More Craigslist Freebie Softener Fun

[Eric Wesson]

Last one was a Kenmore. I was pleasantly surprised; it seems to work fine, and we went ahead and installed it in our church's kitchen hot water supply. Fingers crossed, it should last a while there.

This one is an EcoWater. I'm looking for a cheap but working softener to sell with the house. Bannerman, you'll be happy to hear I set it up with 1" connections. This one looks pretty, so I should be good. Ten years old (confirmed by date codes); sat idle for the last five (confirmed by date on excess bag of salt the guy threw in for the price (free).

Do all these single-cabinet models come from the same manufacturer? The components are near identical to that Kenmore. I can see why you water softener pros are so cynical about these units.

Hooked it up, only to find minimal water flow. Ran through a series of backflow / rinse cycles, watching orange water come out the drain line. Pretty soon the water flow was good again. Ran a full regen with two gallons water in the brine tank. Troubled to find it's not softening the water.

Vacuumed out the contents of the resin tank. I'm stunned; from the looks of it, the tank contained gravel and a huge quantity of what looks like crumbled asphalt. Some is about the same grit size as the resin beads. Dumping the contents into a big tub, the water is dark gray.

Is this activated charcoal? What in God's name is the point of mixing that in? Are they thinking it protects the resin from chlorine degradation? But it's heavier than the resin, meaning the chlorine will hit the resin first and then the charcoal. Do they put it in as a gimmick, because activated charcoal is cheaper than resin?

Also, surely the grit speeds the breakup of the resin.

Speaking of the resin, what there is left of it: It's mush. I'm guessing this is the 6% crosslink someone mentioned, because five years seems like a pretty short time for resin to fall apart. I was hoping to separate the remaining resin from the grit, but gave up and dumped it all in the trash. I'm planning to move the resin from my pet project softener over and get new resin after I move.

Does anyone know what Ecowater charges for these things? Whatever it is, it's too much. No wonder you softener geeks are so irritable.

 

[Bannerman]

Do all these single-cabinet models come from the same manufacturer?

I understand, most softeners sold in big box stores including Sears, are made by the same company.

Is this activated charcoal?

Probably. Many, including some softener installers, think that mixing in some carbon will deal with chlorine as you mention. The reasons not to mix media, are those you also mention.

In addition, a small amount of carbon will not have much capacity and usually, a much shorter lifespan than the softener resin. The carbon if left too long will begin to breakdown and deposit black particles into the water. As there is no simple method to separate the resin from the carbon and gravel, all of the tank contents are discarded and replaced or the entire softener is replaced every few years.

Why do you think the original owner only used the unit for 5 years and then bypassed or removed it?

Since additional media will consume tank space, the freeboard space for backwashing the resin will be reduced so a significant portion of the lighter weight resin will more likely back-wash out from the tank to drain. If the resin quantity is reduced to compensate for the carbon, then the softening capacity of the softener will be also reduced.

five years seems like a pretty short time for resin to fall apart.

Depends on not only cross-linking but also the amount of chlorine in constant contact with the resin.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Eric Wesson]

In addition, a small amount of carbon will not have much capacity and usually, a much shorter lifespan than the softener resin. The carbon if left too long will begin to breakdown and deposit black particles into the water. As there is no simple method to separate the resin from the carbon and gravel, all of the tank contents are discarded and replaced or the entire softener is replaced every few years.

Yeah, thanks for the confirmation. That's exactly what I ran into. Conceivably there would be a way to gravity separate the two - there were very pretty layers of orange and black in the clear plastic tub I was draining into - but totally not worth it for used resin.

I was wondering if there was some way the activated carbon would be regenerated. I guess not. This is one of the dumbest ideas I've run across.

Why do you think the original owner only used the unit for 5 years and then bypassed or removed it?

I guess the dude's parents got old, and the dude's brother lived in the house for five years and didn't like water softeners. It might have lost its softening power, too: I noted that the water hardness had been bumped up to 26, while the max we normally see here in San Diego is about 15.
Plus, like I said, it had no ability to soften anymore when I hooked it up. Tank is full of salt, too. I took home probably 200 lbs of salt.

I think the chlorine leaves the water over time, but it might not in a closed system. They had it bypassed.

Since additional media will consume tank space, the freeboard space for backwashing the resin will be reduced so a significant portion of the lighter weight resin will more likely back-wash out from the tank to drain. If the resin quantity is reduced to compensate for the carbon, then the softening capacity of the softener will be also reduced.

Now, I'm curious. There's a top basket, too, so there shouldn't be any unnecessary flushing of resin to the drain during backwash. It isn't unusual to have a top basket, is it?

For the backwash to be effective, you need to have free space for it to swirl around in, right?

Depends on not only cross-linking but also the amount of chlorine in constant contact with the resin.

About 10% of my resin was gone from my tank after about five years in service. Modest sized household, too. That was 8% crosslink. Maybe San Diego has more chloramine than I thought.

Well, I put about a cubic foot of resin in. It should work pretty well.

Funny thing, too: The venturi assembly was missing the venturi "flow plug" / flow controller. Means the brining flowed arbitrarily fast. Maybe the gravel helped offset that, but jeez - you want slow upflow regeneration.

Kind of a big miss for a $$$ softener - some guy reported having paid $5K to install an Ecowater system. I hope they replumbed half his house for that fee.