Scale Deposits building up after Water Softener Fitted

[b17flyboy]

I fitted a water softener directly after the stop cock in my house around 2 years ago. We live in a very hard water area and this has made a huge difference to the water and to the scale deposits.

However, we still get slight scale-like build up in sinks around the plug hole, albeit at a much much slower rate than before the softener was fitted.

When I fitted the softener I did two tap water test before fitting (on different days) to establish exactly what the level of the water hardness was and used these readings to carefully set the water softener appropriately for the right amount of softening (if that's the correct terminology?).

1.) Do you think I should tell the softener our source water is a little harder than it is so as to increase the softening rate?

2.) Would this completely cure the slow build up of scale, or is this something which is inevitable even with a softener installed?

3.) If I did adjust the settings on the softener would this increase the rate of salt consumption?

Very grateful for anybody's advice or experiences in this area!

[Andy Christensen, CWS]

Look at the 'scale build up' again. Wipe it with a moist towel, if it wipes away easily, it is sodium or salt. It it remains or is hard to wipe off, it is calcium, which means your softener is letting you down or it is designed poorly or set up incorrectly.

A softener can easily be set up incorrectly. The size not matching the water quality, the regeneration time not corresponding with gallons used, the resins exhausted, salt settings in correct, and on and on.

Many water softeners are designed to actually allow hard water to come through during normal use. This may ne period but even occasional hardness can show up on plumbing fixture, flatware and other water contact points.

You could set the softener to regen more often.

Scale build up should not happen if your softener is properly designed and set up.

Can you tell us what softener you have? Size? age? timer or demand? Single tank or twin tank?

What are water test results? it is too difficult to give clear advice without more knowledge.

Andy Christensen, CWS
_________________
Take of your water and your water will take care of you.

[Agile]

Generally speaking the efficiency of the lime removal will decrease rapidly as the resin reaches the point when it needs regeneration.

This is not time related but water flow related. If you have a water meter you can see the flow consumption but otherwise it may be difficult to estimate.

This all depends on whether the regeneration is on a manual, time basis or after a certain flow has passed.

Ideally you should measure the hardness of the output shortly before regeneration is due to occur. As stated above it may be necessary to regenerate more often. This will use more salt.

Tony