Harder water after softening

[JuliaW]

Hello All. We installed a Fleck 5600sxt 2 years ago. Just recently I started noticing horrible scale on my faucets and other objects. I just tested my water and it is actually harder AFTER it's been "softened". My unfiltered water is 550ppm and the treated water is 670ppm. I have added Res Care 3x and run a manual regen 5x in 3 days with no change. The brine tank draws down during the brine draw, so that doesn't seem yo be the problem. Any suggestions?

 

[Reach4]

TDS does not measure hardness. A softener uses an ion exchange, exchanging sodium ions for calcium and magnesium ions. There will be some sodium salt left in the water. When that dries, expect a residue, but a wet cloth will wipe that off. A softener will normally increase TDS some.

Get a Hach 5-B kit to measure hardness.

A TDS meter is appropriate for checking the output of a reverse osmosis system.