My softener has been reducing the water pressure of my house water so it's off for now. Its about 8 years old and we have chlorinated city water (not chloramine). Should I bother with resin cleaner? Does it actually work? Or should I just replace the resin or do something else? We dont have iron in our water. Thank you!
Does resin cleaner actually help?
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Is there anything else I can check for before I do that?
LLigetfa
DIYer, not in the trades
Yes, check for a crushed or partially plugged bottom basket when you dump out the old resin.
Okay, thank you. Looks like it needs to be replaced then. Was hoping it would be something else and I didnt need to replace it all. Thought it might last longer than it did.
Bannerman
Well-Known Member
Ch!orine will have a detrimental affect on any resin, but the quantity of chlorine and the quality of the resin will influence how rapidly the resin will deteriorate.
While a backwashing carbon filtration system is recommended to remove chlorine and byproducts of chlorination before the softener, when a carbon system is not utilized, 10% cross-linked resin is the minimum recommendation to better tolerate chlorine compared to standard 8% cross-linked resin. Many systems offered on-line and in big-box stores are typically built for the lowest cost and are often equipped with low quality resin with 7% or lower cross-linking.
One way that is usually effective to determine if the resin has failed is to remove the control valve from the tank to obtain a sample of media nearest to the top of the tank. The resin when squeezed in the hand or between two fingers should feel firm and granular whereas when it has failed due to chlorine damage, will usually feel mushy.
Here is a sample video showing a very small tank in which the resin has failed due to chlorine damage.
While a backwashing carbon filtration system is recommended to remove chlorine and byproducts of chlorination before the softener, when a carbon system is not utilized, 10% cross-linked resin is the minimum recommendation to better tolerate chlorine compared to standard 8% cross-linked resin. Many systems offered on-line and in big-box stores are typically built for the lowest cost and are often equipped with low quality resin with 7% or lower cross-linking.
One way that is usually effective to determine if the resin has failed is to remove the control valve from the tank to obtain a sample of media nearest to the top of the tank. The resin when squeezed in the hand or between two fingers should feel firm and granular whereas when it has failed due to chlorine damage, will usually feel mushy.
Here is a sample video showing a very small tank in which the resin has failed due to chlorine damage.
ditttohead
Water systems designer, R&D
Low pressure, 99% of the time, bad resin. Most companies use very low grade resin. Under ideal conditions cheap resin can last many years, under less than optimal you might get a few months out of the resin.
MaxBlack
Member
Late to this party, but it seems to me that trying resin cleaner (Res Care, Pro Products) is an easy and cheap thing to try first!? A half a cup, a couple regens?
CRob
New Member
where did you end up buying from? I'm in the same boat and haven't gotten a recommendation - just comments in post where people say "many companies sell trash"
I am putting a new softener system and the vendor is advising to put an automated tube system that drips this Res care. Its called easy Feeder kit. It require you to drill holes and hand the bottle in the tank itself. If I dont want this feeder sub system, can I add the resin cleaner manually as you mentioned. Question is where do I drop the half cup Res Care. On the Salt or inside the Pipe/Tube where the float assembly is and where the brine line connects? The easy feeder has a small tube ( size of brine line) goeing into that big pipe that holds the float mechanism.
Pro Easy Feeder™ Starter Kit
Buy the Pro Easy Feeder Starter Kit (RK15K) to make sure your water softener resin stays clean and high-functioning. Perfect for iron-bearing water.
www.aquatell.ca
MaxBlack
Member
Clearly Asker123 the automatic feeders are for the majority of softener users i.e. people who have busy lives and would otherwise forget to do the ResCare. Of course, such folks could also fail to notice if the auto-feeder wasn't working or if the ResCare bottle had run-out.
So the decision is yours to make. Absolutely yes, you can add it manually, and the best place to do so is where the float assembly is because then the ResCare goes into the water that is drawn-out to clean the resin. That's what I am doing, and I also splash a cup of fresh water after, both to clean the cup I'm using and to wash the ResCare away from any float assembly parts it would have touched, though I feel certain leaving such would not harm anything.
FWIW I have a Reminder on my iPhone to check the softener about every week or ten days and try to add the ResCare the evening before it regens. More because I'm anal than that it would "go bad" if you put it in earlier, even right after it regenned.
So the decision is yours to make. Absolutely yes, you can add it manually, and the best place to do so is where the float assembly is because then the ResCare goes into the water that is drawn-out to clean the resin. That's what I am doing, and I also splash a cup of fresh water after, both to clean the cup I'm using and to wash the ResCare away from any float assembly parts it would have touched, though I feel certain leaving such would not harm anything.
FWIW I have a Reminder on my iPhone to check the softener about every week or ten days and try to add the ResCare the evening before it regens. More because I'm anal than that it would "go bad" if you put it in earlier, even right after it regenned.
Sounds Good. I go to my utility room every other day if not everyday to check on something or other. This is not a big deal to me. Glad that I got someone like me who like to rely on manual processes. I heard that adjusting the drip correctly has been PITA for some folks.
Half a cup sounds reasonable . Are you on weekly Regen Frequency? I am on Well water , pretty hard water here in Manitoba so I will set up my valve to do weekly Regen if the volume based Regen is not activated.
Half a cup sounds reasonable . Are you on weekly Regen Frequency? I am on Well water , pretty hard water here in Manitoba so I will set up my valve to do weekly Regen if the volume based Regen is not activated.
MaxBlack
Member
My system does keep track of gallons flowed and regens according to its capacity, and I see no reason to not take advantage of that and save on buying and lugging salt bags. You should get a hardness test kit (best imo Hach) both to confirm your new system is working and to note perhaps that you still have soft water just before the softener intends to regenerate.
Having bought ResCare by the gallon, it should last more than a year using just half a cup per regen. I do wish there were a way to tell that ResCare is actually working!
Having bought ResCare by the gallon, it should last more than a year using just half a cup per regen. I do wish there were a way to tell that ResCare is actually working!
