We have a Kenmore Water softener (Model # 625.348832) that we let run out of salt. It is now 1/2 full of water. We added salt & ran a regeneration cycle, but only managed to raise that water level. Any ideas?? Thanks in advance!

 

Are you saying that it is not softening the water now or that the water in the tank is at the wrong level?

 

[I think the softener is working--not sure...But before we let it run out of salt, there was never that much water in the tank--only a very small amount.

 

On my softener, which is a Culligan there is a way to adjust the water level in the brine tank. To my knowledge, which is not extensive on these, running it out of salt should not affect the water level. This is usually a preset volume based on your usage that is meant to make enough brine to recharge the medium inside the softener it self.
It would affect the auto recharge frequency if there is a sensor controlling the recharge because it would call for recharge and not get any salt water so it would call again.
1) I would check the fill tube and float in the brine tank and make sure they are in the correct position. Mine has a float to help control the water level. Does yours? Did it get moved or stuck? 2)I think there is a possibility that if it has an auto recharge cycle that once it goes through this it may correct the water level itself if the original settings have not been changed.
3) Anybody else with more expert advice feel free to chime in or correct anything I may have gotten wrong.

 

I also have a Sears Kenmore Softener ( Model 625.3484400 ) which was manufactured by the same manufacturer as your Kenmore Softener becasuse the first 3 numbers of the model number are the same. I have just experienced the iodentical problem - too much water in the salt storage tank. The brine float valve seems to work OK - outside of unit. The amount of fill water is proportional to the recent usage as the unit apparently predicts the future need and fills to make what it predicts is the required amount of brine.
If you find the problem plkease let me know. It may be a blocked drain line or drain line line orifice causing water to flow into the salt storage tank during the rinse cycles.
I will look at this possibility tonight.

 

If the unit predicts the amount of brine needed then to me it makes sense that it would raise the level in the tank to make more brine to compensate on the next recharge for the period of time when it did not have enough salt. If this theory is correct then eventually the water level should return to the original depth after some recharging.Let us know what happens.

 

Thanks for the help /input, it makes sense. The one thing that still bothers me is this..... If you ran the softener without salt for, let's say, 6 months then it would try to fill it with hundreds of gallons and what stops the hundreds of gallons flooding the basement other than the overflow drain tube.
I would have thought the brine fill float valve would shut it off after the water reached 10 inches or so. Perhaps the brine valve is only used to control the amount of brine draw.

 

If the unit can vary the amount of water it fills the tank with then I would think it would have an upper safety limit to prevent that situation.I will see if I can find any other info that will help us understand the operation better.