What is the purpose of a water softener?
Maintaining the water softener in your home helps the keep the water in your pipes balanced. The main purpose of water softeners is to remove calcium and magnesium from hard water. These elements are replaced with sodium ions through a chemical process. Replacing these two culprits helps to prevent scale buildup in pipes and scum in the shower and tub.
If you are unsure about the water in your home use this trick to test for hard water.
Display and Salt Clumping
Now, to start servicing your water softener start by checking the time on the display. If the time is off by more than 2 hours the backup battery might be dead. If it is, remove the faceplate and replace. Next, examine the salt in the bin for clumping. Break down any clumps with a broom or shovel handle while taking care not to damage the bin. Many times the water will wash away the salt at the bottom but because the salt has clumped and hardened, it will not descend into the water and the water softener will not function properly. This problem creates deception because the bin has salt in it, but it the salt might not be making it into the water. If you happen to live in a humid area, try only filling the bin half full at most and replacing the salt more frequently. The humidity can create the clumping before the salt is utilized.
