No soft water

[Slinger56]

Hello, lately I realized I wasn't getting any soft water from my GE GXSF27E01 and when I went to look at the salt level in the brine tank I saw it had gone down to just about 6" from the bottom. I thought it odd that pellets would still be visible if they should've all dissolved to make brine and I should've therefore had soft water, but there were still some in the slurry that I saw, together with a little tan-colored residue, probably from using pellets instead of solar salt. I got industrious and emptied out the tank and rinsed it and sucked out all pellets and water with my shop vac, poured in one 40# bag of Morton's System Saver II pellets and ran a cycle. No luck. Another cycle. No luck. I thought maybe the nozzle/venturi is clogged so I took that apart and everything looked good. I ran another cycle with the covers off and witnessed the water coming up in the brine tank, then going down, the valve advancing through the steps, and water coming out of the drain at the appropriate times. Once it stopped at "service" I ran some cold water only for a while then checked by washing my hands but still no soft water. What should I check next? The unit was purchased back in '03 and I rebuilt the valve with a new seal kit back in '11 and it's been running fine since. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Reach4]

Do you have iron in your water? That could be a factor.

Your resin has been in service for 11 years, and resin can get worn out by then.
Try searching for softener resin life years . You should find numbers like 10, 15, 20 years.

I am not saying that is the problem. You might get things going again by pouring an extra 5 gallons of water into the brine tank (or adjust down if that is close to overflow. Wait 3 or more hours. Then trigger a regen. This may be all it needs to get some more life out of your existing resin.

Regarding your softness test, you would be better off with a hardness tester. The Hach 5b is well-respected. Also, when you test, use the cold water in the bathroom. The hot water tank may still have residual hard water in it. The kitchen cold may or may not run through the softener.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Slinger56]

Thanks for your reply Reach4. No, I don't think iron is an issue here. I have not seen any rust or discoloration on anything, nor is there a metallic taste in the water.

I researched the resins life and found figures of 8-10 years, so it might be time to change that since the unit is over 11 years old. I do wish I had a way to confirm that that is my problem before I get in to dismantling the top end. I will try the added water in the brine tank and additional regen and see what that does.

 

[Slinger56]

Seems I just needed to run the water for longer. It is working fine now. Thanks again for the tips.

 

[Reach4]

Nice. You still might want to get a hardness tester like the Hach 5B. It can maybe spot hardness picking up later after a regen. If you find that, you could adjust your generation scheduling to compensate.

If it gives soft water between regens, that is great.

Cleaning your salt bin was a good thing to do.

 

[Slinger56]

That is a good idea because I have found that I seem to run out of the soft just before the next regen, and when I would go look at the display sure enough it would say "recharge tonight". This made me increment the hardness setting on the control up every time to where now it's at 30 and won't go any higher. It's pointless to ask the water company here what the hardness is because I think it varies by location. So the tester would go a long way to let me know what's really happening. Much obliged again for the help; have a good weekend!!

 

[ditttohead]

Buy a Hach 5B, well worth the investment.

 

[Bannerman]

Slinger,

It appears that you are utilizing the entire capacity of the softener prior to each regeneration. In addition to running out of soft water, that programming is probably not the most efficient for salt consumption. The settings can likely be modified to provide continuous soft water with increased salt efficiency.

Once you obtain your test kit to determine your actual initial hardness, post your hardness numbers here along with your current program settings, softener capacity and number of people in your household. I'm sure someone will offer a suggestion to obtain more efficient salt consumption and more reliable operation.

 

[Slinger56]

Thanks Bannerman, will do.