General Resin questions

[Towman]

Thank you for any input!
I always try to search a forum, before asking stupid questions that have been ask a hundred times before. I know Gary has a lot of knowledge on softeners, but no one seems to be answer these questions completely.
My problem and questions
I have well water at my house with a model whes whirlpool softener. I have 14 ppg hardness with 5 ppg iron. I installed this softener in 10/06. Just 2 people live in the house with very minimal water useage. The softener seems to operate fine. it brines, backwashes, and etc. This softener, according to the manual should be able to handle this load easily. This whirlpool did a fine job when I installed it, but the salt bridged on me and I didn't catch the problem for a month or so. It seems that the resin bed is fouled (with iron)or shot. I get very little soft water.
Will the product, Iron out wear out (sic) or hurt the resin bed with multiple use or does it actually help the longevity?
What is the best way to clean the resin bed?
I know Gary likes the sst-60 resin, but what the heck is a turbolater. ( I assume it is on the end of the drop line in the resin tank.)
I have read that a resin bed should last 10 or 15 years as long as you aren't running chlorine thru it . Is this true.
Any insight is greatly appreciated !!

I could replace the resin but at 150 to 200 dollars I wonder if I should just get a new softener.
Where is the best place to get resin? Any resin that is better than the next? I know to use fine resin for the iron removal.
Thank you !!
Towman

[Peter Griffin]

Iron out will not hurt the resin.

You can buy new resin online or at a filter supply house if you have one near.

5ppm iron is just a tad high for a softener to handle.

consider an iron filter also.

I would re-bed before I replaced if the equipment is still in good working order.

[Gary Slusser]

My problem and questions
I have well water at my house with a model whes whirlpool softener. I have 14 ppg hardness with 5 ppg iron.

I installed this softener in 10/06. Just 2 people live in the house with very minimal water useage. This whirlpool did a fine job when I installed it, but the salt bridged on me and I didn't catch the problem for a month or so. It seems that the resin bed is fouled (with iron)or shot. I get very little soft water.

Will the product, Iron out wear out (sic) or hurt the resin bed with multiple use or does it actually help the longevity?
What is the best way to clean the resin bed?

IMO your 5 ppm is too much for the brand and size softener you have. Big box brands are limited in size to 1.2 cuft and have a low quality control valve and usually last trouble free about 2-5 yrs at best. And that's without any iron.

Yes any resin cleaner will damage resin, but then iron does it much more quickly.

Do 2 manual regenerations back to back at the max salt dose you can set with no water use until they both are finished. Make sure you have enough salt in the tank for both.

I know Gary likes the sst-60 resin, but what the heck is a turbolater. ( I assume it is on the end of the drop line in the resin tank.) I have read that a resin bed should last 10 or 15 years as long as you aren't running chlorine thru it . Is this true.

I could replace the resin but at 150 to 200 dollars I wonder if I should just get a new softener. Where is the best place to get resin? Any resin that is better than the next? I know to use fine resin for the iron removal.

I use regular mesh resin and a Turbulator on up to 5 ppm of iron and SST-60 whenever the iron is over 5 ppm. I've been doing that for 23 years. SST-60 is much better than regular or fine mesh resin because it can't iron foul as the others do.

A Turbulator is a distributor tube that helps get iron off the resin beads. I'm fairly sure you can't use one in your brand of softener.

Do the above regenerations and see what happens and then if you still don't have soft iron free water, buy new resin or a new softener (either from me of course).

[Bob999]

I would suggest using Super Iron Out when you do the two regenerations back to back as Gary suggests--follow the directions on label.

[Gary Slusser]

SIO is very good but don't pour the stuff in with the salt, I forgot to add.... mix 3/4 cup in about 3 gallons of water and pour in to the brine well water in the salt tank, then do the two regenerations but don't add more IO/SIO, just add the water for the second regeneration.

[Towman]

Thanks a lot.
We'll give it a try and see what happens.
Really appreciate the answers

[Bob999]

I use regular mesh resin and a Turbulator on up to 5 ppm of iron and SST-60 whenever the iron is over 5 ppm. I've been doing that for 23 years. SST-60 is much better than regular or fine mesh resin because it can't iron foul as the others do.

That is quite a trick. According to Purolite SST-60 resin first became available in 1998.

"PUROLITE developed and made commercially available the latest innovation in ion exchange resin manufacturing technology. It is called SHALLOW SHELL TECHNOLOGY (SST) resin. It was first made available as a softening resin called SST-60 in 1998. "

Here is a link to the document from which the quote was taken:

http://www.purolite.com/RelId/606358...0Issue%205.doc

[Gary Slusser]

That is quite a trick. According to Purolite SST-60 resin first became available in 1998.

I said I use regular mesh resin, that is not SST-60 Bob. Then I said I use SST-60 when I have over 5 ppm of iron. And yes, it read as if I used SST-60 for 23 years but obviously I didn't... Up until SST-60 was available and was found to work as it was supposed to, I didn't use a softener for iron over 5 ppm. I've used it on 13 ppm with success as long as my customer follows my directions.

[Towman]

First I really don't care how long, etc. My wife just wants soft water!!!
Gary,If I decide to do something different, am I better off re bedding my softener with sst60 or should I see about a iron filter and re bed with reg resin. .
Also whats your thoughts on pyrolox versus berm media for an iron filter.
Again I thank you for your input.

[Gary Slusser]

We don't know what is wrong with your softener. That's why I suggested the 2 manual regens and resin cleaning. The reason I did that is also due to you running it with a salt bridge which is the same as no salt. So until you do them, I wouldn't think about buying anything.

Knowing big box store brands as I do, I personally wouldn't put more money in your softener because it probably won't last. And I wouldn't buy an iron filter, I would use a softener that can treat the iron. Also, your softener may be undersized just in its ability to remove all your hardness and if it is, then a new softener would make sense, especially if it was set up to remove all the iron too.

After using Pyrolox for years and knowing that Birm requires a fair amount of dissolved oxygen and if you don't have enough then you add an air injector and that will block up plumbing with rust, I wouldn't use either and I don't sell them in filters.

[Peter Griffin]

Here's a link that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Purolite resins.

http://www.alphawaterconditioning.co...0Selection.pdf