQ used water softener about two years ago. It didn't work until a few days ago when I had a specialist come fix it. (see this post Any idea what parts were replaced on my water softener?) So being a new water softener…
ruevaughn
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Why does my water softener cause low water pressure?

I have a Kenmore 625.383560 water softener (WS). It looks to be the most generic WS on the planet that every house has. I have set my pressure at 70 psi using the regulator on the house supply line. If I bypass my WS (using the bypass valve), I can…
BumblingBy
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Brown foamy water in GE softener

I just cleaned my GE softener tank and put in 3 bags of salt pellets and added 3 gallons of water. Next morning I take a look and saw a lot of foammy water and a brownish mix. No salt pellets visible. Water almost to the top of tank this right?
Hector A. Jimenez
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What is this stuff at the bottom of my brine tank?

There is this brown silt/sediment on the salt pellets at the bottom of my brine tank. What is that?
Luposian
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Is an air gap required for our new Kinetico water softener?

We're having a Kinetico water softener system installed today. They're planning on running the drain tube down the wash drain. We're a little concerned because they're not establishing an air gap but they're telling us the air gap is on the system…
user81305
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