Your water softener has an important job. It keeps your water soft, so you don’t have to use tons of soap and lotion to keep your skin smooth. These systems cut down on corrosion and mineral deposits. When hard water passes through the system, it interacts with the negative-charged resin beads in one tank, and then, it’s washed out with saltwater. The saltwater comes from the brine tank that you refill every now and then. Over time, you may need to clean out your water softener system. So, today, we will tell you how to clean a water softener the right way.
How To Clean A Brine Tank
Cleaning out a brine tank is a bit more involved than a resin tank, but it’s still simple to do. First, find out what kind of tank you have. Some tanks have both salt pellets and water in them. Other tanks only have salt. If the tank only has salt, you need to set the softener on bypass mode. Bypass mode allows water to bypass the water softener. Next, take all of the salt out of the tank, and scrub the inside of the tank with mild dish soap. Finally, rinse the tank out and fill it back up with salt. If you have a tank with water and salt, you need to set it on regeneration mode. This will empty the water from the brine tank into the resin tank. Then, turn off the water and do the same thing you did for the salt-only tank.
The biggest culprit when it comes to water softener maintenance is calcium and magnesium. The buildup of these two minerals is what causes erosion and blockages. Additionally, iron is a problem among water softeners. The best way to prevent extra cleanings, use a salt like this. Iron-preventing salts keep the metal out of the water and improve the efficiency of your system.
How To Clean A Resin Tank
In time, the resin beads in your water softener system become inundated with minerals. Magnesium and calcium cause heavy scaling and blockages over time. To clean the beads, you need a resin bed cleaner—like this. The cleaner will help remove these minerals from the beads and make them perform optimally again. These cleaners work by replacing the positive-charged minerals with negative-charged sodium. Follow the instructions on the cleaner and run it through the system. Generally, you will set the water softener to regeneration mode, and the sodium-rich cleaner will rinse the beads. When that’s done, the system will be able to handle more minerals and work better.
Pro tip: an indication that you need to clean out the resin or brine tank is increased regeneration cycles.
Need Help?
So, you know how to clean a water softener. It wasn’t hard! Some things are, though. We get it. Sometimes you need the help of a professional plumber. At Drain Express, we’re plumbing and drain cleaning experts. We strive to be the premier plumbing service in the Chapel Hill, NC area. Give us a call today for a consultation.