Help me DE-STINK my Water Softener

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Charlie Bosco

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***EDIT Issue Resolved in Post #4 ***

So if you have followed my journey to clean well water (NO More H2S smell) I finally got to the point where after the water passes through the Katalox and then to the Carbon Tank, its Perfect.. I test regularly from a port after each tank. After that it goes through my water softener. I don't have a test port but have used the closest faucet for testing. That is about 15' away.

I noticed I am still getting a slight to moderate smell however from the cold water. I have assumed it was coming from the previously H2S contaminated pipes still leaching.

This morning I disproved that theory.. forest through the trees moment.. I put the softener in bypass and viola!
The water immediately smelled as good as it did from the Carbon tank..

Sooooo. I need clarify a few things..

1. The softener used to be the first thing right after the pump so the H2S water really did a job on it over the years before I bought the house. And not softening much at all.

2. Once I added the AIO Katalox Tank and refilled my Carbon Tank, I moved the softener to be the last thing in the flow, I started using salt with Iron Out and additionally added a ResCare drip. After a few weeks this softener came back to life 100%. My hatch kit now measures Zero! The water turns blue when I drop the little scoop of pink powder.. no drops needed.

3. The question, since the water is perfect before entering the softener and comes out with a stink, Am I causing it by using BOTH Iron Out Salt and Rescare? They are all acids and wondering if they are causing the stink.
I am almost out of salt and am going to just get the straight salt this time. Or is the Stink from a bacteria that needs to be sanitized?

4. I did try those sanitizer packets a few months ago but never really noticed much of a difference. Today I am trying a cup of peroxide 7% in the brine well to see if that helps. I hear Chlorine is a No No..

I'll report back after I see how the Peroxide works out..

Thoughts?
 
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Bannerman

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Chlorine may be utilized. Constant contact with any oxidizer including Chlorine has an accumulative negative effect on the resin's lifespan, but for the occasional light-medium sanitation, it won't be a problem.

Suggest not adding chlorine or peroxide to the acidified brine in the brine tank. Since your brine tank is near empty of salt, dump out the remaining salt and brine, clean and sanitize the brine tank, then sanitize the resin media with the peroxide or chlorine solution. After replacing the salt and water in the brine tank, perform a full regeneration after allowing 1-1.5 hrs for salt to be dissolved.

Suggest not using 2 cleaning solutions at the same time.
 

Reach4

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Your softener service manual will probably tell you how to add the sanitizing bleach for the initial startup. I would follow that procedure again.

In my well and plumbing sanitizing, I take the softener out of bypass for a bit, and run water, while the chlorine is still present but very much reduced from the well and pipe sanitizing levels.
 

Charlie Bosco

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Chlorine may be utilized. Constant contact with any oxidizer including Chlorine has an accumulative negative effect on the resin's lifespan, but for the occasional light-medium sanitation, it won't be a problem.

Suggest not adding chlorine or peroxide to the acidified brine in the brine tank. Since your brine tank is near empty of salt, dump out the remaining salt and brine, clean and sanitize the brine tank, then sanitize the resin media with the peroxide or chlorine solution. After replacing the salt and water in the brine tank, perform a full regeneration after allowing 1-1.5 hrs for salt to be dissolved.

Suggest not using 2 cleaning solutions at the same time.

Ok. I just checked the water after the Peroxide back wash. Wow! Wow! Immediate night and day difference!! I thought this was going to be a pain in a arse. All is perfect on the compound now.
This fix was as simple as I could have imagined.
I poured about a full cup of NeutraSul into the brine tube and immediately forced a BW.


So for the Cause.. do you think the 2 solutions could be causing it? I do agree with you.. I will stop using the "Green Iron treatment" bags of salt.. and let it run for a few weeks while testing the unit with my Hatch kit. currently, my hardness does not creep up one little bit before the backwash occurs. If if continues to stay that way I will just leave the ResCare IV drip. Going to keep monitoring the smell. If the softener just needs a monthly dump of Peroxide so be it. That takes 5 seconds.. :)
 
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