Routine Maintenance
ADDING SALT
Lift the salt hole cover and check the salt storage level frequently. If the water softener uses all the salt before you refill it, you will experience hard water. Until you have established a refilling routine, check the salt every two or three weeks. Always add if less than 1/4 full. Be sure the brinewell cover is on.
NOTE: If using potassium chloride (KCl), do not fill above level 4 on the brinewell decal.
NOTE: In humid areas, it is best to keep the salt stor- age level lower, and to refill more often to avoid salt “bridging”.
Recommended Salt: Nugget, pellet or coarse solar salts with less than 1% impurities.
Salt Not Recommended: Rock salt, high in impurities, block, granulated, table, ice melting, ice cream making salts, etc.
BREAKING A SALT BRIDGE
Sometimes, a hard crust or salt “bridge” forms in the brine tank. It is usually caused by high humidity or the wrong kind of salt. When the salt “bridges,” an empty space forms between the water and the salt. Then, salt will not dissolve in the water to make brine. Without brine, the resin bed is not recharged and hard water will result.
If the storage tank is full of salt, it is difficult to tell if you have a salt bridge. A bridge may be underneath loose salt. Take a broom handle, or like tool, and hold it next to the water softener. Measure the distance from the floor to the rim of the water softener. Then, gently push the broom handle straight down into the salt. If a hard object is felt before the pencil mark is even with the top, it is most likely a salt bridge. Gently push into the bridge in several places to break it. Do not use any sharp or pointed objects as you may puncture the brine tank. Do not try to break the salt bridge by pounding on the outside of the salt tank. You may damage the tank.
Push Tool into |
Salt Bridge to |
Break |
1” - 2” |
Pencil | Salt | |
Salt | ||
Mark | ||
Bridge | ||
| ||
Broom | Water | |
Handle | Level |
FIG. 79
CLEANING THE NOZZLE & VENTURI
A clean nozzle & venturi (See Figure 80) is a necessity for the water softener to work properly. This small component creates the suction to move brine from the brine tank, into the resin tank. If it should become plugged with sand, silt, dirt, etc., the water softener will not work, and hard water will result.
Cap |
| |
| ||
Screen Support |
| |
Screen | *Flow Plug | |
Nozzle & Venturi Disc | ||
Cone Screen | ||
Gasket | ||
*Flow Plug (HVDC) |
| |
Housing |
|
*Install with lettered side up, concave
side down.
IMPORTANT: Be sure small hole in the gasket is cen- tered directly over the small hole in the nozzle & ven- turi housing. Be sure the numbers are facing up
FIG. 80
To get access to the nozzle & venturi, remove the water softener’s top cover. Put the bypass valve(s) into the bypass position. Be sure the water softener is in soft water (service) cycle (no water pressure at noz- zle & venturi). Then, holding the nozzle & venturi housing with one hand, unscrew the cap. Do not lose the
Gently replace all parts in the correct order. Lubricate the
Recharge the softener to reduce water level in the tank. This will also assure that the softener is com- pletely recharged and ready to provide softened water again. Check the water level in the tank by looking down the brinewell. If the water level does not drop after a recharge, the problem has not been resolved. Call
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