We just moved to a house that has a Kenmore Water Softener - on City Water. I know they are not very high quality. We did have one a number of years ago that I was able to put a kit in to get that softener working again. I'm struggling to find the cause of no soft water on this softener, however.
First off, I'm using a free softener test strip that comes in a Morton softener brochure from a local hardware store to do my testing. I'm testing only on the COLD water because I know the water heater is filled with the hard water from before the softener started drawing brine. The test strip says Hach SofChek on the package.
After we moved in, I noticed the water level in the brine tank was high. I watched it during the brine cycle and saw that it wasn't drawing any brine in - the level was not going down at all.
I replaced the venturi gasket first, since I heard that was the most common thing that caused no brine draw. I also replaced the 2 smallish o-rings that go between the nozzle venturi assembly and the rotor/disc assembly. None of that helped. There was still very little suction where the hose connected to the venturi.
Next, I put a rotor disc seal kit in. It still didn't draw brine. I took apart the brine valve assembly and put it back together. It looked clean and the screen was not clogged. I figured that wasn't it anyway, because I could blow and suck air through the brine/fill tube. After some more screwing around with stuff, it started drawing brine. I'm not sure what I did to get it to start working......but - still no soft water, using that Hach water test strip. It hasn't changed from around 200-250ppm (15gpg) on the test strip when using the cold water to test with.
I've only really watched the fill and brine cycles to make sure they were working. I'm not sure if it's possible to visibly check to see if any of the other cycles are working. It stops at each position on the dial and ends up in the Service position just fine.
Any other ideas before I replace the softener? I'd like to fix it if possible - to save some $$.
First off, I'm using a free softener test strip that comes in a Morton softener brochure from a local hardware store to do my testing. I'm testing only on the COLD water because I know the water heater is filled with the hard water from before the softener started drawing brine. The test strip says Hach SofChek on the package.
After we moved in, I noticed the water level in the brine tank was high. I watched it during the brine cycle and saw that it wasn't drawing any brine in - the level was not going down at all.
I replaced the venturi gasket first, since I heard that was the most common thing that caused no brine draw. I also replaced the 2 smallish o-rings that go between the nozzle venturi assembly and the rotor/disc assembly. None of that helped. There was still very little suction where the hose connected to the venturi.
Next, I put a rotor disc seal kit in. It still didn't draw brine. I took apart the brine valve assembly and put it back together. It looked clean and the screen was not clogged. I figured that wasn't it anyway, because I could blow and suck air through the brine/fill tube. After some more screwing around with stuff, it started drawing brine. I'm not sure what I did to get it to start working......but - still no soft water, using that Hach water test strip. It hasn't changed from around 200-250ppm (15gpg) on the test strip when using the cold water to test with.
I've only really watched the fill and brine cycles to make sure they were working. I'm not sure if it's possible to visibly check to see if any of the other cycles are working. It stops at each position on the dial and ends up in the Service position just fine.
Any other ideas before I replace the softener? I'd like to fix it if possible - to save some $$.
Last edited: