Should my soft water always feel slippery?

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Oldyellr

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I'm not familiar with the Fleck, I've only had cheap water softeners. When I moved into my present house about 35 years ago, the previous owner (a plumber) had left a rental softener in the garage, which I hooked up and used. I do remember the water feeling slimy and soap seemed to take a long time to rinse off, but I guess that was what you get with soft water. After a year the rental company offered to sell me the water softener outright for $1000, which was outrageous, because I could buy a new one for half the price, so I ended the rental and had it removed. But I was used to soft water and didn't like the lime buildup I was getting on the bathroom tile and fixtures and dishes. So I bought a used one for $75 (you can see I'm frugal) which worked for a year or so, but then failed. So I bought a Sears water softener about 20 years ago. Doing regular maintenance I replaced some venturi bits at one point, but just inside the 10-year warranty period the resin tank ruptured and got replaced. About a year ago the salt level monitor failed, but everything else worked and regenerated as required so long as I checked the salt level myself. Then, a couple of weeks ago it wasn't regenerating properly and filling up with water. I presume that replacing venturi bits was necessary, but after 20 years maybe a lot of other parts needed replacing, if available, so I decided to replace it with a new one. I got an Ecosoft Model EPHY that was on sale at TSC and it happened to have the same inlet/outlet connections as the Sears except I had to build a 4" platform for it to align it perfectly.

So back to the subject of "slippery". I don't believe I've had slippery water since that first water softener. However. the softened water did not leave leave my fixtures and shower tiles covered with lime, which has been my primary goal. Today's laundry detergents work just fine with hard water, so it's not about saving detergent. Currently my water does not feel slippery, which is fine with me. Perhaps it's not getting softened to a really low level, but adequate.

While on the subject, what do you use to determine your water hardness, before and after? The softener I bought came with a test strip, but I would really like to check it more than once, before and after. In the past I've even had door-to-door snake oil salesmen check my water to get a number. Googling water hardness in my area I get reports all over the place, from 2.5 to 25 gpg. I've settled on 10 gpg to set up my softener fort he last while.
 

Reach4

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While on the subject, what do you use to determine your water hardness, before and after? The softener I bought came with a test strip, but I would really like to check it more than once, before and after.
The Hach 5-B test is most recommended.
 

Bannerman

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I've only regenerated twice so far, shouldn't I have used only 16lbs of the 160 lbs I added?
Your BF setting is 16 minutes X 0.25 BLFC = 4 gallons X 3 lbs/gal = 12 lbs salt dissolved per brine fill cycle.

When installing the softener, as BF is the final stage of regeneration, water was to be manually added to the brine tank to prepare brine for the 1st regen cycle. Assuming a little more than 4 gallons was manually added (>4 to allow for the amount to remain below the air-check arrow), then with 2 regeneration cycles performed, 36 lbs+ salt will have been dissolved so far as BF will have been completed 3X when counting the salt that is already dissolved into brine currently within the brine tank, already prepared for the 3rd regen cycle.
 

Bannerman

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Consider salt brine as the fuel the softener uses to regenerate capacity. If there was no water manually added to the brine tank initially to prepare brine for the 1st regeneration, then there was no 'fuel' available to restore whatever capacity was consumed between when the softener was installed to when regeneration took place.
 

Oldyellr

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The Hach 5-B test is most recommended.
Thanks for the link. I searched it and watched a Youtube video. Looks a bit pricey for occasional home use, but certainly something a pro might use. I ended up buying a set of 50 WaterWorks 480008 Total Hardness Test Strips for about $12 that tell me hardness within a couple grains per gallon and do what I need. It confirmed my hard water was between 7 and 11 gpg (I've been using a setting of 10 gpg) and my soft water was zero. It's not soft to the point of sliminess, which is fine with me. I'll probably test it again one the softener is ready to recharge. I see where a few reviewers said the couldn't tell the difference between the colours, but I'm partly colour blind and had no problem. I would imagine some people would also have trouble seeing when the Hach 5-B test transitions from red to purple to blue.
 
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Bannerman

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It confirmed my hard water was between 7 and 11 gpg (I've been using a setting of 10 gpg) and my soft water was zero.
Many municipal supplies obtain their water from multiple sources, and each source may have a different hardness value. Water hardness may vary throughout the day due to water demand within the town, distribution system maintenance, fire hydrant use etc, causing a change in ratio from each source that arrives at your home.

When a softener is programmed for lower hardness than is actually present in the water, the softener's capacity will be consumed more quickly than anticipated, and regular regeneration may not necessarily restore all of the capacity that was consumed. As this occurs on a repeated basis, hardness leakage through the softener will continue to rise, and you may eventually notice the softened water will no longer remain soft prior to regeneration. As 1 gpg = 17.1+ ppm hardness, soft water containing 15 ppm hardness will 'feel' less silky than water with 6 ppm hardness, even as each sample will test at 0 gpg.

As your test strips have indicated a high of 11 gpg at your location, it is then advisable to program your softener setting for 13 gpg so as to anticipate occasions when incoming hardness may be even higher than usual, to reduce the chances the softener's capacity will become totally depleted. Once capacity is depleted, then regeneration using a large quantity of salt (15-20 lbs per cubic foot of resin) will usually become necessary.

To restore some additional consumed capacity in addition to that presently being regenerated, a manual regeneration directly following the next programmed cycle may be effective.
 

Oldyellr

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Many municipal supplies obtain their water from multiple sources, and each source may have a different hardness value. Water hardness may vary throughout the day due to water demand within the town, distribution system maintenance, fire hydrant use etc, causing a change in ratio from each source that arrives at your home.

When a softener is programmed for lower hardness than is actually present in the water, the softener's capacity will be consumed more quickly than anticipated, and regular regeneration may not necessarily restore all of the capacity that was consumed. As this occurs on a repeated basis, hardness leakage through the softener will continue to rise, and you may eventually notice the softened water will no longer remain soft prior to regeneration. As 1 gpg = 17.1+ ppm hardness, soft water containing 15 ppm hardness will 'feel' less silky than water with 6 ppm hardness, even as each sample will test at 0 gpg.

As your test strips have indicated a high of 11 gpg at your location, it is then advisable to program your softener setting for 13 gpg so as to anticipate occasions when incoming hardness may be even higher than usual, to reduce the chances the softener's capacity will become totally depleted. Once capacity is depleted, then regeneration using a large quantity of salt (15-20 lbs per cubic foot of resin) will usually become necessary.

To restore some additional consumed capacity in addition to that presently being regenerated, a manual regeneration directly following the next programmed cycle may be effective.
I've lived in this location for 35 years and had water softeners for most of that time. The 10 gpg setting is what I've used for years. Here is an image of the hardness strip instructions:

71Jbuh7UYpL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


Mine falls between the 7 and 11 gpg colours, I'd say 9 gpg, so using 10 seems reasonable. I installed this softener 9 days ago, recharging it per instructions at the time, then giving it another recharge overnight to be sure. I'm now checking it each night and when it shows it will be recharging again, I'll check the hardness again. Stay tuned.
 

compddd

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My softener and carbon tank regenerated at 12am and 2am last night but I hear a trickling sound coming from the drain in the picture, is something wrong or does it take awhile to drain out after backwashing?
 

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Reach4

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My softener and carbon tank regenerated at 12am and 2am last night but I hear a trickling sound coming from the drain in the picture, is something wrong or does it take awhile to drain out after backwashing?
Throw each into bypass in turn. When the sound stops, you found the valve with the bad piston or seal. I am not a pro.
 

Reach4

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Ouch so it’s a bad seal or piston? This system is brand new that’s disheartening.
Contact your dealer ASAP. These are not covered by the warranty because they are considered wear items. The sooner you make contact, the more likely the problem is going to get a free response to an infant failure or a courtesy.
 

ditttohead

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I would recommend running it through an extra cycle. A little piece of debris, Teflon tape etc can get in the seals and cause a drip to the drain. You can also take the valve apart with ease and visually inspect everything. It is usually something very minor. Here is a video on the tear down and rebuild.
 

compddd

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I put both units into bypass and I still hear dripping from the drain line, shouldn't that be impossible?
 

Reach4

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I put both units into bypass and I still hear dripping from the drain line, shouldn't that be impossible?
Give the drip some time to stop. The softener tanks are slightly elastic.
 

compddd

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I would recommend running it through an extra cycle. A little piece of debris, Teflon tape etc can get in the seals and cause a drip to the drain. You can also take the valve apart with ease and visually inspect everything. It is usually something very minor. Here is a video on the tear down and rebuild.
I narrowed it down to the carbon tank and ran two extra cycles but it’s still dripping. What area should I focus on if I take the valve apart and inspect it to fix the dripping?
 
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