MORE WATER SOFTENERS AND WATER FILTERS

A variety of water softeners and water filters of all kinds to include a refrigerator filter

REFRIGERATOR WATER FILTERS

Below is a huge selection of refrigerator water filters. You cannot always find water filters for your refrigerator in the big box stores, but if you search you can find all the refrigerator water filters you will ever need for your refrigerator. You will also find water filters that not only go inside your refrigerator but you will find water filters that go outside in the back of your refrigerator.

My Water Softener Keeps Running Water to The Drain

Let's say you live in the city and you get your water bill and it is much higher than normal. You think to yourself that we are in winter months and people tend to use less water in the winter months than during any other time of the year. Where is the water going? Why can't I see it in my yard or anywhere else for that reason. What the heck is going on?
So the wife goes into the garage to do laundry and notices the sound of running water and thinks to herself that is odd, why is there water running in the garage? She looks around and sees nothing, she looks in the washer and nothing, she even looks by the hot water heater and still finds nothing but as she walks by the water softener she thinks she hears water there. I don't see any water running but I can barely hear it she says to herself. So she calls you out and you take a look at it and then you pull the little hose out of the pipe in the back of the water softener and baaammm you see water running from the hose into the pipe. So you ask yourself why it is doing that. The water softener is in the service position and there is salt in the salt tank so what is going on.
So you get online and find this blog that tells you what the problem may be. The first thing you want to ask yourself is; did someone do some plumbing before the water softener? The reason you ask this is because sometimes when work is done to the water line before the water softener either PVC glue or some other object has gotten in the piston or rotor disc area and water is bypassing the system because of the PVC glue or other object like solder or plumbers tape. So what do you do know? You can be a DIY and go online and find a video that shows you how to take out the piston, seals and spacers on your fleck or clack valve or how to remove the rotor disc on the sears, kenmore, whirlpool type water softeners.
So let's say you are not a DIY then you call your water softener service man (it is better to call someone who knows how to work on a water softener rather than a plumber who does not know what he is doing on a water softener)and he arrives and takes apart your water softener valve and finds the object in the piston, seals and spacers. He has to replace the seal kit and offers to replace the piston as well. The reason to replace the seal kit is because the rubber seals often tear and that is where the water bypasses. You may need to replace the piston especially if it is a Fleck 5600 or 2500 valve is because the piston is made of brass and has a teflon coating and sometimes the coating comes off or is rubbed off and water will bypass and go to drain as well. So you pay your service man his fee and no more problems. However as you watched him you noticed that you could have done that yourself so for the next time you take down this web address for water softener parts http://lowcostwatersofteners.com/products-page/ 
and click on any item and it will take you to the parts page for you to buy the correct part for your water softener. 
The next time you will be ready and after you subscribe to this blog you will get updates on blogs or if you go to http://www.lowcostwatersofteners.com and fill out the form you will get all the updates on blogs and equipment so you will be the informed guy who all he neighbors come to for help.

Water Softener and Filter Products

Thank you for stopping by. Below you will find various types of water softeners and filters. To see more products click the arrows at the bottom where is says shop now and you will have access to an array of water softener and filter products. Thank you and have a great day

You Need a New Water Softener

I was called to a ladies home to check her water softener and when I showed up I saw a plumbing company's truck parked across the street and thought nothing of it.  I knocked on the door and the lady came to the door and said the water softener is around the side and asked if I could check it out.  So I went around the side and checked it out and found nothing to be wrong with it. 

I went back to the door and knocked and she answered and told me to wait until she was done with the plumber, so I replied sure and went and sat in my truck.  I saw the plumber leave and as he did he made note of the company information on the side of my door.  So he went and sat in his truck and sat there doing paper work I guess.

I went and knocked again, the lady answered and had me come inside she directed me to the kitchen and when I got there I tested the water and checked her reverse osmosis system.  Her water was soft and the water that came from her reverse osmosis system had tested to be well above 85% pure water.  (You test RO water with a TDS meter by getting before and after results and then using a formula which will give you the results you need to determine if the reverse osmosis membrane needs to be replaced)  I tested the water and as I said above that is was good.

So she asked me the results and I told her that the water softener was doing okay and softening the water like it should, I pointed out that the reverse osmosis system was doing its job and that she was okay on both pieces of equipment and that all was good.

She said well tell me what you think of this, she pointed out an estimate from the plumber that said
"I pushed the button and the water softener did not work"  Well of course it is not going to work if you press the wrong button, then the estimate said that to replace that water softener it would cost over $4,000.00.  That is not to mention that this particular water softener had a lifetime warranty on the tank, PC board and media.  I even called the vendor for this particular piece of equipment and verified with them that this particular customer still had the warranty and sure enough they did.

The purpose of this post is that if you are told by someone that you need a new water softener, I would suggest that you get a second opinion or maybe even a third.  Have each technician to write down their findings and then compare.  If one is way of from the other one or two then you have your consistency and you may save a lot of money and or have spent very little to get a correct opinion.

My Water Softener Made my Coffee Taste Salty

Can you just imagine, you get up in the morning and start to get your coffee maker set up to start brewing your favorite coffee.  You throw away yesterdays filter, you pour out the unused coffee still in the pot, you rinse it out and from the tap you fill it to that level that makes perfect coffee every time, you get out a filter and put in just the right amount of coffee.  You push the brew button and go hop in the shower and get ready for work.  You return to the kitchen dressed and ready to grab that great tasting cup of coffee, you grab your favorite cup and pour that fresh coffee into the cup and take a sip of nice hot coffee when all of a sudden your taste buds discover a new taste of coffee and spin out of control and you spew that mouth full of coffee into the kitchen sink.

That cup of coffee tasted like salt and has ruined the entire day because you really needed that cup of coffee on that particular morning, actually you need your coffee every morning.  So not only did the day start off wrong but now you know that when you return home you want to figure out why your water tasted like salt

Perhaps this is the solution to the problem;
When the water softener regenerates it takes in all the salt water that is in the salt tank as you know, but what you probably didn't know was that if someone gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom while the water softener is drawing the salt water into the water softener tank as you flush the toilet you will bring salt water into the water lines, then you flush again in the morning bringing it even closer to the house or even the toilet.  Then when you rinse out the coffee from yesterdays pot you get salt water into the coffee pot and thus have salty water.  The way you will know if this happened is to go look at your water softener and if it indicates that the water softener regenerated the evening then you know that was the problem.  You will be able to tell if it is a Fleck water softener valve because the white arrow in the upper right side of the valve face on the little transparent dial will be 11 o'clock position under the words "Gallons to Regen"

Or perhaps this is the problem;
Over the past months you have had power outages and when you come home from work or get up in the morning you adjust the flashing clocks throughout the house to set the right time but because the water softener is in the garage or well house it is forgotten and life goes on until that special morning that salt and time collide.  What has happened is that the timer on the water softener has gotten out of time and you begin to draw water into the house in the morning when you use the bathroom and then run the water to wash out yesterdays coffee while at the same time the water softener is in the brine cycle drawing salt water into the water softener to clean the media and salt water is also drawn into the house water lines.

How to remedy the problems;
You can get yourself a Reverse Osmosis System which has its own faucet and gives you bottled water quality water at the sink and avoid the chance of getting up and using the bathroom at the same time as the water softener is drawing in the brine water not to mention having great tasting water for your coffee.
The other way to avoid this is to periodically check your water softener to see that the time is correct and a good time to do that is when you add salt.

There are water softener valves that have small batteries in them to keep the time for situations like these but not very many.  As far as I know the only one that does have one is a Clack valve and I really don't recall that the others have a battery for just such the occasion. 

So if you get salty water don't get mad at your water softener or water softener service man just check your timer on the water softener or follow the instructions above and you'll have your answer.  If what was described here does not match your scenario then perhaps you may want to call your water softener service man.

What is The Best Kind Of Water Softener Salt

When I had my water softener company many of my customers would ask what kind of salt should they use.  I always responded with what I used as a water softener service company which was the most inexpensive water softener salt.

What I should mention first perhaps is what kind of water softener salt should you not use, though it is not even water softener salt but swimming pool salt for the salt water pools.  It is a very granular almost like what you may serve at the table and to my knowledge and experience it does not work as I found it in a salt tank (brine tank) at a home and ended up dumping it out.  Though thinking about it now perhaps it can be used since it is salt but it really isn't designed to be used for water softeners.  Another type of salt I found at a home which is okay to use however you may spend hundreds of dollars more is rock salt.  It is okay to use but it comes in such small boxes you would have to fill your basket and who knows how much that salt would cost.

I have always used the most inexpensive water softener salt since for the most part it really doesn't make a difference.  Though let's say you used the tablet or pellet form and you had problems with it making a salt bridge then perhaps you may want to switch to the granular type which is usually found in the blue bag instead of the yellow bag.

There are cleaner forms of water softener salts on the market.  The Morton's salt is one of the cleanest I have seen.  If you pour it side by side you can see the difference and it comes in a pellet form.  Some people like this kind because after a year or so the water in the brine tank begins to look pretty yucky and at the bottom of the salt tank you can find lots of dirt and other nasty stuff there.  It is not found to be unsanitary but it may be a good idea to allow your salt to run out and then disconnect the small tube and clean out the brine tank, I do know once you do you will feel good about it.

The green bag of salt?  The one with the form of hydrochloric acid that helps clean the beads if you have iron.  The regular salt will work fine though I have never done a test to see which is better.  I do know the non green bag is cheaper than the green bag.  There is a product called Resup that can be bought online or your local water softener service company may have it, you will need to put it in a dispenser and you will want to get the 1/2 oz per day dispenser which is the one with the yellow wick.  The 1 oz per day will put more than enough Resup in the tank.  Resup is a food grade hydrochloric acid that does a great job at cleaning the beads for the cost.  If you find that your water is blue particularly in your toilet after purchasing this product it is likely that you used the toilet the same time the water softener was regenerating and thus got it in the lines.  If you run the water for a moment it will clear up and all will be well.

Potassium?  You may use this product though it is almost 5 times as expensive as salt and does a great job but the price really is not worth it.  It is mainly used for people who are environmentally conscious.  It is environmentally friendly and does not damage the vegetation that salt may destroy.

All in all the best water softener salt for you is the one that cleans like it needs to, fits your budget and does not keep creating salt bridges. https://www.facebook.com/Low-Cost-Water-Softeners-1490645221225279/