With more than 30 years’ experience in the residential and commercial water treatment space, Mark Nelson is a Class 1 Drinking-Water Operator and a CBWA (Canadian Bottled Water Association) Certified Plant Operator. As founder and president of Nelson Water in Ottawa, Mark focuses on dealing with challenging water treatment system designs for problem water. He also heads the largest water bottling plant in the city of Ottawa with a delivery network throughout the Valley.

The short answer to this question is that annual water softening is the best way to maintain the system at optimal efficiency. Many people forget about their water softeners because they are kept out of sight, and the maintenance requirements are low. Although it is necessary to add water softening salt, most people don’t take any further steps. This is a flawed strategy, and it makes more sense to adopt a proactive approach. Water softening systems represent a significant investment, and they are complex. In this article, we will take a closer look at the benefits of water softening maintenance.

4 Reasons to Schedule Annual Water Softener Maintenance

There are four main reasons why you should consider scheduling water softener maintenance for your system:

1.   Settings Optimization

The regeneration cycle is important, and without it, the ion-exchange process will become less efficient, and eventually, it will fail entirely. The control valve has settings that determine when the regeneration cycles will take place. The latest systems have a demand-initiated system that will trigger the regeneration cycle automatically, and settings adjustments are rarely needed. But, if you have an older system that uses a timer-initiated system, things can become complicated when changes occur in the home. Two prime examples would be: a child going to college or an elderly relative moving into the home. When changes like these occur, the volume of water used will alter, and this can make the regeneration cycle less efficient. A water treatment specialist can optimize the settings for you to prevent water waste.

2.   Cleaning

During annual maintenance, your local water treatment professional can clean the brine tank and recharge the resin media beads for you. Cleaning is a difficult task, but it’s essential to have clean equipment, or the efficiency is degraded. If there is salt bridging in the brine tank, this will reduce the quantity of water softening salt that can reach the resin tank. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to sanitize the entire system to bring it back to optimal performance and efficiency.

3.   Essential Maintenance

Most complex appliances require a certain amount of maintenance to work as intended. A water softener is no exception; there are components in the system that will degrade gradually, and eventually, they will fail entirely. The system has o-rings that can become compromised and moving parts that may need to be checked and replaced as required. A key component in the system is the control valve that is programmed to initiate the regeneration cycle. If this part is not working as intended, you may waste a large volume of water which can really drive up the water bills. A water softener represents a significant investment, and it makes good financial sense to protect it against damage. Soft water also has other benefits that can save you money because less soap and detergent are required and water using appliances can operate at lower temperatures. But, hard water also causes an accumulation of scale inside these appliances, and this will lead to more frequent repairs and an earlier than expected replacement. So, when you invest in essential maintenance for your water softener, you’re protecting other systems in your home too.

4.   Water Testing

This may seem strange, but the makeup of your water can change a lot in a single year. You may believe that this would be restricted to private wells, but this is not the case, and municipal water supplies can change too. Your local water treatment professional can carry out water testing to check if the constituents have changed during the last year. The results of this water testing can help you to make informed decisions about your water treatment systems. It may be necessary to install a pre-filter or other filtration system in series with the water softener to maintain or improve the water quality. Private well water users may have degraded water due to local agricultural activity, storm runoff, and herbicides or fuel contaminants that can seep into the groundwater supplies. So, annual water testing is important to ensure that your water softener is working as intended.

Warning Signs

If you’ve neglected the annual maintenance requirements of your water softener, there are some warning signs to consider. The most obvious problem is that the system is not softening water, which may have a simple fix. The regeneration cycle may be ineffective if there isn’t sufficient water softener salt to create the brine solution. During regular operations, this brine is needed to flush the resin media beads clean and to create a negative charge on the media. This attracts the positively charged mineral ions, and these ions are exchanged for the salt (sodium or potassium) ions. Adding more salt to the brine tank can fix this problem and restore normal operation.

If you are adding salt to the brine tank regularly and the water is still hard, the problem may be salt bridging or mushing. Inside the brine tank, there may be a buildup of salt that prevents new salt from reaching the water. This material can be broken up with a long blunt object such as a broom handle. Salt mushing is a slurry of salt that has accumulated at the bottom of the brine tank, and this degrades the performance. To get rid of salt mushing, contact your local water treatment professional, and they can drain and sanitize the brine tank for you.

Another common problem is contaminants that can damage the resin media. This could be suspended particles or sediment that should be captured by a pre-filter. Higher concentrations of chlorine or chloramine (chlorine mixed with ammonia) can also damage the resin media bed. The water treatment plant adds more chlorine to boost the efficacy of the disinfection treatment to the outer areas of the water delivery network. If you live closer to the plant, you may be receiving water that has a much higher concentration of chlorine or chloramine.

Contact your local water treatment specialist to maintain performance and boost the efficiency of your water softener.