Hard water near end of cycle

[Drew777]

Hi guys,

When my Vitapur water softener is near regeneration I find the water starts to get too hard.
I'm finding myself going down to manually regenerate when its down to 100 gallons left (I'm guesstimating at that number)

The plumber set it up. I don't understand the Low Medium and High Salt setting tables in my manual.

Can I change some setting somehow to avoid hard water?

I had a Culigan water softener for years until it failed and I'm guessing this new one isn't the greatest.
But I have to work with what I have right now.

 

[Reach4]

Can I change some setting somehow to avoid hard water?

Yes. I don't know your softener, but I don't need to. I see it is a cabinet type.

You can increase the hardness setting. If you state how many gallons your softener says you have after regen, how many it says when you start getting the hardness leakage, and what the current hardness setting is, we can suggest a new hardness setting.

Here is an example. Suppose it says you have 1000 gallons to go after regen. Your current hardness setting is 14. I will assume that if you see 100 by the time you notice, you should use 150 in the calculation. 1000-150=850. So 14 * 1000/850=16.47. Round up, and set hardness to 17.

The plumber set it up. I don't understand the Low Medium and High Salt setting tables in my manual.

Those have to do with how much salt gets used vs how soft your water gets. It's a trade-off. Medium would probably be a good place to start.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Drew777]

Hi Reach4,
Thank you for the fast reply.
My softener is set to 747 gallons after regeneration.
So 747-150=500 (approx for simplicity)?

I've been looking at the manual and the settings on the machine itself and I don't see where it says 'hardness level'

 

[Reach4]

I've been looking at the manual and the settings on the machine itself and I don't see where it says 'hardness level'

Can you just change 747 to 500?

 

[Drew777]

Yes, here's the link
https://www.manualslib.com/products/Vitapur-Pro-Soft-Vws296gr-5888526.html

 

[Bannerman]

Apparently, water hardness is not programmed.

The capacity setting chosen for each salt setting seems to be based on the amount of hardness in increments of 5 gpg. I anticipate if your hardness is in between the hardness amounts specified, you would choose the capacity setting based on the next higher hardness amount. (ie: if hardness is 22 gpg, then base capacity setting on 25 gpg)

747 gallons capacity seems to relate to the medium salt setting and 35 gpg hardness. Is your hardness actually 35? Is the water source Municipal or private well?

See capacity settings on this page: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1202317/Vitapur-Pro-Soft-Vws296gr.html?page=13#manual

 

[Drew777]

Hi Bannerman,
I am in the country so I do have a well.
The hardness was set that way because it still gave me hardness readings.
As time went on I noticed water would be soft after a regeneration, and get harder as it got down in gallons.
Should I reset the capacity? (is 35 crazy)
And should I maybe just have it regain after a certain amount of days so it doesn't get down too low as far as gallons are concerned?

 

[Bannerman]

I asked about a private well as often, well water will contain some amount of iron and/or manganese. When a softener is exposed to those elements, the hardness setting must be increased to compensate for the additional softener capacity that will be consumed.

Although hit and miss programming is not usually performed, with your unit, it seems the only hardness adjustment is to further decrease capacity between regeneration cycles. Since your current capacity amount is 747 gallons based on 35 gpg using the 'Medium' salt amount, you could then choose the 'High' salt setting and 40 gpg which would provide 725 gallons capacity. If that still results to much hardness leakage, then you may need to further reduce the capacity setting based on the next higher hardness range.

When a poster's water source is a private well, the usual first comment is to request the most recent lab test results as that will provide an overall assessment of water conditions which will assist to determine appropriate treatment methods and settings. Was a lab test performed?

 

[Reach4]

The hardness was set that way because it still gave me hardness readings.
As time went on I noticed water would be soft after a regeneration, and get harder as it got down in gallons.
Should I reset the capacity? (is 35 crazy)

I would stay with medium= 8 lb of salt/cuft resin.
Reduce the capacity from 747 to 500 based on your observations. You have experience do draw on.

If you have rust stains in your toilet tanks, indicating iron, you can take more steps.

 

[Skyjumper]

to build on the good advice already given... you almost certianly have iron in your water. that iron is clogging your water softener. normal salt regeneration does not remove it. over time as the rust builds up inside, your softener's capactiy will continue to decline, until it no longer works at all. I am speaking from experience here. you need to clean your softener resin regularly, or even better, continuously to remove the iron.

first, you need to know how much hardenss and iron you have in your raw well water. in my opinion the best iron and hardness test for homeowner use is the Hach HA-77 https://www.hach.com/hardness-and-i...model-ha-77/product?id=7640217334&callback=qs . you will use it often, it is worth the money.

next, you need to clean your softener resin. there are many products that can do this. the ones I have used with success are:
1) https://www.menards.com/main/plumbi...leaner-32-oz/rk06n/p-1444444183882-c-8682.htm
the stuff is dirt cheap but you will probably need to use a lot of it.

if that doesn't work, step up to
2) https://www.crystalclean.us/
this stuff I guarantee you will work, but it is more expensive. I used it for a year while my Fe filter was oos and the results were great, almost too good to be true. frankly next time my Fe filter goes kaput I will probably just remove it and use crystal clean exclusively.

Others have used food grade citiric acid, but I haven't so I can't comment. Citric acid is not cheap on a $$/use basis, so I don't think it would be a better option than crystal clean.

Aside from cleaning the softener resin you can also install a dedicated iron filter but that is more costly and comes with significant maintenance. you probably don't need it unless you have >4ppm Fe or have other issues that an Fe filter can also address.

 

[Reach4]

first, you need to know how much hardenss and iron you have in your raw well water. in my opinion the best iron and hardness test for homeowner use is the Hach HA-77 https://www.hach.com/hardness-and-i...model-ha-77/product?id=7640217334&callback=qs . you will use it often, it is worth the money.

Skyjumper, the Hach IR-24 kit is a lower range iron-only kit. https://www.hach.com/product.detail-print.version.jsa?id=7640216699
If I got one, that would fit my water better (roughly 0.4 iron in the raw water). It would seem to be useful for checking residual iron after the iron filter.

You got me considering a Hach iron test kit. I don't think I will spring for one, but I could change my mind. It might be good for tracking media performance over time.

 

[Skyjumper]

Reach - yeah if you only have 0.4 iron then that low range test is better for you. the one that comes with the HA-77 is actually 0.2 gradation (not 0.1 as I earlier stated) and it is very subtle... but it shows clear now whereas before it was a dark orange that aligned with 3ppm after the Fe filter.