Won't auto-regenerate, manual OK

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pos1

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a little background. Moved into house 2 years ago. Morton water softener. Well and septic. Existing whole-house filter, but it wasn't mounted correctly so I had a plumber fix. After 1 year of perfectly clean filters I figured the original shut-off valve to the filter was bypassing the filter. Bring plumber back to remove old, stuck shut-offf and install new shut-off valves. Filter now seems to be working.

Softener was working fine up to that point. After that work (maybe 2-3 days later) we notice our water has a brown tint to it. Knowing we have pretty hard water (I just tested at around 80) i figured it was either iron or the system still "flushing" from being shut-off to install new shut-off valves. In the past, after some other plunbing work, we've seen dark water after turning the water back on, but it has cleared up quickly. After the water is getting darker my wife says she doesn't think the softener is running. I manually regenerate and the water almost instantly gets better. So I changed the regeneration time to 7pm and check it every night. I let it go 2 nights without running and then manually regenerate. Been following this schedule for 1 week. Water has been good and it's hasnt automatically regenerated in 1 week.

4 people in house. 2 teenage girls who take long showers.

It's a system that will regenerate only when needed (vs. on a set schedule).

So, either it's not running because I'm manually regenerating too often or just the auto regenerate function is not working. I haven't been brave enough to just let it go without running to see how long it goes and monitor the water. Wife is concerned about clothes, health, etc.

How often would you expect this to regenerate? I've always had it set for 2am and it's in the basement, so I don't know how often it's nornally runs. I do go through about 3-4 40lb bags per month when it was working.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
 

Reach4

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You should consider a lab water test so that you know pH, iron, manganese, and other things -- not just hardness. I like kit 90 from http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/
How often would you expect this to regenerate? I've always had it set for 2am and it's in the basement, so I don't know how often it's normally runs. I do go through about 3-4 40lb bags per month when it was working.
I am presuming your softener is a cabinet unit. If not, tell us more.

With an estimated 1 cubic ft of resin, maybe every 3 days for the average 60 gallons per day per person. Maybe every 2.

I don't know what available settings are on your softener, but I would increase the hardness setting significantly. See https://terrylove.com/forums/index....0-sxt-programming-settings.60651/#post-450189 That should make it regen on its own more often. If it is set to 80 grains per gallon now, try 112 or 120 to start. With your 80 grains hardness, you want to add a compensation factor. If the unit still does not regen on its own, maybe try 160 for a while.

You might consider a new softener with more capacity. Get a lab water test before changing equipment.
 

pos1

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I guess it's a cabinet unit. Its on the floor and has a salt tank capacity of about four 40lb bags.

It has a digital control unit as the head. I can only set the current time of day, regenerate time of day and the hardness.

Before this the hardness was set at 50. I did a hw store water strip test mainly for hardness and iron after the problem started, but also after I had manually regenerated a couple times. Iron was within normal range. Hardness was between 50 and 120 (those were the two numbers/colors next to each other and my color strip was somewhere in the middle), so I have since set at 80.

As you stated, maybe I'll set the hardness up really high to see if I can force it to regenerate on its own.
 

ditttohead

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If you are attempting to do water treatment on your own, you must have some basic information.

Water quality. An actual hardness test kit is a must. Hach 5B is the preferred test. Iron, manganese, tds, pH and temperature are also important tests that you should consider being able to do yourself.

Intermittent testing of your well is a must. At minimum a full water quality test to start, then using some basic test kits you can determine if anything significant has changed which would indicate retesting should be done.

http://www.ntllabs.com/Merchant2/me...NTL&Product_Code=9003&Category_Code=Homeowner
This is an excellent test for home owners that want to di it themselves. The test is very easy to read when the results are returned to you.
 
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