newly added water softener (Kinetico) causing other problems?????

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kegnison

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First of all, Greetings! First time post here. From what I have read recently, this is the place for answers and advice.

My wife and I recently built a new home that has a well/septic system. Our original well water was hard and had iron in it. Long story short, had the Kinetico guy out and found out how expensive they are so I started looking around. Found a deal on Craigslist of a local plumber who uninstalled one to put in a larger system (bigger family). The Kinetico is the exact one the sales rep was trying to sell me. It is used but in great shape and the installer did a good job. He had put in a pre-filter for sand/sediment before that hits the Kinetico 2030s system. We have lived in our new house for 1 week before this was put in. So, I'm not entirely sure if my issues are due to the new soft water or what?

my current issues:
1) before the system was installed, we had the hot water almost all the way up in our shower. Continued like this for 2-3 days after it was in but now we have to have it almost all the way on the cold setting.

2) my wife thinks this was happening before the system as well, maybe it was and I just didn't notice it but our 2 upstairs shower heads seem to drip alot. Again, not sure if this was going on before or not.

3) our new Samsung front load washer will not stop streaming water. It doesn't pour out when the hot water is on, but comes out like a faucet when the cold line is open. I assume this could just be the cold water inlet valve being stuck open. Not sure if this is attributed to the water softener install or not but sort of coincidental. We had the Sears guys out to look at this and they blamed it on the soap being used.


could all of these problems be tied to my water softener being installed? maybe some sediment got through and has things stuck open or whatever? maybe not properly getting air out of lines after the install?

sorry for so many questions.

Thanks in advance!
 

kegnison

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ok....reply to my first issue. This morning I took a shower and I had to have the hot water setting all the way up again. What would be causing the temperature differences?
 

Gary Slusser

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It seems you have a water heater problem. Sediment can't get through a softener and air can't be trapped and there are no valves on the heater to cause this.

So what type of water heater do you have, is it a 'tankless' maybe? If an electric tank type, you may have a thermostat problem. And while it continues to heat the water, pressure builds and faucets leak because you don't have an expansion tank.
 

kegnison

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It seems you have a water heater problem. Sediment can't get through a softener and air can't be trapped and there are no valves on the heater to cause this.

So what type of water heater do you have, is it a 'tankless' maybe? If an electric tank type, you may have a thermostat problem. And while it continues to heat the water, pressure builds and faucets leak because you don't have an expansion tank.


It is a brand new gas 50 gallon water heater. (new construction house)
 

kegnison

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just found out that we need a new water inlet valve on our washing machine. I find things to be very coincidental after we installed our Kinetico system.

Gary, after reading your post again, are you referring to the tank for my well?
 

Gary Slusser

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I was talking about the different types of water heaters; electric, oil or gas tank types (usually 50-120 gallons) and tankless instant water heaters. Tank less means wall mounted without a tank, instant on as you start to use hot water.

I know, you have your head wrapped around the softener installation causing these things but,.. A softener or its installation cant cause your problems, other than maybe some 'dirt' getting into the washing machine valve.
 

kegnison

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funny......when I got home last night, I went to check our upstairs shower and it was dripping. I took a shower and the temperature was where it should be. Turned the shower off and no dripping. My wife was told she can do laundry as long as she turns off the cold water to the washer during the spin cycle. After a load of laundry was done, there was no dripping/leaking. I went to shower this morning and still no dripping but the water started out fine but it seemed like I was running out of hot water by the time I finished. i am the first one up and using the shower. no one else has used water all night. I dont know what to think..........
 

kegnison

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well, shower head still drips and my shower this morning was very low hot water. I'm wondering if I have the correct meter disc in my system. I have the #4 disc. i was told this is the one I wanted for my house......of course this is the only one they had when they installed it.

my water test results from my initial Kinetico sales rep coming out. They tried selling me the 2060 but said the 2030 should be fine as well.....it'll just regenerate more often.

Water Source = Well
Hardness = 7 (Hard)
pH Value = 7 (Normal)
TDS = 160 (Present)
Chlorine = Not Present
Iron = Present


I have a 3,000 sq ft house, wife and 2 kids. Like I said, there is a #4 disc in the unit now. Is that correct for my situation. I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden after my system was put in my water heater goes out or all of a sudden needs an expansion tank. Everything ran perfectly fine before this.
 

JKERN

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First off you might want to re-think about buying used equipment this industry is not a one size fits all wal mart type thing. Softeners, Filters, and other treatment equipment should always be built to fit the size and application of the individual that is why most big box equipment winds up failing the customer over a short period of time. Secondly the brand you are choosing has never been an industry standard you might want to ask yourself why would a proffesional not write down exactly how many ppm iron you had in your water sample. This is NOT industry standard. The problem when you deal with people like this is you are told 7 grains hardness is very hard and you have a very large family so you need this twin tank no electric monstrosity when in all actuality you could probably go with a single tank no prefilter system and be fine. There is a good reason why you only have three competitors in the water industry Fleck, AUtotrol, and Clack a diy'er can get parts himself without having to go through a dealer like myself and they are time tested good valves. Sir I highly recomend you get a second opinion from a local dealer or if you realy want to DIY it go to the link on the bottom of Gary Slussers comment and learn how to size one yourself and you maybe surprised that it is nothing like what your Kinetico people say you need.
 

Gary Slusser

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Dripping faucets etc. means that the pressure has increased in the system. A softener can not cause that.

What does cause it is a electric water heater element that comes on and fails to turn off because the thermostat stays on for whatever reason. That cause an increase in system pressure because when we heat things, they get bigger/expand. IF you don't have an expansion tank on the cold water feed line to the water heater, there is no where for the increased pressure to expand into and faucets etc. drip; especially if you have city water and a PRV.

You also have cooler than normal hot water, pointing to a thermostat on the water heater not coming on when it should. There are two thermostats (a high and a low) because there are two heating elements in an electric tank type water heater and each has its own thermostat that is to turn on the elements independently from the other.

Your Kinetico disk only sets the number of gallons of softened water used between regenerations and the size of a softener has nothing to do with how hot or cold you hot water is, or dripping fixtures.
 
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