7 year old softener problems

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Smith333

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I have a 7 year old softener that I bought online from a forum member with a clack ws-1 and 1.5 cuft of resin. It has worked great during that time, until a week ago. I was taking a shower and immediately noticed the water was not soft. Afterwards I did a hach hardness test, which showed that there truly was no softening taking place, with 21 grains of hardness, same as water out of a garden hose.

I immediately started a manual regeneration. That went off without a hitch, and the hardness was back down to 1 grain. I tested it again on Wednesday with the same result. I didn't think about it again until tonight. I took a shower and could once again immediately tell the softener wasn't working, and the test showed it back to 21 grains.

I haven't changed any settings on the softener since the initial set up, so I'm not sure what to do next. There is no iron (or anything else) in the water, and the hardness and water usage has remained constant over the past 7 years.
 
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Gary Slusser

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It sounds as if the salt has been allowed to get low or run out at some time or, it's not sucking all the salt water out during brining. Check for a salt bridge in the salt tank. That is a empty spot under the surface of the salt.

I suggest you set the salt dose to 23lbs and do 2 manual regenerations, back to back with no water use during or between them. Then reset the lbs back to what they were. That assumes you have Pre Refill. If not then using 3lbs per gallon, add the additional water to the brine well in the salt tank to get 23 lbs.
 

Smith333

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Thanks Gary. The brine tank is about half full and there isn't any evidence of a salt bridge (solar salt). There is about 2" water standing at the bottom of the brine tank at all times, and rises to 5" during the cycle. Salt dosage is 5 lbs. I'll try out your suggestion tomorrow.
 

Mialynette2003

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You may want to test the incoming water hardness and make sure the unit is set to the proper hardness level. If you have 21 GPG incoming and the system is set for 19, you may get hard water prior to a regen. Also, the resin will lose capacity over time so you might want to bump the hardness up 1-2 grains.
 

Smith333

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I followed Gary's advice to run two 23-pound manual regenerations, but had to do them a day apart, not back to back. Regardless, it seems to have worked and the softener has been functioning correctly ever since. Thanks Gary!
 
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