Do Softeners Dissolve Built Up Hardness in Pipes?

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samgillis

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When I first installed my softener it gave a really soft and slimy feel. It’s not been a year yet with it and I’ve noticed less of a soft feel.

I’ve gone through and checked everything to do with the brine tank, the salt setting, made sure all the lines are clear and unclogged, but it still seems to not be as soft as I first remembered.

My house was built in 89, has copper pipes, and to my knowledge has never had a softener. We have hard water too, so I’m sure there was buildup in the pipes. Could the softener be dissolving this and causing a bit of hardness as a result?

Edit: the only thing I haven’t looked at is the actual resin
 
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Bannerman

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Do Softeners Dissolve Built Up Hardness in Pipes?

Yes! Soft water will gradually dissolve built-up hardness scale from within pipes, water heater etc. That dissolved hardness will increase the water hardness for some time, but once the remaining scale becomes dissolved away, then the hardness level will decrease to the level supplied by the softener.

When a softener is first installed, the difference in how soft water feels will usually seem unusual and extreme. Fairly rapidly, the softened water will become the norm, but if the softener was to be bypassed, the hard water you were previously accustomed to, will often feel unusual and extreme.

Recommend obtaining a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit to allow you to periodically measure how well your softener is performing as the 5B maybe utilized to compare the original raw water hardness against the hardness of the softened water.

In addition, recommend also listing your softener's current program settings, as there maybe some settings tweaks to possibly reduce the amount of hardness leakage that maybe passing through the resin bed.

List also your water source (municipal or private well), raw water hardness, number of users, your softener's total capacity, the model of control valve it is equipped with, and also specify any data such as BLFC, DLFC and injector number which will often be specified on labels which maybe affixed to the control valve.
 

MaxBlack

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Another possibility is that the chemistry of the OP's water changed somehow, so it feels less "slimy".

FWIW my wife was unhappy with the feel of the softened water at our other house. Because I could, I changed the pellets there from Potassium to Sodium chloride, and she is happy again, convinced it feels better to her though honestly I couldn't tell one way (K) or the other (Na).

Maybe OP's resin cleans better with one or the other salt, or different brands.
 

samgillis

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Yes! Soft water will gradually dissolve built-up hardness scale from within pipes, water heater etc. That dissolved hardness will increase the water hardness for some time, but once the remaining scale becomes dissolved away, then the hardness level will decrease to the level supplied by the softener.

When a softener is first installed, the difference in how soft water feels will usually seem unusual and extreme. Fairly rapidly, the softened water will become the norm, but if the softener was to be bypassed, the hard water you were previously accustomed to, will often feel unusual and extreme.

Recommend obtaining a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit to allow you to periodically measure how well your softener is performing as the 5B maybe utilized to compare the original raw water hardness against the hardness of the softened water.

In addition, recommend also listing your softener's current program settings, as there maybe some settings tweaks to possibly reduce the amount of hardness leakage that maybe passing through the resin bed.

List also your water source (municipal or private well), raw water hardness, number of users, your softener's total capacity, the model of control valve it is equipped with, and also specify any data such as BLFC, DLFC and injector number which will often be specified on labels which maybe affixed to the control valve.
Hi sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the info!

Here are my softener & water specs:

Municipal water, 1 user, 30gal avg daily, approx 17 gpg. Never had it measured directly, but water quality report for my area shows max hardness of up to 17 gpg, and my TDS is 250ish, so I approximate the hardness at 17.

Culligan 10" downflow, 1.5 cu ft resin, HE 1 valve, NACL salt, 0 iron, softest setting, hardness 17 gpg, 8 lbs dosage, reserve capacity 10%

Backwash time 10min, brine draw-rinse 74min, fast rinse 10min, fill time 735sec, backwash flow 2.5-3.1gpm, brine refill flow 0.45gpm, drain flow max 2.5gpm
 

samgillis

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Yes! Soft water will gradually dissolve built-up hardness scale from within pipes, water heater etc. That dissolved hardness will increase the water hardness for some time, but once the remaining scale becomes dissolved away, then the hardness level will decrease to the level supplied by the softener.

When a softener is first installed, the difference in how soft water feels will usually seem unusual and extreme. Fairly rapidly, the softened water will become the norm, but if the softener was to be bypassed, the hard water you were previously accustomed to, will often feel unusual and extreme.

Recommend obtaining a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit to allow you to periodically measure how well your softener is performing as the 5B maybe utilized to compare the original raw water hardness against the hardness of the softened water.

In addition, recommend also listing your softener's current program settings, as there maybe some settings tweaks to possibly reduce the amount of hardness leakage that maybe passing through the resin bed.

List also your water source (municipal or private well), raw water hardness, number of users, your softener's total capacity, the model of control valve it is equipped with, and also specify any data such as BLFC, DLFC and injector number which will often be specified on labels which maybe affixed to the control valve.
Also, separate question: I have a 4.5x20 carbon filter that I refill with my own GAC. Approx how many gallons does GAC of this size usually last for?
 
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