Water softener not softening...

[starion]

I have a three tank ProPak system. The first tank (closest tank in picture) used to regenerate just fine with hardness going from 13 down to 1. About 8 months ago, it stopped regenerating, going from 13 to 13, so we took it offline.

This weekend, I tore it down somewhat and made the following observations:

1. It is pulling brine.
2. It is refilling the brine tank.

The valve seems to be operating okay, but short of tearing it all apart, I'm not sure.

Is there anything else I should be looking at? It's not just partially regenerating, it's not impacting the hardness at all.

Is it possible the media has gone bad?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Rudy]

When was the last time you cleaned out your brine tank? While you'd think that it would affect all the softeners equally....that may not be the case depending on the amount and condition of the resin.

Another reason for cleaning the brine tank, is to check to make sure the base is intact.

At our wash, I noticed that the softeners were less, and less efficient over time. When we finally got around to "cleaning the brine tank", we found that the suspended base had "imploded" ..... or in other words....collapsed. The amount of room to make brine was not even a third of normal.

We replaced the masonite honeycomb support with a matrix of plastic Schedule 40 pipes cut to the proper length. This setup will last for 20 years minimum.

Rudy