Can hot water heater effect water softener/brine tank?

[cindy&eric]

In our attempt to have soft, iron-free, and smell-free well water, we replaced a corroded anode and flushed our hot water heater with a chlorine solution. Before this, our water softener (Kinetico 60) was doing its job and kept our water soft and iron free (although we had the rotten egg smell in the hot water, which is why we worked on the hot water heater). That was less than a week ago and now we have the iron back and hardness in our water again. Could what we did to the hot water heater be affecting our water softener? Everything seems to be in working order.

 

[Reach4]

Could what we did to the hot water heater be affecting our water softener?

The WH is after the softener, and you injected the bleach at the WH, so I don't see how your WH work would have affected the softner.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[cindy&eric]

Ok, that's what we thought too. We have been in this new house for a month (that was sitting for 6 months) and so far we have replaced the resin, cleaned the softener head parts, cleaned all of the tanks, cleaned out the salt mush and replaced the salt, changed the hot water heater anode and flushed it with chlorine solution, and chlorinated the well. Water softener was working fine (or it seemed to be) last week, and now we have hardness of at or above 180 ppm (cheap test strips) and a bath tub full of yellow/brown water (water tests at or above 5 ppm with cheap test strips). We are thinking of getting an iron filter with a chlorinator pump due to iron bacteria, but it would be nice if everything else worked consistently first. Any ideas on what we should check first as we trouble shoot this? We are complete newbies to water softeners and well water. Thank you!

 

[Bannerman]

As your softener resin is less than 1 month old, I do not expect it to be fouled with iron.

As Kinetico softeners are typically twin tank units (two softeners which alternate operation when capacity has been utilized in the other tank), is the issue with both tanks or one only?

Assuming the control valve is advancing through the regeneration cycle, is water flowing into the brine tank so as to dissolve salt? If so, is brine being drawn into the softener during the regeneration cycle?

Turn on a water faucet to ensure the softener controller is recognizing that water is flowing. Viewing the gears through the clear top cover, should show slow movement while water is flowing, particularly in relation to the pawls which click into the gear teeth as the gears slowly turn. One gear tooth = 12.5 gallons.

You may also need to manually advance the control to initiate a regeneration cycle so that you can observe/hear the regeneration cycle (ie: brine fill & brine draw) while it is being performed.

 

[ENIGMA-2]

Sounds like you covered all your basis. You didn't accidentally leave the the softener in bypass, did you?

 

[cindy&eric]

Thank you. We will check it out. We did check and make sure that the water softener was not in bypass, so that is ok.

 

[ENIGMA-2]

This a far-fetched thought, but could it be possible that you may have destroyed the resin with an excess of chlorine (bleach)?

 

[cindy&eric]

Enigma-We chlorinated the well before we changed the resin and the hot water chlorination should not have effected the water softener since it comes before the hot water heater. When my husband checked it out, one of the little blue check balls was lodged in a channel in the head. Could that make it not work? It doesn't seem like the brine it being sucked out of the tank. Any ideas before we invest in a new softener?

 

[Bannerman]

When my husband checked it out, one of the little blue check balls was lodged in a channel in the head. Could that make it not work?

If the ball is not in the correct location, that could be the cause of the issue.

I know others on this forum have experience with the Kinetico turbine controllers but I'll look to see if I can locate the service manual for your Model 60.

 

[Bannerman]

Here's the Service Manual which is shown in a google search for a Kinetico 60:
http://guldager.directory/pdf/DK/Bloedgoering/Unisoft-kinetico-30-60-90/Technical-Manual.pdf

http://watersoftenersuperstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/kin-Man-specs-manual.pdf

 

[cindy&eric]

Got the blue ball back in place and we have clear and soft water again. Thanks for the manuals. Will keep those in a safe place. This is the third time that the little blue check ball has gotten dislodged from where it is supposed to be. Any advice on how to keep the thing from getting stuck in the channel? (I think that is what my husband said happened.)