I have a rainsoft water system for the whole house connected to our well. It worked fine when I first moved in 4 months ago, but now I have a high concentration of iron in the water. I have been putting salt in it regularly but never added RedOut salt because I didn't realize there was alot of iron in the water here. It was full of salt when I moved in and I didn't think to ask at the time. Is it ok to scoop out all of the salt tablets and refill it with redout salt tablets? Do I have to shut it down to do that or will it be ok for the few minutes necessary to replace the salt tablets?

The only manual I have for the unit is:

Model 2510 & 2510 Econominder (this may be a Fleck system based on my web search)

There is the tall tank (The control unit on the top matches the one in the book for the 2510)

Another tall tank with an electronic brain control unit on top with a model number of AM24T (The label states RainSoft Electronic Brain)

The salt tank (tall, rectangular, green plastic)

A silver metal roundish oval shaped tank (don't know what it is for)

A small very dark green unit which has oxidizer written on it.

 

When you bought your house you should have gotten or had a complete water test done before closing. Living on a well is more complicated and requires maintenance that a municipal water system doesn't because you are responsible for making your water SAFE and nice.

First thing, you need to have the water tested as a softener will only treat iron up to about 3 ppm. If your iron content is higher you will need additional treatment hardware.

For the time being, use Iron Out, Super Iron Out, Rust Pro etc. dissolved, as package instructs, in a gallon or two of warm water and poured into the brine well or water in the brine tank and then flush that with a quart of clear water if you use the brine well. Then do a manual regeneration while NOT using any water.

You can clean out the brine tank and use salt that treats iron. You can do the above procedure every month or so depending on the size of your softener.

If you clean out your brine tank you won't have any water in it so add a few gallons and put in one bag of salt. Wait two hours for the salt to dissolve and do a manual regeneration. After that is finished there will be water in the brine tank. Add only enough salt to cover the water. Watch the salt level weekly and only add enough salt to cover the water. The less salt that's in the brine tank the less chance it will bridge or mush.

BUT, IF YOUR IRON CONTENT IS ABOVE 3ppm YOU NEED TO ADDRESS THAT.

Sounds like you've definitely got more there than just a softener.

Unfortunately, Rainsoft doesn't make tech info readily available and according to a neighbor reams you pretty good for service and parts. You may have an honest and fair local Rainsoft dealer.

It might be worth a call to the Rainsoft dealer to find out the charge for a service call. Maybe get them to come out and identify exactly what you've got and check if it's working properly. I'm sure they'll quote you a price to resolve any problems and then you can decide if you want to pursue repairing your Rainsoft equipment or look to replace it with industry standard stuff where tech info and parts are readily available.