Watersoftener - hard water stains

[HK33]

Hello,

I recently moved into a home with a water softener+water filter tank and we're having issues with hard water stains and mineral build up.

The water is piped to go through the Culligan Medallist automatic water filter tank first then into a Hydrotech 5600XT water softener system. Both are connected to the same drain and only the 5600XT is connected to the brine tank. Below is some of the basic troubleshooting I've done but still no change:

*disconnected brine tank, removed all salt and thoroughly cleaned tank - about 2/3 was normal looking salt chunks and 1/3 of it wasn't dissolved, looked like sand and was slightly dirty (sat at the bottom of the tank)

*removed float valve assembly - rinsed it under tap water to remove the sand like salt it was sitting in and confirmed the float valve would move when I tipped it up side down and right side up before putting it back into the brine tank

*checked the nozzle and filter/screen on the 5600XT and they were mint, no clogs or mineral build up

*put everything back together, filled the brine tank about 2/3 full with salt, added water - watched it go through a cycle and can confirm the water from the brine tank to the water softener is moving freely. I also pumped out a bit of water out of the brine tank to see if the valve float control was working correctly on the next cycle and it did. Let it go through a few more cycles - tested my kitchen tap water with a TDS/PPM meter and I'm getting over 400ppm (lol). My RO water is 6 or 7ppm. Two months on, the system has barely used any salt, about 1" less than when I topped it off, seems odd to me.

Any response is greatly appreciated, I'm trying to a void having a tech come in for my family's safety during this COVID circus. Stay safe everyone.

 

[ditttohead]

TDS is not a hardness test. You need to get a real hardness test kit. The Hach 5B is the preferred test for most.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

A TDS meter is not the appropriate tool for testing water hardness.

Unlike RO unit, a softener does not remove dissolved solids but the Calcium and Magnesium ions that cause hardness are exchanged with Sodium ions in a softener. As such, the TDS reading may actually be higher after softening depending on the amount of hardness in the water.

Recommend obtaining a Hach 5B Total Hardness Test kit to periodically measure the hardness level of both the raw and softened water.

I also pumped out a bit of water out of the brine tank to see if the valve float control was working correctly on the next cycle and it did

Not sure what you mean by this. The float in the brine tank is connected to a valve to shut off incoming flow if there was to be a malfunction or power loss during Brine Fill. That float and valve are only safety devices that are not utilized under normal operation.

 

[HK33]

Alright I can look into that fellas thank you. I know it's still hard because the tea kettle, sinks, facets, toilets and showers are still getting lots of staining or mineral build up fairly quickly after I cleaned them. Plus living in the Kitchener, Waterloo area....we have some of the hardest water in the country here.

 

[HK33]

I think I may have narrowed down the problem...during the BD cycle no brine is drawn from the brine tank.

Today I watched it and for the first half of the BD cycle no brine was being sucked out of the tank. The safety float was also activated in the up position during this time. When pushing down on the float there was quite a bit of resistance. During the last half of the BD cycle I pumped brine out of the tank until the brine was below the safety float level and no longer activated. The brine tank then slowly filled with water during BD cycle and the float once again became activated.

 

[Bannerman]

Have you contacted the online dealer you purchased the equipment from to obtain warranty assistance?

Comment removed as the related posting has since been removed from this thread.

 

[Reach4]

Darren: It's up to the dealer to handle the 5 year warranty. This will be where the dealer quality will count.