Water Softner - Unused for Winter

[statjunk]

Hello,

I have a twin tank style softener with mechanical head. If the unit sits unused for 3-4 maybe as much as 5 months, is there anything I need to worry about when I start to use it again?

Only other thing I can think of is I'm on a private well.

Thanks

Tom

[water solutions]

What size are the tanks? How old are they? What are your water conditions?

The most important thing is not to let it freeze. If freezing is a risk and you can't store them in a safe location, then remove the valve and drains tanks of water as best you can.

Depending on the size of the softener:
With the remote tank, you can invert it--carefully not to crack any parts--and the water will run out. Then take the remote top and put it on the other tank and do the same. This will get more water than siphoning. The resin will still be wet but at least the tank won't crack. I don't encourage any 'anti-freeze' type solution. If you take the valve off, plug the riser tube so nothing drops into it and cover so animals don't get in (a plastic bag is good). Put the valve in a freeze-proof location.

Over time, a little iron and other contaminants may precipitate and you may have reddish water on start up in the spring. Put it through a regeneration on each side and sanitize while you are doing that.

If freezing is not an issue, then just let it sit and manually regenerate when you start up. Sanitizing is always an option and may need to be considered.

[ditttohead]

Perfect! The replies on this forum are usually so excellent!

Sanitization should be considered, manually regenrating both tnks should be done prior to using the water. When you decide to replace the system, get the electronic that has a regeneration over -ride that will automatically regenerate the system occassionally to minimize bacterial issues. Other than that the freezing is a big issue.

Water Solutions, thanks for the excellent answer! A few people on this site obviously have many years of expertise in this industry and enjoy sharing their knowldege. I enjoy reading yor posts and learning from them myself.

[water solutions]

Dittohead,
Sent you a PM.

[statjunk]

Thanks for the replies.

No freezing is not a concern. What size are the tank? Not sure on that one. They are about chest high and like 10" in diameter. The hardness without the softener is 20 parts of hardness with trace iron.

I was told that these style of control head can take anywhere from 1-4 hours to regenerate once I click the dial once click over. I'd have to do this twice, once for each tank. So that would be a while to be without water. I built a bypass into the system with a valve before the softener, a valve past the softener and a valve over the softener. Can I simply close the valve past the softener and open the valve over the softener in order to get water flowing into the house but also regenerate the softener?

Tom

[water solutions]

If the tanks are 10 by 54 inches then you have a model 100. It take 90 minutes to regenerate and about 102 gallons for each tank. Yes, you can shut off the household water, leaving the incoming water valve open and regenerate manually. The water going to the house will be hard if you leave the by-pass (middle) open. Why was it that you wanted to do it this way/ it will provide treated water even while it is regenerating as long as the service media had already been regenerated.

[ditttohead]

also, once you send the sysem into the second regeneration, the water will be running througfh the first tank, the one that was regenerated. You downtime will only be approximately 90 minutes.

[water solutions]

Not sure what you mean by 'downtime'. You should be able to use water immediately and throughout the regeneration of the second tank.

[ditttohead]

correct. I wrote that after a 20 hour day. I meant what you said, you just said it much better.

[statjunk]

Because when I first arrived up there based on what you guys are telling me I need to re-generate the tank. While I'm waiting for the one tank to regenerate we can just deal with a little bit of hard water.

Do I need to run the hot water tank empty too?

Tom