Your water softener plays an important role in your home’s water quality. Most people find that an efficient water softener provides energy savings, extends the lifespan of appliances, reduces soap, shampoo and detergent costs, eliminates dry skin and hair, and reduces hard water scaling. However, if your water softener is not working properly, you are not realizing any of these benefits.
What are the Signs My Water Softener isn’t Working Properly?
You may have started to notice water spots on your shower doors, a change in your home’s water pressure, or your water just doesn’t feel soft. These can all be signs that your water softener is not working properly.
- Seeing Hard Water Spots and Staining: When your softener is functioning optimally you shouldn’t be seeing hard water spots, staining, and scale build-up on your shower doors, sinks, and faucets. If you find that you have to clean more often, or cleaning becomes difficult, you should have a service technician look at your unit.
- Water Doesn’t Feel Soft: If your water softener isn’t working properly, you will immediately feel the difference on your skin, as dry, itchy skin is generally one of the most common symptoms of hard water.
- Reduced Suds: Soap, shampoo, and detergent will not form as many suds as usual. The minerals in harder water prevent soaps from creating suds and stop them from cleaning effectively.
- Change in Water Pressure: A change in water pressure could indicate a serious problem with your water softener and you should contact a service technician immediately.
Preventative Maintenance
While most softeners require little maintenance and will last for many years, problems can occasionally occur. To ensure that your water softener is always working at its optimum, you should have it serviced annually. A Water Depot Preventative Maintenance plan includes:
- Raw and treated water field test to evaluate function
- Valve component inspection and cleaning (injector, stack assembly and flow meter)
- Identify if replacements parts are required
- Inspect resin and brine tank for cracks, leaks or salt bridging
- Functional test of complete unit
- Top up brine tank with salt if requested
- Final test to ensure unit it functional
Annual service should ensure that your water softener will work properly for many years. However, like all household appliances, your water softener’s various components will eventually wear out and require replacement.
- Media: A water softener works by passing hard water through a bed of softening resin, which attracts the hardness minerals and removes them from the water. Over time, the resin becomes covered in these minerals and needs to be cleaned – this is when your water softener will regenerate. Over time your softener resin will deteriorate and will eventually need to be replaced.
- Control Valve: The control valve serves as the “brain” of the unit and tells the unit when to regenerate. Depending on the model you have, it may also track water consumption and collect other data. Over time, parts of the valve, or the whole valve itself, may wear out and need to be replaced.
Water Softeners Come in Different Sizes
Water softeners don’t just come in a variety of models, they also come in different sizes. When guiding you through the purchase process, your water treatment expert will need to determine, not only, your existing water quality, but they will also need to know the number of people living in your household and your water consumption. These are the determining factors when deciding what size softener to put into your home.
If you find that your existing water softener is not working as it once did, consider if you have had any household changes. Think about the number of people who were living in your home when you had the softener installed and your water consumption at that time. Has this changed over the years? If so, your current water softener may not be the right size for your family’s needs.
Water Depot
Your local Water Depot water treatment expert has several options to help with all your water softener needs. Preventative Maintenance service plans offer peace of mind that your softener is working to provide your family with the best possible water. If you are in the market to upgrade your existing softener, Water Depot has a range of softeners to choose from. Click here to find your locally owned Water Depot location.
