Our water softener is not softening the water. Several months ago, we dug a new well, and when the new well was chlorinated, the plumbers bypassed our softener, as they should have. We forgot it was bypassed, and added far too much salt to our bin, always thinking it was used up because the water wasn't salty. We finally unbypassed the machine, and when we looked carefully into the bin, we realized it is almost solid salt about 5/6 of the way up the water level. Will removing most of the salt help the unit function again? What is keeping it from working? I know this sounds stupid, but I have little understanding of the mechanics of the machine, and why too much salt would keep it from working. Thanks for any info. [This message has been edited by Judy (edited June 07, 2000).]

HElp Please!!!! I recently embarked on an expensive plumbing adventure. We recently bought an older house and the hot water pipes were so corroded, as was the cold water pipe leading to the water heater, that we had almost no hot water pressure. We replaced the old corroded 1/2 inch galvanized hot water pipe and installed 3/4 inch copper throughout. We also replaced the corroded 1/2 inch galv. cold water pipe leading to the water heater with 1/2 copper. We then had great water pressure, but the hot water only lasted for 5 minutes of the first shower the next day. After checking the dib tube and the burner (both seemed fine) we decided we the only other option was a new water heater (ours was 10 years old, so we figured it was probably full of sedement). We installed a new 40 gallon gas water heater last night and the problem is still the same today!!!!! My wife suffers from very bad arthritis so a hot shower (that lasts for more than five minutes) is essential. This problem seems to defy all logic. HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!