Black water after regeneration....

We live in Arizona - very hard water. We installed a whole house water softener about 5 years ago. Don't want to mention the brand name. The issue is that after the automatic cleaning, the water that comes from the faucet is black. We feel we are having to run the faucets longer each month until the water turns clear again. We have it serviced annually and there is never any issue. The company is telling us it's just carbon dust that has been mixed up and not flushed properly. Our water pressure at the house is probably around 60...semi-rural area of Phoenix. The first two years after the installation we never had black water...now it seems it's getting worse. The sediment in the toilet tanks is very fine like a dust. The bowls get stained and require a pumice stone to remove the stains. We are wondering, what is this doing to our appliances and clothes?
Is this normal, or are we being fed a line of................?
Thank you.

Where would the carbon come from? Do you also have a carbon filter that you don't want to mention?

If there is no carbon filter, I might suspect manganese and if so you might want to treat it separately.

We are told the Carbon is in the tank, put there by the manufacturer to filter out any chlorine. When the regeneration happens, the carbon gets mixed up and is just not flushing properly, but nothing is wrong with the system is what we are told.

I have seen this before. The carbon is exhausted and needs to be changed. The unit does not rinse enough to clear the water after a regen. You either put up with it until all the carbon is gone or have it replaced.

The Water Softerner technician is telling us this is normal and that it's not clearing becuase our water pressure is too low, or our local Water Company is adding so much clorine to the water, that the carbon is really active. How do I convince them that the carbon is exhausted?

It sounds like manganese in the water. Take a raw water sample and have it tested. Carbon fines will NOT cause staining. Just black particles in the water. Manganese will have black particles and impart a grey tint to the water and stain toilets grey.
RJ

The carbon is being ground up by the resin and fine enough to go down through the resin bed and up the distributor tube out to the fixtures. That's why the dealer wants more water pressure, but that won't solve any problem, it will help grind up more carbon though. This is why it is a bad idea to mix carbon and resin.

You should dump your resin and carbon into a few 5 gal buckets and using a garden hose, flush the carbon up and out of the buckets. Then reinstall the resin. Or buy new resin and replace the old.

Steve38, I also live in Phoenix and recently started getting black water out of the softener. It was purchased from Water Superstore almost 10 years ago and has performed flawlessly until now. A few months ago they came out and changed the Carbon. Water was clear for a while and then turned black again. What was your solution and which company did you buy through?

Alex

Steve38 said:

The Water Softerner technician is telling us this is normal and that it's not clearing becuase our water pressure is too low, or our local Water Company is adding so much clorine to the water, that the carbon is really active. How do I convince them that the carbon is exhausted?

Click to expand...

Steve38, I also live in Phoenix and recently started getting black water out of the softener. It was purchased from Water Superstore almost 10 years ago and has performed flawlessly until now. A few months ago they came out and changed the Carbon. Water was clear for a while and then turned black again. What was your solution and which company did you buy through?

Alex

Alex, This thread was last active in October 2011.

Clicking on Steve38's name indicates the last time he viewed this discussion board was October 13, 2011 so you're not likely to receive an answer from Steve38.

You may want to review Gary Slusser's post that is just above yours.

New carbon beds can give off black or discolored water for a while. This is normal and will usually clear in a few months. It happens most commonly right after a regeneration after the system moves the carbon around and disturbs the bed. You could go through multiple backwashes and fast rinses to try to minimize this from occurring in the future.