by the Professional Power Tool Guide Crew
Many people opt to install water softeners in their homes to combat hard water. Hard water is water that contains large amounts of minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium. These two minerals can build up over time and cause damage to appliances such as dishwashers. Also, hard water makes it more difficult for soap to lather properly. In the end, this means more bills for you because it takes more soap to do the same size job.
Water softeners are appliances that convert “hard” water to “soft” water, usually by running the water through a sodium chloride solution that pulls all or most of the minerals out of the water. Maintaining a water softener is not difficult work. For the most part, the devices are very reliable and don’t really require a lot of maintenance. However, even the best softener needs work from time to time and this article will tell you how to keep things running smoothly.
Maintaining a water softener is pretty straightforward for devices that use a filter or screen. Sometimes, salt and other materials build up on the screen over time. When that happens, simply turn off the bypass switch (and maybe the entire system), remove the screen, wash with soap and water and replace. That’s it. On a quick side note, sometimes the nozzle is the problem. These are more difficult to clean with soap and water, so you need to keep something on hand that is small enough to do the job, like a needle or paper clip. For water softener’s that use tanks, the process is equally as simple. All you need to do is open the tank and look for any mineral deposits. If any are present, grab your vacuum cleaner and suck them away. Wash the tank with soap and water and move on to your next task.
Maintaining a water softener becomes slightly more complex when the buildup of minerals contains iron or similar metals. In those cases, a vacuum cleaner and simple wash will not suffice. You will need to invest some money into a chemical that is designed to handle iron removal. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time. If at any time you are lost or confused in the maintenance process, then don’t try to just muscle your way through. Check your owner’s manual for detailed instructions or call a professional who is qualified to perform checks and repair. Water softener systems are far too expensive to use the guess and check method.
