If your water softener isn’t working properly, it can seem like a daunting ordeal to get it running right again. Water softeners seem complicated on the outside, but they operate on a few basic principles. Most softener malfunctions are because of simple problems, which are accompanied by simple fixes.

Here are some of the most common:

Cleaning the brine tank

Also known as the salt tank, care needs to be taken to make sure a hard dome or crust doesn’t form inside. A salt dome can result from adding too much salt to the tank or adding it too frequently. A salt dome makes it look like your tank has salt in it, but there is a large air pocket underneath the thin layer of salt. The best thing to do in this situation is to break up the salt with a broomstick and dispose of it. Vacuum up any remaining sediment, clean the tank with soap and water, and rinse it out before refilling.

Cleaning an iron-fouled resin bed

If your water supply contains high levels of iron, it will eventually foul the resin bed that removes the hard water particles and replaces them with sodium. Refreshing the resin bed is easy, as it just requires running a product called Iron-Out through the system. The directions will have you add the Iron-Out to the brine tank, then run the softener through a regeneration cycle to purge the wastewater from the system.

Cleaning the resin tank injector

Occasionally, the injector for the resin tank can become clogged by sediment from dirty salt. To clean it, engage your softener’s bypass valve to shut off the water supply. Next, relieve the pressure in the system by running the softener through a regeneration cycle. Remove the caps on both sides of the softener head and thoroughly clean the injector before reassembling.

August is National Water Quality Month, so it is the perfect time to make sure your water softener system is up to par.

Domer’s has been in business in the Okeechobee area for nearly a century, and our knowledge of water softeners and water treatment system maintenance is unmatched. For questions about our water treatment system services, call us today at 1-800-486-5542.