Water Softener System Maintenance is a Must

Water softeners are very low-maintenance, and most of their upkeep is done automatically when the resin is regenerated. However, there are a few actions that one must take manually to ensure that your St. Charles, IL water softener keeps doing its job throughout the year. Here are a few maintenance steps you might have to perform to keep your hard water from coming back.

Break Salt Bridges

The structure of salt crystals allows them to sometimes create a bridge across the brine tank instead of mixing in with the water below. If this happens, the bridge can be manually broken up with a rigid object such as a broom handle. Using proper salt can prevent this from happening in many cases, but a humid environment and other variables can also cause it to occur. If your water gets hard but your water softener still appears to be full of salt, you might check to see if it has formed a bridge in your tank.

Clean Resin Beads

The resin beads that attract minerals and therefore remove them from your water sometimes need to be cleaned. This already happens automatically in your water softener system, but sometimes it needs a little extra cleaning. Your water softener manual will recommend a cleaning solution and frequency, but the extra cleaning will make the beads work better throughout their lifetime.

Cleaning Sludge

Cheap salt (and sometimes allegedly good salt) leaves impurities behind that will form sludge in your brine tank. If this happens, your water softener won’t run as efficiently and must be cleaned. Additionally, the venturi valve can become clogged. Cleaning out these items is a must if you want your St. Charles, IL water softener to run its best.

Overall Check (Every few months)

Because you might not notice your water softener problem until suffering its ill effects, it is good to check your water softener every few months. Making sure it has enough salt is the primary maintenance need, but you can also check to make sure the valves aren’t clogged, and there isn’t a buildup of sludge.

Water Softener System Maintenance is a Must

If you want your water to be soft, you must maintain your water softener. Otherwise, the only way you will know if it isn’t working is when you notice the effects of hard water. This includes soap residue on your skin and in your hair. It also includes laundry that isn’t as bright and spots on dishes. More importantly, hard water damages appliances and makes them less efficient.

It is difficult to remember water softener system maintenance, which is why many people have it performed by water softener experts who come by for scheduled maintenance. This way they truly can have quality water without any extra hassle from maintenance needs.

If you’d like to have a conversation about a water softener system maintenance for your St. Charles home call us at 1-630-864-7078.