Nasty taste after using super iron out to clean softener

[kk0710]

Hi all, I was having a problem with my water softener having a taste to it. The manufacturer couldn't think of anything so actually is sending me new resin but a lot of people swear by super iron out so I wanted to try that first. I followed the instructions, 1 cup in half a gallon of water dissolved. Poured into brine well and manually regenerated... when I tested the water it tasted like super iron out... I've regenerated 3 or 4 more times and the taste is still there.

Any suggestions?

 

[WorthFlorida]

Is there any taste to the water before the softener? Is the softener backwash working correctly? During the backwash cycle, do you see the backwash water draining?

Run the bathtub cold water full on for 20-30 minutes. If it foul taste clears, then run the hot water to clear out water heater.

Drain out the old resin, clean the tank and brine tank. Before adding the new resin, fill the tank with water and about 1/4 -1/2 cup of bleach. Let it soak awhile and then drain and rise well.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[kk0710]

Is there any taste to the water before the softener? Is the softener backwash working correctly? During the backwash cycle, do you see the backwash water draining?

Run the bathtub cold water full on for 20-30 minutes. If it foul taste clears, then run the hot water to clear out water heater.

Drain out the old resin, clean the tank and brine tank. Before adding the new resin, fill the tank with water and about 1/4 -1/2 cup of bleach. Let it soak awhile and then drain and rise well.

No taste before.
Yes the backwash cycle works. About to start a new regeneration and will actually take a short video for each segment to be sure.
I ran over a hundred gallons of water through the bathtub, cold and hot, and it did seem like the taste went away but it came back this morning.
I'm trying to avoid doing anything with the tank but if push comes to shove I will as the manufacturer actually sent me purolite resin which is supposed to be better than what it came with. Just a pain in the ass to do that.

 

[Reach4]

"Hi all, I was having a problem with my water softener having a taste to it. "

1. How long had it had a taste before you tried Iron Out? "No taste before." When was there no taste?
2. How old is the softener?
3. What valve is on the softener?
4. Was it softening as much as you would expect -- the taste was the only problem? If you do have the leak path I am suspecting, your water would not get softened to less than one grain (blue after zero drops on the Hach 5-B test)
5. Does your well produce much iron?

I wonder if the softener is rinsing right-- such as if it has a leak between the distribution tube and the valve. Sometimes they provide the wrong adapter.

For rinsing, try temporarily setting BD to 600. That should do a long slow rinse for 10 hours.

In the future, for iron treatment, consider citric acid or phosphoric acid (available as Res-Up or ResCare and others). They smell and tastes better, tho your IO should have been long ago washed out.

 

[kk0710]

"Hi all, I was having a problem with my water softener having a taste to it. "

1. How long had it had a taste before you tried Iron Out? "No taste before." When was there no taste?
2. How old is the softener?
3. What valve is on the softener?
4. Was it softening as much as you would expect -- the taste was the only problem? If you do have the leak path I am suspecting, your water would not get softened to less than one grain (blue after zero drops on the Hach 5-B test)
5. Does your well produce much iron?

I wonder if the softener is rinsing right-- such as if it has a leak between the distribution tube and the valve. Sometimes they provide the wrong adapter.

For rinsing, try temporarily setting BD to 600. That should do a long slow rinse for 10 hours.

In the future, for iron treatment, consider citric acid or phosphoric acid (available as Res-Up or ResCare and others). They smell and tastes better, tho your IO should have been long ago washed out.

The taste before was different, almost like a plastic taste and I wanted to try to do a full clean on the softener before I replaced the resin. There is no taste if I bypass the the water softener, and it does seem to somewhat go away if I run the water for a long time.
The softener is less than a year old, I installed it last summer5600sxt
It softens no problem, my water hardness is about 8 and it gets down to about 0.
I am on city water and the iron is there but minimal.

 

[Reach4]

For a plastic taste, the resin would be the suspect.

Yes, changing resin is not easy. You want a funnel. You want to be able to take the tank outside and dump it, and that will require a helper probably. You can empty the water by siphoning using a flexible tube down the distributor tube. Strapping the tank, after water is out, onto a hand truck, and strapping that tank on, is a good way to move the tank. I am not a pro.

With city water, the iron will be near zero, because it all settled out during its trip to your house. Then they flush the pipes in the spring to get rid of the settled iron/rust.

Setting BD to 600 temporarily may still be worth trying. It is probably 60 now. The water flow rate during that slow rinse will be under 1 GPM and more likely closer to 0.5 gpm. Depends on your injector and water pressure. There is a graph in the service manual

The service manual tells how to change settings. You need to set the clock to a particular time before pressing some buttons to get into the right mode.

 

[kk0710]

For a plastic taste, the resin would be the suspect.

Yes, changing resin is not easy. You want a funnel. You want to be able to take the tank outside and dump it, and that will require a helper probably. You can empty the water by siphoning using a flexible tube down the distributor tube. Strapping the tank, after water is out, onto a hand truck, and strapping that tank on, is a good way to move the tank. I am not a pro.

With city water, the iron will be near zero, because it all settled out during its trip to your house. Then they flush the pipes in the spring to get rid of the settled iron/rust.

Setting BD to 600 temporarily may still be worth trying. It is probably 60 now.

Yah I know how to change it but really wanted to try to clean it first since bad resin is so rare. Though supposedly what he sent me is better than the 10% crosslink it came with. I also just wanted to buy myself some time so I can do this in nicer weather.
as for BD, I was just thinking about that, but why BD? I was thinking BW? Since Slow Rinse and Rapid Rinse both go from top to bottom like it does during normal running I figure that isn't much different than just running the softener normal.
And just to add to this, what I don't get is how can I possibly still be tasting the super iron out? How could it have not been rinsed out by now? I am not even sure if it is safe to drink this water since I don't think a carbon filter will remove this.

 

[Bannerman]

Suggest adding 1/4-1/2 cup of unscented chlorine bleach into the brine well and immediately perform a manual regeneration cycle.

To extend the Slow Rinse time, simply pull out the electrical plug from the wall outlet when Brine Draw commences. Once sufficient time has passed such as 1-2 hrs, restore electrical power so the controller will then proceed the remaining regeneration cycle.

Since Slow Rinse and Rapid Rinse both go from top to bottom like it does during normal running I figure that isn't much different than just running the softener normal.

Slow Rinse is a component of the Brine Draw cycle. As that cycle occurs directly following Backwash, the spaces between the resin beads will be greatest, thereby allowing for more thorough Rinse flow through the resin.

The purpose for Rapid Rinse is to recompact the resin to reduce the spaces between the resin beads, which will result in less hardness leakage passing through the resin bed.

 

[kk0710]

Suggest adding 1/4-1/2 cup of unscented chlorine bleach into the brine well and immediately perform a manual regeneration cycle.

To extend the Slow Rinse time, simply pull out the electrical plug from the wall outlet when Brine Draw commences. Once sufficient time has passed such as 1-2 hrs, restore electrical power so the controller will then proceed the remaining regeneration cycle.




Slow Rinse is a component of the Brine Draw cycle. As that cycle occurs directly following Backwash, the spaces between the resin beads will be greatest, thereby allowing for more thorough Rinse flow through the resin.

The purpose for Rapid Rinse is to recompact the resin to reduce the spaces between the resin beads, which will result in less hardness leakage passing through the resin bed.

I know what slow rinse is and can just as easily increase the BD period to increase the time as it starts as soon as the unit starts sucking air. But I've regenerated 5 times so far and that should be more than enough. Ill see how it is after this last one.

 

[kk0710]

Sigh, another regeneration and hundreds of gallons of water didn't fix it. It seemed better for a while after I ran my tub for a while, but I just checked again and it came back. Can bad resin cause this? It makes no sense.

 

[LuckyNo21]

What ended up happening in your situation? I just tried switching from iron fighter salt to regular salt with 1/4 cup added per 40lb bag like the bottle suggests. We did this last night, our tank regenerated, and this morning our water tastes SO awful like chemicals. I only took a sip of water a hour ago to take medication and I can't get the taste out of my mouth. Obviously we have an issue and the iron out is coming through the water lines, so it's not safe to drink (we have always drank our softened water).

I'm not sure what to do, but kind of freaked out as we both drank the water and the taste won't go away.

 

[Reach4]

What ended up happening in your situation? I just tried switching from iron fighter salt to regular salt with 1/4 cup added per 40lb bag like the bottle suggests. We did this last night, our tank regenerated, and this morning our water tastes SO awful like chemicals. I only took a sip of water a hour ago to take medication and I can't get the taste out of my mouth. Obviously we have an issue and the iron out is coming through the water lines, so it's not safe to drink (we have always drank our softened water).

I'm not sure what to do, but kind of freaked out as we both drank the water and the taste won't go away.

What softener valve do you have? What injector do you have? How big is your tank or how many cuft of resin do you have? And finally, if you know, what is your BD setting?

The plan would be that after the brine, along with the IO, is drawn out, there would be a significant period where the BD cycle continues. That period is called the slow rinse, and it should be purging the salt and IO. If your injector or injector screen were clogged, that would interfere.

It would also be interesting if you have a cheap TDS meter to check the TDS of the drain line water at various points of the BD. After maybe 15 or 20 minutes it should go very high as the salt hits. Then it should drop, and by the end of the BD cycle, the TDS should be down to about the same as the TDS of the raw water.

If you want an additive that smells better than IO, citric acid is good. But still, take this opportunity to check the brine draw. If you regen again, time how long you are into BD to where the brine has been drawn all of the way that it is going to. That number is usually targeted to be about 15 minutes. If much longer than that, suspect a partially clogged injector or injector screen. If the actual drawing of the brine is 15 minutes, and BD is 60, that leaves 45 minutes of slow rinse.