I just bought and installed a Kenmore Ultrasoft 175. Everything appears to be working normally. I ran an initial recharge with bleach to sanitize the system 1 week ago. Our water is now being softened correctly but the unit has not recharged since the initial cleaning. I called the Kenmore help line and they said it should recharge at least once a week and that I should increase the hardness setting to 20 grains. Our water (municipal) tested at about 11 grains which is what the softener is currently set for. Suggestions?

 

How often the softener regenerates is based on the hardness of the water, iron and/or manganese in the water (if applicable), and the daily water usage of the people in the house. If there is only you or two people the softener's probably working correctly at 11 grains hardness.

Since you bought a "boxed" softener you don't know that it is properly sized for your plumbing and water usage.

I like my softener to regenerate at least once a week. You can achieve more frequent regenerations by increasing the hardness setting as the company told you. The resin will be happier regenerating more often but you'll use more water (each regeneration uses between 30 and 50 gallons) and more salt. The increased cost won't be great just wasted.

If it were me I'd raise it to 20 grains and see how often it regenerates. Watch it in the summer when your water usage goes up. You may be able to lower the hardness setting then to stay at once a week regenerations.

Let us know how it works.

Check these links for more info on your softener ...

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=206047

 

Thanks for the reply. The softener I bought has a maximum capacity of 30,000 grains at 12.8 lbs. of salt which was the smallest capacty Sears had. This is a small house with 2 people and the research I did lead me to believe that this was an acceptable size. For example one site I found stated:

Multiply 4 people in the home x 75 gallons water usage per person per day x (10 grains hardness + (0.5 ppm iron x 4)) = 3,600 grains of hardness to be removed per day. So with a 32,000 grain system, reserve capacity would be about 26,000 grains (20% lower than actual), and a metered unit would regenerate approximately every 7 days (26,000 divided by 3,600), which is acceptable.

Anyway, I'll bump it up to 20 grains and see what happens. Thanks for your time.

 

I think that's a wise decision. If you can alter the salt dose in that softener you can effectively lower the capacity which will get you where you want to go.

One of the things you don't get in "boxed" softeners is the ability to fine tune the control valve. If there's a way to lower the capacity to say 20,000 that should hit about every 5th or 6th day.

Otherwise, increasing the hardness setting will get you the days between regeneration but, as I said, you'll lose some money in wasted water and salt. I don't think the extra expense will be noticed and I'd rather have the softener regen every week.

Everything in life is a compromise.

 

Our water is now being softened correctly but the unit has not recharged since the initial cleaning.

You sure its turned on right???? Id go over the paper work you got with it to make sure you set it right. Also read the part about fine tune the salt you use.

ED

 

Good thinking Ed, I missed that.

brg25,

You should also check the bypass valve and make sure the softener is "in service".

 

I will double check. Thanks