Chemical smell in water

[Helen T]

Hello! I have installed a Whirlpool WHES series softener into my new to me house. (The house was built in the 50's and the old unit when I bought the place was over 20 yrs old and not working) I have run multiple regenerations and did the sanitization with bleach as suggested twice. The problem is that my water smells very strongly of chemicals. Not a rotten egg/ sulfur smell, but something close to epoxy resin or plastic. To the point that when brushing my teeth it made me gag and pulling the toilet lid off or opening the washing machine the smell hits me like a wall. I have noticed it is stronger when I run hot water, but when I bypass the softener it goes away. (so I don't think its the instant water heater...) Any suggestions on what may be causing this or how to get rid of it would be great. Hate to keep bathing/ cooking/ living with toxic water! (I have called both whirlpool and furnace co and they play ignorant) Thank you!

 

[Reach4]

Replacing the softener with a new non-cabinet type would be a good solution. Smell gone. New resin. Repairable unit. However it would take more space.

But as a challenge to get the old unit going again, I guess I would put this through lots of regen cycles. Maybe not replace the salt during the multiple backwash cycles. You could even replace the resin. That is some work as well as money.

How much bleach did you use? 1.2 fluid ounces (2.4 tablespoons) of 5.25% chlorine bleach would have been the basic amount. If you used a cup of bleach, I wonder if there was some negative effect.

I am not a pro.

 

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[Helen T]

Replacing the softener with a new non-cabinet type would be a good solution. Smell gone. New resin. Repairable unit. However it would take more space.

But as a challenge to get the old unit going again, I guess I would put this through lots of regen cycles. Maybe not replace the salt during the multiple backwash cycles. You could even replace the resin. That is some work as well as money.

How much bleach did you use? 1.2 fluid ounces (2.4 tablespoons) of 5.25% chlorine bleach would have been the basic amount. If you used a cup of bleach, I wonder if there was some negative effect.

I am not a pro.

Thanks for your input. Just to be clear, the unit I have is brand new. Only in service for about a month. Both times I did the bleach it was the 5-6tblsp as suggested, run a cycle then run water for about 20 min in house. I also noticed yesterday that the water in the brine tank has a slight yellow color to it. Not in my water, but in the tank... if that means anything.

 

[Reach4]

I misunderstood. You were clear.

I would call the customer service number on the front page of the manual. https://www.whirlpoolwatersolutions.com/owner-center/product-manuals/

It may have been a bad batch of resin. Clearly your symptom cannot be very common.

 

[ditttohead]

Yellow water in the resin tank... are you on a municipal water supply or your own private well? What salt are you using?

I have to agree with the first response, get a real unit, not a big box store cheapy unit.

 

[Helen T]

Yellow water in the resin tank... are you on a municipal water supply or your own private well? What salt are you using?

I have to agree with the first response, get a real unit, not a big box store cheapy unit.

I am on city water with notoriously high hardness levels. (about 15-20) I am using standard softener salt with 98.9% purity. I called whirlpool before starting this thread and they have nothing to offer.
What would be a "Real unit"? I hate to have wasted $450.

 

[Reach4]

Could a child have put something into the brine tank? That would have had to happen before you first noticed the smell.

Maybe empty the brine tank totally. A wet-dry vacuum could help remove the salt. Either discard the salt or keep it separate for a while and consider use later. Clean. Rinse. Then do some regenerations without salt to further rinse. Then add new salt, and do another regen.

 

[ditttohead]

Worth a try. The cheapy big box store units are disposable and typically do not get repaired. Once they die they are landfill fodder. Try cleaning the brine tank and then buy some citric acid, dilute several pounds into a gallon of hot water and regenerate the resin.

 

[Bannerman]

If it's new and you retained the receipt, return it to the store as a defective unit. There is no way to test a softener until it is installed and water flows through it.

 

[OhMia]

Did you ever figure this out ? Wondering if it because you used metal pipes to connect