A water softener novice seeks help!

jezza574

Hi all

We've just moved into a new home and found it has a built-in water softener and neither of us have used one before.

It's a Genus Genesis SD500 and unfortunately it doesn't have a manual and I can't track one down online. We've worked out that it takes granular salt and was full when we moved in a couple of weeks ago.

The level is now dropping so we are going to head out to get some salt but have also noticed that there is a small amount of water (or is it brine)...maybe a few cms...lying on top of the remaining salt.

Is this normal? Do we need to do something about it before refilling?

All help much appreciated!

Canucklehead

jezza574 wrote: »

Hi all

We've just moved into a new home and found it has a built-in water softener and neither of us have used one before.

It's a Genus Genesis SD500 and unfortunately it doesn't have a manual and I can't track one down online. We've worked out that it takes granular salt and was full when we moved in a couple of weeks ago.

The level is now dropping so we are going to head out to get some salt but have also noticed that there is a small amount of water (or is it brine)...maybe a few cms...lying on top of the remaining salt.

Is this normal? Do we need to do something about it before refilling?

All help much appreciated!

Hi: call Genus and request a manual for your water softener.

Canucklehead

macman

That sounds quite normal, the water flows in and disssolves the salt from the base.

Avoriaz

jezza574 wrote: »

..The level is now dropping so we are going to head out to get some salt but have also noticed that there is a small amount of water (or is it brine)...maybe a few cms...lying on top of the remaining salt.

Is this normal? Do we need to do something about it before refilling...

That is not only normal, it is essential for the softener to function correctly.

A water softener operates by passing the incoming mains water through resin beads (in a usually cylindrical vessel) and exchanging sodium ions for the calcium and magnesium ions that cause water hardness. At intervals the softener will flush the resin beads with brine (salty water) to flush out the accumulated calcium and magnesium ions and replace them with more sodium ions. (a somewhat simplified explanation)

The sodium ions are derived from the salt (sodium chloride) you add to the tank. Water is added to this salt to make the brine. Your softener will have a float mechanism to maintain the water/brine at the correct level.

You need to do little more than add salt when required.

Get a manual and follow the fairly simple instructions.

Some people are sensitive to excessive sodium. It is perhaps advisable to limit the consumption of softened water by babies in milk formulae etc. Do you have a drinking and cooking water tap at the kitchen sink that bypasses the softener?

jezza574

Thanks all.

Will give Genus a call and hopefully they are still in business and can give me a manual!

I guess my concern at this point was should I be topping up with salt seemingly on top of the brine layer that has formed on top of the existing pile of salt or did I need to break it down?

@Avoriaz yes, fortunately there is a seperate tap to bypass the softener for drinking water etc.

Avoriaz

Just add salt on top of the existing salt and brine. The salt will sort itself out and slowly settle to the bottom of the tank.

Buy and use salt specifically for softeners. Don’t use the far cheaper road salt etc as it has contaminants that will wreck your softener.

I used to buy 25kg sacks at about £6 to £7 or so per sack but that price is now old as our current house doesn’t have a softener yet.

If you have storage space you can probably buy 10 sacks at a time delivered for well under £10 per sack.

Buying smaller quantities or smaller sacks is usually a lot more expensive.

Keep the softener well topped up with salt and try to avoid it running out completely. That won’t do any harm but you will get hard water for a while until you add more salt.

Kipperbang

Avoriaz wrote: »

Some people are sensitive to excessive sodium. It is perhaps advisable to limit the consumption of softened water by babies in milk formulae etc. Do you have a drinking and cooking water tap at the kitchen sink that bypasses the softener?

This is a bit of a red herring. Certainly don't use softened water for baby feed, but adults can drink it quite safely. The amount of sodium in softened water is about one third of the legal limit of sodium allowed in fresh milk.