Salty water?

panteramatt

Ok, how come my well water tastes very salty? The softener works like it should backflushing and such. I DO have hard water. I just dont have th e$ right now to have someone come out and look at it. I put 2 inline whole house filters and its still really salty. I have the softener set for every 3 days. Now theres a second tank that looks just like the softener but doesnt have a brine line to it but does flush. I have that set for the same time as the softener.

Daniel Holzman

I am not certain you understand how your softener works. It exchanges calcium ions (hard water) for sodium ions (common table salt). So of course your water is salty. And no conventional filter is going to remove dissolved salt, that is not what they are designed to do.

panteramatt

I understand how it works, but its also not supposed to taste like salt. It doesnt all the time either bu tI ahouldnt have to test taste it everytime I wanna brew some coffee.

lilh2o3

Set your filter to one hour ahead of softener. The reason you are getting salty h2o is cause when the filter runs at the same time the softener does it starves the softener for water. This doesn't allow the softener to draw the salt in fast enough and so it won't rinse it out by the time its regeneration is over.

jasin

Reverse Osmosis will remove anything

panteramatt

I set them apart and it seems to have worked. I have noticed though that there isnt hardly any water left in my brine tank, is that ok?

panteramatt

Well I have the softener regening first and its the first inline. Should I switch them?

Akpsdvan

There are things that Reverse Osmosis will NOT remove... it is not the end all of water treatment.
Example.. it will not remove Both forms of Arsenic.

Akpsdvan

If there is a system after the softener .. chances are that is carbon , if there is a smell in the water or there is arsenic and that is an arsenic filter.
In which case the systems are laid out correctly.

Do you live Right on the Coast line? with in a few yards of an Ocean?

NitroNate

you can also try using potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride, it is more expensive but does not have that "salty" taste we associate sodium with.

Bob999

The amount of water in the brine tank is controlled by the settings for the softener valve.

1. Some softener valves put the water in the brine tank to make brine at the end of the regeneration cycle and some put it in about 2 hours before the regeneration cycle. If yours is of the latter type there will be very little water in the brine tank most of the time.

2. Even with softeners that add water at the end of the cycle the amount can appear relatively small--each gallon of water dissolves 3 lbs of salt and with a small softener and/or one set up to regenerate with a low salt dose the amount of water could be at little as 1 to 2 gallons.

panteramatt

No I dont live near the ocean. I live near the Deleware river. I have the softener, and after the softener, theres another tank that looks identical to the softener with NO brine line going to it. After setting the second tank to regen after the first, theres no more salt taste. Before, when they went off at teh same time, I noticed there was a lot of water left in the brine tank. Now, hardly any.

Andy CWS

In any water treatment problem solving, knowing what is coming in and how it is being treated (or mistreated) is essential to determining a proper solution. Learn more about your water condition (raw and treated) and what equipment you currently have. Then determine how old it is and if they are set up right and the media is in the tanks are sufficient in quantity and quality.

You may need to do the right thing and spend some time and money to make it right. Going cheap can be very costly.

"salty" tasting water after a water softener can be caused by a number reasons.
--Perhaps the salt dosage is too high during the regen period.
--It is regenerating too often.
--There is a restriction in the drain line that is not permitting the salt to adequately wash out.
--There is incoming water blockage that won't permit the backwash enough force to thoroughly was the salt out. A prefilter is clogged, poor, constant pressure, etc.
--The resin level (volume) has been reduced through attrition or washout.
--The backwashing stage is too short in time or volume.
--The softener regen was interrupted and did complete.
--The resins are fouled and need replacing.
--Using water during regen.

Just to name a few...
A correctly set up softener should NOT cause salty tasting water.

ROs are excellent at significantly 'reducing' elements and specialty filters can be added for certain contaminants such as arsenic III and V.

Is the 'second' before or after the softener?
\\
Andy Christensen

panteramatt

The second is after the softener. Its wierd as its identical to the softener except theres no brine line going to it.

Bob999

In another thread you posted a water analysis:

Heres my results.
Lead-no
Pesticides-yes
total nitrate/nitrite 1.5 ppm
nitrite-0 ppm
ph-5 ppm
hardness- 100
chlorine-0
bacteria-0

Assuming that the pH is 5 the analysis indicates you have acid water. The second filter is very likely an acid neutralizing filter that needs media replacement to work properly.