The good news is that water softeners are much easier to troubleshoot than they used to be, and while water softener repair can be challenging, with the right kind of knowledge, you can fix even the most common issues when your water softener is not working and get it back up and running in no time.

We know all about the most common issue with water softeners. With so much humidity in the air when you put too much salt in the brine tank, salt will get hard and caked together. The Water Softener unit will regenerate and wash the salt out of the bottom of the tank during cycle. The salt above the water line has gotten hard and caked together so, it will not fall to the bottom of the tank. You can kick on the bottom of tank and you will actually hear it is hollow and you will have to break up the salt and make it fall to the bottom.

Remember a lot of brine tank have a plastic plate at the bottom. It is about 6 inches from the bottom so, do not poke the broomstick to the bottom of tank or you will damage this plate. Use a broomstick or something try to break up the salt, if it is not breaking up get a pitcher of very hot water, and pour on the inside of the tank around the edges and then tap around the edges of tank. You will see it fall to the bottom. Some people give the brine tank one swift kick and they will see fall to the bottom. If you need more help there is videos on You Tube “How to break up a salt bridge”.

The Water Softener unit needs brine water “Salty Water” to wash the resin during regeneration to make the calcium let go of the resin bead so it can be washed down the drain at the water softener. So, if there is no salt at the bottom of tank to dissolve it will not have brine water, just plain water. This is because plain water does nothing to remove the calcium from the beads so, it will regenerate but the calcium will not let go of the beads. When it finishes regenerating the water starts to pass by the beads but have no place to stick to the beads because they are full of calcium so, the calcium comes into the house and you have hard water.

If you find a salt bridge, break it up then you need to do a manual regeneration cycle. Bur remember it takes salty water brine water. The salt and water need to sit for a while about 4 hours, it will regenerate the cold water will be soft. If you had hard water for a few days the hot water will take a few days.

If you find no salt bridge you will need to have your system looked at. Simple Water Softeners repairs many brands just give us a call (210) 960-2555 we will see if we can help you out.