Water Softener Storage

westend wrote:

So far, seems good. So, it could be something those browning-golden granules inside the unit are putting off?

No, the color of the water is not influenced by the color of the resin beads.

Well, I didn't exactly mean it was a function of the color. I meant was it a function of the whole system, which the beads are a part of.

The water is coming out nice and soft. Man, can I tell the difference. It feels like you haven't rinsed the soap off enough, but your skin and hair is super-clean after you dry.

So far, seems good. So, it could be something those browning-golden granules inside the unit are putting off?

No, the color of the water is not influenced by the color of the resin beads.

Thanks.

It only lasted for a couple seconds on back flush. I then did the whole schmeal; sanitization and regeneration, with a liberal dose of the iron removing agent.

When I hooked up the unit to my RV the next day, I ran a little water through it before hooking it up. The water looked slightly yellow for a very brief moment, then ran clear.

So far, seems good. So, it could be something those browning-golden granules inside the unit are putting off?

Could be normal, you might be seeing the mineral in the water that is removed from the resin. Do you have any metal pieces as part of the water supply? Brownish water sometimes indicates a higher level of Iron.

If you just see it in the backflush and not through the taps, I would say you're good to go.

After my last trip, about a month ago, I did a full regeneration, INCLUDING a 1/4 cup of bleach sterilization. Poured down the hose.

Following the instructions three weeks later, I did the whole process AGAIN. I'm not sure if it's really necessary, but as I drained the unit, preparing for long term storage, I thought it best to stick to the instructions.

When I first backwashed the unit, BROWNISH water came out for a couple of seconds! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! What was that?

The instructions say to first backwash, then slow wash the right way with bleach water, then do a full regeneration, which I did both times. How did I get brownish water in the unit?

I followed the instructions religiously! Is this normal?

huntram wrote:
The flo-pur guy told me to store my Mark8000 which is similar to the 'on the go' softener by putting the salt in it and the water and don't flush it until I use it. He said the brine would keep the bacteria from growing in it. When you flush it, its ready to go!
Justify a thought....

That would be convenient. Anyone know any reason why I couldn't do this with my On-The-Go?

huntram wrote:
The flo-pur guy told me to store my Mark8000 which is similar to the 'on the go' softener by putting the salt in it and the water and don't flush it until I use it. He said the brine would keep the bacteria from growing in it. When you flush it, its ready to go!
Justify a thought....

That is what he told me and that is what I did with it last summer. Just flushed it before we headed south for the winter.

The flo-pur guy told me to store my Mark8000 which is similar to the 'on the go' softener by putting the salt in it and the water and don't flush it until I use it. He said the brine would keep the bacteria from growing in it. When you flush it, its ready to go!
Justify a thought....

The test strips tell the story. Put a drop on the strip and if it shows it's soft, it's soft. If not, regenerate. Check it the following week and the following week. When it exceeds about 3 grains it's time to regenerate. We use a lot of water compared to most RVers but I still only have to regenerate every 3-4 weeks.

Rmack1 wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
If you regenerate your water softener and do not use it, you do not need to regenerate again. If you don't believe me hook up the WS and run a bit of water through it and then use one of the hardness strips to see what it reads. If it was reading soft when you stored it, it will be reading soft when you pull it out again. What could possibly cause it to show otherwise when no hard water passed through the resins?

Well, this is sort of what I thought, but the directions seemed to be based on a different evaluation.

Probably because the ion exchange from the resin is not as high after storage as it would be with a fresh regeneration. It could also be that the resin beads form a slight depositing if allowed to dry completely and regenerating removes that.

You could do an experiment and see if storing the softener tank filled with deionized water makes a regeneration cycle unneeded but it is just about as much work as doing a regeneration.