Softener is plumbed to only hot water.

[ninefall]

Ive lived in this house for 10 years and I've never had REAL soft water. I could always tell a difference if I ran out of salt it would get harder as time went by, but it was never as soft as my last house's water. Today I just happened to notice the house's main line T's off to a filter and then to the softener, which then heads straight into the hot water heater. The other section of the "T" goes to my kitchen sink and outdoor faucet. Is this common? I've uncovered a few things in a search but nothing concrete (like my water)

 

[ninefall]

After further looking it seems to be hooked up correctly. However, I did two manual regenerations and the brine tank never did empty out. Shouldn't that water be drawn into the tanks to rinse the resin out or am I mistaken on how this thing works?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[NHmaster]

Yes it should draw from the brine tank. Start checking for obstruction in the brine line, breaks or fitting leaks also same line. What is the brand name of the equipment? make and model?

 

[ninefall]

Its a Kinetico Model 30. It looks to be working "OK" but the suction is very poor. I put some water in a cup and it sucked it out but not fast by any means. Also, during the brine/rinse cycle, if I held my finger over the end of the hose I could hear what sounded like a leak by the control valve but I couldnt find anything. Could it be inside? How much suction are these things suppose to have during that cycle? it would build vacuum with my finger over the hole and if i stuck it in the water it would surge some in.

It just doesnt "seem" like its working like it should.

 

[Gary Slusser]

No softener can remove all the water in the salt tank, there is always a 1/2" or a few inches left.

Usually the draw rate is like a 1/4 to 1/2 gal/minute so it takes awhile to draw the brine out of a salt tank.

If you don't have a good draw suction, then you could have air leaks in the brine line fittings, a blocked injector or kinked or blocked drain line or its drain line flow control.