How to fix water softener | Servicing a water softener system

Water softeners condition water by circulating it through a tank, where the water's hard minerals such as calcium and magnesium are replaced with a soft mineral sodium. Periodically, to regenerate the mineral tank's softening ability, salty water flows from a second tank called the brine tank through the mineral tank. The salt pellets (sodium chloride) in this brine tank sometimes cake up, the inlet valve can clog, and in rare instances the timer that operates both tanks can fail to start the regeneration cycle. But before assuming that a water softener is malfunctioning, make sure that the timer dial is set for the time of day when you want regeneration to take place, usually at night when water is not being used.

How to Repair a Water Softener 

Clogs occur most often where the house water supply enters the water softener, at the inlet valve, causing incomplete regeneration. The internal screen cartridge at the inlet can be taken out for cleaning or replacement (bottom).

Problems with the regeneration cycle also occur when salt in the brine tank congeals into a solid mass, a condition called salt bridging. You can spot this problem by poking at the salt bed with a broom handle the salt pellets should be loose. If they are not, try to break them up with the broom handle. If this fails, disconnect and empty the tank, then poke at the salt lump with the broom handle, to crack the lump into pieces small enough to remove. Refill the tank with fresh salt pellets.

The water softener's timer seldom fails, but the spring arm assembly that trips the timer may wear out. For some models, a replacement can be purchased separately; for others the whole timer assembly must be replaced.

Anatomy of a water softener. 

Water flows from the house water supply pipe into the softener's mineral tank through an inlet valve. As the water filters down through the bed of plastic beads inside the tank, its hard mineral ions of calcium and magnesium are replaced by soft ions of sodium. The softened water flows up the riser pipe from the tank bottom, through the outlet valve and into the house plumbing.

Usually once a week, accumulated hard minerals are flushed out of the mineral tank, and the
sodium ions are replenished from a brine tank To begin this regeneration cycle, the timer disconnects the mineral tank from the house plumbing. Then a cleansing solution of brine (salt water) is drawn from the brine tank into the mineral tank, to remove hard ions from the plastic beads and add sodium ions. After doing its work, the brine is flushed out through the mineral tank’s drainpipe. Finally, fresh water rinses any remaining brine out of the mineral tank and sends it back to the brine tank, where it dissolves more salt for the next regeneration cycle.

Replacing the screen cartridge 

Shut off the house water line and open a faucet at a sink or lavatory to release pressure on the line and lower the water level in the softener below the inlet valve. Remove the four screws holding the cover over the screen cartridge. Clean off the cartridge if it is not badly clogged; otherwise replace it. Reattach the cartridge cover, turn off the faucet and reopen the water-supply line.