Water Softener Not Working? What to Do

Does it seem like your water softener is not working? If you have hard water, you rely on your water softener every day, and in ways you might not expect or even realize.

Hard water impacts every part of your home, from how long your hot water heater lasts to how often you have to repair and replace your appliances.

It is easy to overlook your water softener, but when it stops working, you will know it. From what your water smells like to how fast deposits accumulate in your sink and bathtub, the failure of your water softener will become obvious in a matter of days if not hours.

Hard water can be unpleasant to taste and if you’re using soap then you’ll probably notice the difference right away.

If Your Water Softener Isn’t Working — Follow These Steps

So what do you do when your water softener’s not working? Taking a step-by-step approach to diagnosis and repair is the best approach, and you can start with the steps outlined below.

1. Make sure the softener is not on bypass mode. Check to make sure the valves are turned on, and that electricity is flowing to the softener.

2. Clean away any debris that may be blocking the tubing and water passages. Debris can accumulate in these areas and restrict the flow of water.

3. Open the top and make sure there is salt in the reservoir. If you filled the softener a long time ago and it is not full, the softener is not operating properly. If you’ve recently run out of salt and refilled the reservoir, it can take some time for your home’s water to become softened again.

4. If the tank is nearly empty, look for a crust of salt that may have formed. This crust can restrict the flow of the water softener and stop it from working properly. Buying salt pellets with a higher purity rating can help alleviate this issue in the future.

5. Run the regeneration cycle for the water softener. This will clean and regenerate the softener, and it could solve your problem.

6. Keep an eye on the water softener control for a few days to make sure it is working the way it should. Check the salt reservoir to make sure salt is moving through the softener.

7. Use a hardness tester to check the hardness level in your tap water. Recheck the softener if the supposedly treated water is harder than it should be.

8. Adjust the controls on the water softener to provide extra softness, then run a cycle and retest the water coming from your tap.

9. Call a plumber or other professional if your water is still too hard and your water softener is not working properly.

Your water softener works hard, and most of the time it operates without any issues. Even so, water softeners do break down, and it is important to know what to do when that happens. The step-by-step guide listed above can help you diagnose and fix most water softener problems, and if that fails, your plumber is just a phone call away.