Water Softener Neglected

[veidtmeister]

Ok, Im going to come clean...we moved into a house, and I totally just ignored the water softener, and like never cleaned it, serviced it or nothin....

Now Ive had a "come to jesus", and I want to make sure its "ok"...haha...

I filled it with salt, and yes....it comes on and runs for about 45 min at 2 AM.
But I havent had to refill it with salt in what seems like forever?

How long is the salt supposed to last? I read somewhere, that you had to service them monthly? But its not using hardly any salt, so I dont know if its actually working?
So...I figure I'll go down, and see if theres a test kit. Bought the cheapo test kit at like Home Depot (the one with the little test strips), and tested the water out of the kitchen faucet.
Where we live, they recommend a setting of like 25 on your softener, so we have pretty hard water...right?
Anyway, when I used the test kit, it said the water was "ideal"....but there were only like four ratings...."soft", "ideal", "hard", and "very hard".....

Guess I shouldnt complain, ideal is ideal....right? ALthough I would think that it should be "soft" since its been treated...??

Anywho, I need to clean the bejesus out of it, but I wanted to find out if there is a way to determine if its working before I clean out something thats broken and just have to be replaced....

read that the venturi (sp) valve is a common problem, so maybe look at that?
I mean, if it comes on and runs, that would be the most likely problem, if its not softening the water...I assume.

Anyway...HELP! Im a TARD!

[Chris]

If it aint broke don't fix it. OK I really don't know much about these units since I have good water but hopefully someone else will chime in and know for sure.

[speedbump]

Venturi's do plug, especially if you have iron. They are not valves though. The nozzle/venturi are what pull the salt brine from the salt tank into the softener during backwash. That is probably your problem. The trouble is, most softeners don't put the name of the backwash head that is on your system so we can't tell you where the nozzle/venturi is.

[veidtmeister]

Originally Posted by veidtmeister

Bought the cheapo test kit at like Home Depot (the one with the little test strips), and tested the water out of the kitchen faucet.
Where we live, they recommend a setting of like 25 on your softener, so we have pretty hard water...right?
Anyway, when I used the test kit, it said the water was "ideal"....but there were only like four ratings...."soft", "ideal", "hard", and "very hard".....

Guess I shouldnt complain, ideal is ideal....right? ALthough I would think that it should be "soft" since its been treated...??

Originally Posted by speedbump

Venturi's do plug, especially if you have iron. They are not valves though. The nozzle/venturi are what pull the salt brine from the salt tank into the softener during backwash. That is probably your problem. The trouble is, most softeners don't put the name of the backwash head that is on your system so we can't tell you where the nozzle/venturi is.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Chris

If it aint broke don't fix it.

Right!??

Thats kinda where I am right now....Might try to get a more accurate test kit...., but I guess I shouldnt go looking for trouble.....Damn thing will stop working at some point, and I'll have to replace it...
Thanks for your responses...its appreciated.