Most people understand that Water Softeners remove Hardness from the Water. In New Hampshire that Hardness is over 90% Calcium. There are areas in New Hampshire that have elevated Hardness levels but, for the most part, those areas are few and far between. In fact the majority of the Water Softeners installed in New Hampshire are not there for Calcium Hardness at all. This has led many customers to ask the question, “Why do I need a Water Softener, if my water isn’t Hard?”

The best answer to that question is to, “Go with the Flow!” Water Treatment is a Science and an Art Form. There are many ways to treat Water, all ending up with the same result. However the difference between the approaches will create very different outcomes regarding the long term Maintenance and Operations costs as well as Customer Satisfaction. It is the opinion of Secondwind Water Systems that if Iron and Manganese are present in high levels that they should be removed using the existing chemistry of the Water, “Go with the Flow”. Therefore if the Iron is in a solid Ferric form then it should be removed by Filtration. Iron in a soluble Ferrous form, as well as Manganese which is almost always soluble, should both be removed by a Water Softener. We find that following this simple approach will provide you with consistent Water Quality and reduced long term costs.

I don’t expect every Water Treatment Specialist to agree with me on this approach. In fact, I was hard to convince on this originally back in 1995, when I came to Secondwind from another company that liked to use Oxidizing Filters. I think it was after a few months of doing Walkthroughs with my customers that I came to realize that everyone was so much happier! After a year I realized that no one was calling for service under warranty, because no one was ever having a problem, that’s when I became a believer.

Until next time, if you find out that your Water Softener is not there to remove Hardness, just “Go with the flow”, and enjoy your great water…

Water Softeners remove contaminants from the water using a process called Ion Exchange. Basically, Cations such as Iron, Manganese, and Hardness are attracted to Resin Beads with the opposite Ionic charge. As the contaminants become attached to the Beads, Sodium Molecules will be released into the water stream. Eventually, the Resin Beads become saturated with Cations and they need to be Regenerated with a Salt Brine solution. This is a very basic overview of how Ion Exchange works.

One major difference between most Water Softeners is how the regeneration process is initiated. Some use timers, or meters. Some measure conductivity of the Resin Bed, and some use all of the above.

One key component shared by most Water Softeners is the Brine Valve (also called Throat Valve or Venturi). This small valve is basically a passage way that water flows through during the Brine draw process. As the water flows through the valve the passage gets smaller and smaller compressing the water and causing it to speed up. Then the passage way suddenly gets big, which causes a Vacuum. This Vacuum is what causes the suction on the Softener brine line, pulling Salt from the Brine Tank to Regenerate the Softener.

One of the most common service items on a Throat Valve is the Brine Valve. On most Water Softeners the water flowing through the Brine Valve is dirty. All it takes to plug one up is a large piece of Sand, or some Iron. You can tell that this is happening because the water In the Brine tank starts to come up to the level of the Brine Float Safety Valve. If you don’t know what that means that’s okay. Just know that the water should not be more than about 18 inches deep in most residential systems. If it is, call your service provider. Cleaning these is not something that an average homeowner wants to perform.

Also, if the Brine Valve does plug up a lot you may want to install a Filter ahead of your Water Softener to cut down on service calls.

So until next time, keep an eye on the water level in your Brine tank, get it serviced quickly, and enjoy your great Water!

When a car runs out of gas the engine stalls and things come to halt. When a Water Softener runs out of Salt a very similar thing happens. The Water Softener stops cleaning itself properly and stops treating the Water. If you have a Water Softener to remove Iron or Manganese it will become obvious that the Brine Tank is empty because you will see the Staining return very soon. If you are treating for Hardness it might take a little longer to show. However you will notice that the shower Water loses it’s silky feeling right away.

Running out of Softener Salt on a regular basis can be very bad for your Water Softener Resin. The electrolytes in Softener Resin can’t sustain long term abuse. It’s sort of like letting a car battery go dead over, and over again. It just won’t last very long that way, and the solution will be expensive.

Simply adding Salt to the Brine Tank is not enough to get your Softener working properly again. It is also necessary to recharge the Softener Resin by manually initiating a Regeneration Cycle. This procedure should be outlined in you Operators Manual.

You will probably notice that the water in the Brine Drum comes up higher than normal when you run out of Salt. When you add the Salt to all that extra water you will dissolve more Salt than you normally would. That’s okay, because your Softener can probably use the extra recharge all of that Salt will deliver. Just don’t be alarmed if the Water tastes a bit Salty. If that happens don’t be alarmed, just run a cold water faucet for a while until the water tastes normal again. If you have an RO (Reverse Osmosis System) you won’t have to be concerned about the potential Salty taste at all.

The best solution to keeping a full Brine Tank is to keep a log on a clip board next to the Water Treatment Equipment. Make a note every time you check the Water Treatment System, whether you need to do something or not. Over time you will develop a good Maintenance pattern based on your previous log entries.

As far as how much salt to keep in the Brine Drum is concerned, that really depends on your individual water quality and usage. Salt can go hard over a long period of time especially if exposed to high Humidity. It is not a good idea to run out of Salt, or to over fill the Brine Tank either. Keeping a log will help you to overcome this dilemma.

So until next time keep a log, don’t run out of Salt, and enjoy your great water!

Do it Yourself-ers should pay serious attention to the warnings in this Blog. Every time I speak to a Customer who has tried to do their own installation or service, it seems to always end the same way. They wind up asking us to come in and straighten out their system. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a true Yankee, Do It Yourself-er. I recently installed 28 replacement windows in my 1850 New Englander Home and they look beautiful.

Water Treatment is very different than the average DIY project. You have to know the backwash flow rate of the system, pump flow rate, the daily household demand, the 8 minute peak demand, seasonal fluctuations, how to understand a water analysis, potential maintenance issues, space available, pipe size, drain requirements, distance to the drain, electrical availability, type of counter top and sink, accessibility issues, heat/freezing issues,and code requirements. Then you can specify a Water Treatment System that will work if it is installed properly. If these requirements are not met, most Systems will work well for 1-6 months and then they will stop working and actually make the water worse.

Secondwind no longer offers Residential equipment without including our own signature installation with it. We had to learn the hard way. It seems that even the best DIY customers took more time to teach the installation requirements, than if we had just done it ourselves. The DIY customers weren’t installing things the way that we recommended, which could lead to Warranty coverage issues when they asked us to service the failing equipment, and everyone is eventually left with a bad taste in their mouth, YUCK!

We highly recommend that dealers consider having one signature installation for every customer. When a phone call comes in from a customer on a Sunday afternoon you want to be able to tell the customer how to bypass that system quickly, so that everyone can go back to their afternoon plans, and not have to make a service call cross State.

One thing that DIY customers seem to have a problem grasping is that Water Treatment is a Science and also an Art form. Many successful dealerships will approach the same situation differently, based upon past performance and the Water Quality in their specific areas. You won’t get this type of Local expertise from a Big Box Store running a special on 2/3 cubic foot Water Softeners. They may say that they will solve your water problem right in the Manual, just don’t expect to be able to take a shower, when anyone else in the house is using water.

I could go on and on about DIY installation nightmares that I have seen. Hopefully this small handful will suffice for today. Just remember to call a WQA Certified Water Treatment Specialist to create your Water Treatment System Design and have it installed by a WQA Certified Water Treatment Installer and enjoy your great water!