While a water softener can offer many benefits to both you and your home, it’s important to properly set it up and ensure that settings are kept in check over time.
While many technical problems such as clogs and worn out resin beads can also hamper a water softener’s efficiency, let’s talk about something that often gets overlooked: The actual settings on the water softener itself.
Modern automated water softeners are generally intuitive and easy to operate with many automated settings to help the unit function without much fuss on your part.
But if the settings aren’t correct to start with, they can hamper success and at the extreme, can result in you not even getting softened water at all while still using up salt and making you believe things are working just fine, something I experienced myself recently in a brand new home.
Here are 5 common problems with water softener settings that you should be aware of so you can address them early to ensure proper functioning.
1. Low setting on hard water intake
A modern water softener enables you to tell the system how hard the water is in your local area. The harder the water, the more minerals like magnesium and calcium need to be removed in order to soften the water. Some systems enable you to either use a zip or postal code to find the local water hardness and/or input the hardness of local water yourself.
By having an accurate hard water reading, you let the system know how much work it has to do to properly remove the level of minerals found in your local water supply. Water hardness can differ from one city or region to another so the more accurate your reading the better your system will perform.
If your water is not soft enough even with a water softener running, you should double check your water hardness with a water test to confirm the hardness of your water, if you can’t find a definitive answer online. A local water store or your water authority themselves may offer a free test or might even tell you what your local water hardness is. Then you can confirm that the hardness setting on your softener is set correctly.
In my experience, my new water softener wasn’t performing as well as desired and several quick water strip tests showed that the final water result was still hard even with the softener running regularly. It turns out the water hardness setting was too low so I adjusted it correctly and the desired softness of the water was achieved.
2. Low setting on salt
There are a few things to talk about here. First off, always make sure you fill the salt container in your water softener and keep it full but don’t overfill it. If you let the salt container run out, you will no longer produce soft water even though the system will continue operating.
You may also be able to set the salt setting on your machine which determines how much salt is used during each regeneration. The higher the salt setting, the more minerals will be removed from your water and the softer your water in the end.
If you do a salt test and notice that the water is not as soft as you’d like, you might adjust the salt setting to start with. Your higher end water softener might not enable you to increase or decrease the salt dosage but instead enables you to adjust the water hardness setting and desired soft water settings instead.
Check your owner’s manual and look for the salt setting or perhaps wording about “grains per gallon” or “grains per liter” to learn more.
3. Incorrect regeneration time setting
Your water softener can be set to regenerate at a certain time of the day. Keep in mind that when the system is regenerating, soft water won’t be available as the system drains and refills with softened water. So if you’re having a shower or otherwise using water while the system is regenerating, you most likely won’t be consuming softened water.
So what should you do?
The best time to regenerate is typically in the middle of the night when people in the household are in bed and thus not using water. In that regard the default regeneration is often 2am or thereabouts. You can adjust the time to suit you but regenerating at a time when water is not being used is your best bet.
Some higher end softeners don’t require a timer as they monitor how much softened water is available and trigger the regeneration when the level drops to 0 or close to it.
Your water softener may also allow you to adjust the actual time that each regeneration takes. Again, check your owner’s manual to learn more about the default time that is suggested. If the time set is too low you might not produce enough softened water each time.
4. Incorrect regeneration cycle frequency setting
The more frequently the regeneration cycle, the more softened water you will produce. The more water your household uses, the more softened water you will need. If your water gets hard in between regenerations you may need to increase the frequency.
Having said that, modern water softener can measure the amount of softened water remaining and when it runs out, will automatically start up the regeneration cycle to replenish it. If you don’t have this feature, you should keep an eye on the setting you currently have to ensure it’s enough. Depending on how much softened water you need, the system might regenerate anywhere from 1 – 7 times per week.
If you’d prefer a water softener that is relatively turn key and very automated, look for a model that offers this feature.
5. Incorrect water supply settings
Some modern automated water softeners have a setting(s) that can help to protect against a flood in your basement. If the machine pumps to the water limit during a regeneration, it may shut the water supply off as it is a potential sign of a leak or flood in your home.
By setting a limit on the amount of water it can protect against your basement being flooded but if the water limit is set too low, you might shut the water supply off during the middle of a regeneration.
Check your owner manual to see what the recommended setting is and compare it to the setting currently showing on your water softener.
How is soft and hard water defined?
Water softness and hardness is measured in milligrams per liter of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. In general terms, the definitions of soft and hard water is as follows:
Soft water: 0 to 60 mg/L
Moderately hard water: 61 to 120 mg/L
Hard water: 121 to 180 mg/L as hard
Very hard water: More than 180 mg/L
Water naturally has certain minerals in it such as calcium and magnesium. A high level of these minerals is said to make the water hard which is not desirable to your skin and hair nor is it good for your pipes, faucets and other aspects of plumbing within your home.
If you notice water stains on faucets, stains and streaks on glasses and cutlery after taking them out of the dishwasher, these are symptoms of hardened water. Dry skin and hair after showering is another clue.
Some water supplies have higher levels of these minerals than others which is where a water softener comes in handy. By adding liquid salt (brine) to the water supply it removes these minerals to produce softened water which is easier on your body and on water-using appliances within your home.
What kind of water softener do you have?
If you have an older style model with little to no automation, the settings you have access to might not be available.
The first two water softeners I had were just that: They were the same style model with a manual rotary timer and no digital display of any kind. Basically I could set the regeneration time and frequency and that was about it.
Modern models offer so much more. Higher end water softeners have so many options that were not available on the models I had earlier in life. Common functions that are offered on newer water softeners are:
- Setting the hardness of the water that you have.
- Setting the desired output for how soft you want the water.
- Deciding when and how frequently the regeneration takes place.
- Safety features to shut water supply off when a certain level of water has been processed.
- Water leak functionality to shut off water supply when a leak is detected to prevent a flood.
- Holiday mode to shut the system down when you go on holiday.
- Cleaning mode to clean the system out every 6 months or on another schedule.
- Rinse mode to rinse the system if the water softener hasn’t been used for a period of time.
Modern water softeners are almost fully automated and other than manually adding salt, pretty much do everything else on a schedule for you.
Click here to learn more about the costs of a water softener and to see if one makes sense for you.