Tannin issues two water softners?? Sorry my first post is blank, don't know why.

**spete112** · 07-08-2012, 06:04 PM

I am trying to figure out the best thing to do with a new softener. I have called some business is town to get their idea as to how at address my problem. Of course everyone is different. I tried to take the ideas with a grain of salt knowing they wanted to sell me their own system (can't blame them for that). Anyway the issue that I have is my house is we have a Kenmore Ultra soft 250 that the previous owner stuck in there without having their water tested. It is working after I used a resin cleaner and took the softener off of meter and let to regenerate more then necessary to keep it clean. The only problem is the softer is not taking care of my tannin problem. I know it is not designed to do that. I know I can but a filter that can take care of only the tannin or I can but a softener that will to both. I called Kenitco and was interested with the idea of using soft water to regenerated the system. That got me thinking about leaving my first softener there and let it do its job and then buy a tannin water softener and plumb that after the first softener. The tannin softener is a little pricey and if I could protect it so it will last for years I would be willing to do this. Am I way off on my thinking???? I worked as plumber for over 10 years but for some reason we never wanted anything to do with selling softeners. If someone wanted to twist our arm we would install one that they bought. So I feel like I should know something about this however I do not. Thanks for your ideas.

**Akpsdvan** · 07-08-2012, 08:39 PM

Tannin??
Run away.....
Drill another well ..
There are resins out there that will work, but screw up one time or not get the flow right the first time and ... you fill in that blank.

I know that here where I am in Alaska tannin is a challenge and there are ways that have worked.. coming in at 20k.. have that ?

Tannin does not go easy..

**Gary Slusser** · 07-09-2012, 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by spete112

..... the issue that I have is my house is we have a Kenmore Ultra soft 250 that the previous owner stuck in there without having their water tested. It is working after I used a resin cleaner and took the softener off of meter and let to regenerate more then necessary to keep it clean. The only problem is the softer is not taking care of my tannin problem. I know it is not designed to do that.

How much tannin do you have and what problems is it causing?

A separate tannin unit is usually the best choice.

You should program your softener correctly.

**spete112** · 07-09-2012, 02:49 PM

We have just a trace. The fixtures have been stained fom this. We are finishng off the down stairs bathroom and would like to avoid staining them as well. I am not sure what you are saying about corertly programing the softner correctly. I did increase the backwash and took it off of metered and well as increase the hardness level to it would regenerate more ofter.

**Gary Slusser** · 07-09-2012, 05:41 PM

How much is a trace in your opinion?

How much iron and manganese; assuming you have your own well or are on a small 'community' well.

How hard is the water?

You need to know how much hardness etc. to program a softener, not just guess at making changes. Click on the link in my signature to learn how to come up with the data to program your softener correctly.