Water softener salt hog

sk8z

My water softener goes through a 40lb bag in about 4-5 days. Does this sound excessive? This is well water with a high iron content. I swear if I turn the dial down even a bit my wife is on me within a couple days about the water being too hard. She's right though, I can tell too. Soap doesn't lather, tastes different, etc. I'm just tired of spending all this $$ on salt. My neighbor down the road says his goes through a 40lb bag in about a month. That's a huge difference from mine. Is there a normal range that a softener should go through?

girltech

How much salt you use depends on how often the water softener runs.

It sound like your water is very hard.

sk8z

My softener runs once every 24 hours. No way to increase or decrease the frequency unfortunately. Well you can do a manual regeneration if you need another one before the 24 hours is up. I was surprised by this when I read the manual. I figured you could set it for certain days, but it clearly states the unit is configured to run at 2:00AM every day.

girltech

What is the make and model of your softener?

Is it electronic?

You should be able to set how often it runs but I know that you can not change the 2:00 am setting because that is when there is less change of someone turning on a tap or flushing the toilet and contaminating the lines.

If you want to run it every second night just unplug it then plug it in the next night.

I do this with mine because it is right next to the bedroom and makes to much noise at 2:00 am. Then I plug it in every Monday before I go to work turn the dial to manual start it.

Mine can be set to run as many times a week as need though.

Check with your neighbor and see what kind of timer he has.

Not being able to set it just doesn't sound right.

sk8z

It's an Autotrol with a 460i automatic controller. It's supposed to keep track of water usage and regenerate accordingly...supposedly an upgrade from the manual controller where you set how often you want it to run. That's why there is no option to set frequency. You can only adjust the time, hardness, and capacity. I'm certain our household does not go through enough water to require a regeneration every day so I think something may be wrong with the unit or some kind of adjustment is needed. I read on another site that a softener shouldn't go through more than 80lbs in a month max under the worst water conditions...mine goes through double that.

Andy CWS

Can you tell us what your water conditions are at the source? Perhaps a twin-tank system would benefit your water demands and water quality. If your single tank softener is regenerating EVERY day, then it may be undersized for conditions.

How many people using water? Give us a plumbing audit--how many baths, sinks, water appliances, etc., do you use? What is the size of your softener tank?

Andy Christensen, CWS-II