Ted Jackson
New Member
Hi,
I've been troubleshooting a softener issue for months now, and it's driving me insane. Here's my info and what I've done:
Model: Kenmore 300 (625.393060) from 2008 ( 7 years old)
Water hardness: Approx 500ppm (measured two ways, titration and electronic tester)
Water source: Well water, very hard and with somewhat high iron
Current hardness setting: 30
History:
We're unsure if the softener has ever worked properly. We don't recall ever having soft water. Even back when we bought the house, we never noticed it consuming salt. Softener was not cleaned with the softener cleaner (until recently). Up until I bought hardness testing kits it's been "subjective" so I'm throwing out all the subjective comments on how the water feels and going with the test kit now.
The hardness setting was set way too low for years up until a few weeks ago (It was set to 7 instead of the 30 I have it at now based on the 500ppm/17~=30gr/ga math)
Troubleshooting steps:
Cleaned venturi and brine valve, including the small mesh filter on the brine valve
Taken entire unit apart, removed all salt, cleaned tank, and put back together
4 regenerations with softener cleaner in past week
Replaced seals and complete o-ring kit
Current observations:
-Regen cycle appears perfect.
A: Brine tank fills about 18 inches higher
B: Brine tank drops down to just about an 2 inches from the bottom.
So this tells me that the brine valve and venturi should all be fine..Right?
- Salt does not appear to be consumed. I have done in excess of 12 manual regenerations in the past week and from what I've read I should be consuming several pounds of salt every regeneration - however I am not seeing the salt level go down. I started with fresh salt about a week ago and I have stirred it up a bit before each regeneration as well. It's not bridged or stuck at all and if I stick a poker into the brine tank I can feel around on the bottom of the brine well. All of this, despite the fact that the brine tank DOES fill up and drain about 18 inches of water every regeneration.
- We never have any salt water, even immediately after regeneration.
- I have visually inspected the rotor and disc and... quite frankly they appear picture perfect to me. So were the seals (which I replaced) and the old seals looked identical to the new ones. Same story on the venturi - picture perfect.
So, where am I looking now?
Is it possible something is amiss in the resin tank? Could my resin be rendered useless by years of really hard, high iron water and infrequent regenerations? (Even though it's only 7 years old?) If so, is there a way to tell if I take it apart or do I have to replace it on a whim? Quite frankly, the resin seems fairly expensive and if I replace it and it doesn't fix the issue.... then I've wasted a lot of money that could go toward a better brand softener.
The most perplexing part to me is that it's not consuming much if any salt. Why would it not consume salt, even if the resin was bad, the brine should still be pumped out and substantial amount of salt should still be used, correct?
What else could I look at or do?
I've been troubleshooting a softener issue for months now, and it's driving me insane. Here's my info and what I've done:
Model: Kenmore 300 (625.393060) from 2008 ( 7 years old)
Water hardness: Approx 500ppm (measured two ways, titration and electronic tester)
Water source: Well water, very hard and with somewhat high iron
Current hardness setting: 30
History:
We're unsure if the softener has ever worked properly. We don't recall ever having soft water. Even back when we bought the house, we never noticed it consuming salt. Softener was not cleaned with the softener cleaner (until recently). Up until I bought hardness testing kits it's been "subjective" so I'm throwing out all the subjective comments on how the water feels and going with the test kit now.
The hardness setting was set way too low for years up until a few weeks ago (It was set to 7 instead of the 30 I have it at now based on the 500ppm/17~=30gr/ga math)
Troubleshooting steps:
Cleaned venturi and brine valve, including the small mesh filter on the brine valve
Taken entire unit apart, removed all salt, cleaned tank, and put back together
4 regenerations with softener cleaner in past week
Replaced seals and complete o-ring kit
Current observations:
-Regen cycle appears perfect.
A: Brine tank fills about 18 inches higher
B: Brine tank drops down to just about an 2 inches from the bottom.
So this tells me that the brine valve and venturi should all be fine..Right?
- Salt does not appear to be consumed. I have done in excess of 12 manual regenerations in the past week and from what I've read I should be consuming several pounds of salt every regeneration - however I am not seeing the salt level go down. I started with fresh salt about a week ago and I have stirred it up a bit before each regeneration as well. It's not bridged or stuck at all and if I stick a poker into the brine tank I can feel around on the bottom of the brine well. All of this, despite the fact that the brine tank DOES fill up and drain about 18 inches of water every regeneration.
- We never have any salt water, even immediately after regeneration.
- I have visually inspected the rotor and disc and... quite frankly they appear picture perfect to me. So were the seals (which I replaced) and the old seals looked identical to the new ones. Same story on the venturi - picture perfect.
So, where am I looking now?
Is it possible something is amiss in the resin tank? Could my resin be rendered useless by years of really hard, high iron water and infrequent regenerations? (Even though it's only 7 years old?) If so, is there a way to tell if I take it apart or do I have to replace it on a whim? Quite frankly, the resin seems fairly expensive and if I replace it and it doesn't fix the issue.... then I've wasted a lot of money that could go toward a better brand softener.
The most perplexing part to me is that it's not consuming much if any salt. Why would it not consume salt, even if the resin was bad, the brine should still be pumped out and substantial amount of salt should still be used, correct?
What else could I look at or do?