water softner not taking/using salt?

[Freakingstang]

I went ouf of town for a couple months and ever since I've been home my water softner doesn't seem to be working. I bought my place last fall and since I've been here i haven't had an issue with rust in toliets or anything.

Its a kinetico dual tank unit on a timer. its set for 1am regeneration, which I hear it every night, but even with manual regenerating the softner, its not using any salt. I'm kinda new to the water softners.

Any tips or pointers that I might try before calling someone out and paying a big service call?

Thanks

 

[Chooglin]

I will take a stab at this one.I know on my unit (Not the same as yours),the tank that holds the salt,must have
about 5 gallons of water in it ,at all times.this is what makes the brine to flush the unit out when it cycles.
If there is no water in the holding tank (for the salt) your screen is plugged up on the timer unit.this needs cleaned
or replaced.

 

[Otto Syracuse]

I will also add that iron deposits will build up on all the parts after a while and clog up the whole system. I add IRON OUT (I buy it at Ace Hardware) to every load of salt I put in. Haven't had a problem since then.

 

[RobertN]

Sometimes you can get a bridge of salt that solidifies in the salt bin. I had to clean my salt bin out once a couple years ago because of that. It just looked like it was not using any salt, but you could tell the water was not as soft.

 

[Stimw]

Just had problem with my Clear Water System not using salt.
After checking with the dealer he told me that there is a small filter on the head assembly and two plastic pieces with small orifice that can get stopped up. I cleaned some sugar sand from them and it is now working great!
There is a small plastic piece with two screws on the side of the head where I found the screen on mine.

 

[Concordriver]

Water softeners have a lifetime. I just had to replace mine...it was ~ 20 years old. New one cost ~ $1800. But, now I have peace of mind for many years to come.

 

[bcjmmac]

Probably not the issue, but have you confirmed that the bypass (if there is one) isn't open? On my unit, there is a bypass that we open when we are watering outside so that we don't condition that water.

 

[Scooby074]

+1 on the Iron Out.

I add 1/4 cup between bags when I fill the salt reservoir. I also add about a cup to the water in the bottom of the empty tank before I add new salt, then force a regen for that night.

 

[KYErik]

My unit first fills/tops off the salt tank using a water shut off float (like a toilet fill valve), then sucks at least half of the salt water out of the salt tank using a small venturi in the unit. When I notice that the water feels hard, I first check the salt tank, if the water is at the "high" level (I usually keep it only half full of salt so I can easily see the water level), then I know that it did not suck the salt water into the unit at the last recharge. This means that I need to take apart the little venturi mixing valve and clean it. I have also had a few salt bridges in the past.

 

[Egon]

After ensuring all the valves switch as required, are clear and screens/eductors are clear consider flushing out the salt tank and running several cycles back to back with no salt to flush out the system. Then blow air thought the resin filter to fluff up the bed and stop channelling. Next get a resin cleaner and use as per directions.

 

[techwrtr2]

I will also add that iron deposits will build up on all the parts after a while and clog up the whole system. I add IRON OUT (I buy it at Ace Hardware) to every load of salt I put in. Haven't had a problem since then.

I've never thought of using Iron Out in the water softener. I use it at home for removing rust stains from various items but I think when I add salt to my parent's water softener again I shall add some Iron Out (they also have high iron content).

 

[Freakingstang]

I've never thought of using Iron Out in the water softener. I use it at home for removing rust stains from various items but I think when I add salt to my parent's water softener again I shall add some Iron Out (they also have high iron content).

Mom and dad used it growing up. We had horrible water. I think it was 1/2 cup to 2-3 80lb bags. I never had a rust issue here though. I would only ever use one iron out salt to two regular bags the year I've been here. I'm gonna tear everything apart this weekend and see what's up.

 

[Pete Judd]

Wow the things you learn here. I have had a couple of green sand filters, and never thought about dumping out the sand, into buckets, adding iron out, rinsing out and refilling. Beats the heck out of buying new green sand, or the "recon" stuff.

 

[RobertBrown]

I don't know about kinetico....sounds proprietary to me.
But I have been through my units from top to bottom....completely disassembled and reassembled, rebuilt.
I did it myself with the help of these people.
Softenerparts.com
Outstanding service and support, an amazing company, with everything I needed to do the job and need to keep my system up and running,
I would contact them and do what ever they tell you to do, they will do the right thing and treat you right. The guys name is Andrew and he's probably the hardest working person I've ever done business with....seems like he's always there and ready to help.
I wouldn't consider calling anyone else....

 

[yellowfin1]

Kinetico systems are meter based not timer based when there is no water being used there will be no salt used. I am a previous Installer for this company.

 

[Freakingstang]

It is timer based, I want to upgrade to a meter because it is just me in this large house. I don't use enough water to have it regenerated ever night at 1am.

 

[Tig]

When my softener stopped using salt I found that cleaning the Venturi fixed it. It looked ok, just stained with iron. Seems a small build up was enough to mess it up.
I scrubbed it clean with a toothbrush.

 

[yellowfin1]

Things must have changed it has been 15 years since i worked for them but they were all non-electric meter based softeners that I installed. Non-electric & meter based was the big selling points for Kinetico. They are great softeners I installed one for my uncle around 18 years ago & he has never had a service call yet just puts in good quality salt & it keeps going

 

[Freakingstang]

Here are some pics of the complex water maze i have....

 

[RobertN]

The Kinetico softener portion of that system looks just like mine, except yours is shorter. My neighbor has the same shorter system.

The Kinetico part of the system has a flow meter type control on top just like my system. It's that clear cap on the left tank.

What the other stuff is, would be a guess for me. Maybe a secondary filtering system with different resin used for removing minerals or other content from the water. I have heard of those secondary systems, but have not seen them in my area. Looks like "Gordon Bros" installed the system; do the other two tanks(which appear to have electric timer) have any other descriptive markings or labels?

Maybe that "Gordon Bros" is a local company you could contact about the installation?

Here are some pics of the complex water maze i have....