Since making this video I believe you are better off to skip the media cleaner, if you have that garbage smell, and go right to using the bleach. A few viewers have had the media cleaner react with the bleach giving the water a strong smell and taste that can last months!
Oh no Gary! I just did what you said in your video to eliminate our problem. I used iron out followed by the bleach to clean our resin. I hope our problem doesn’t become worse! Please get back to me if you have any advice! It’s literally going through the steps this very moment.
I did this based on your step by step directions and this made our water horrible! Far worse than before. This process has clearly created a problem for us. Do you have any positive suggestions?
Maybe you need to put this comment right on your video. I planned to follow the steps and caught this comment just before I did the bleach process. Can you recommend, how long one should wait between the Rust Out treatment and a bleach treatment? Thanks.
Gary, If I am already using a rust fighter or rust defense softener pellet, should I avoid this treatment with bleach altogether? We do have the smell and I’m hoping to try the second half of this strategy, but I hope the bleach won’t react with anything already in this rust fighter salt.
Thank you Gary for the video!!! We had such a bad problem and I tried everything, sanitized the well and used rust out but I didn’t even think to sanitize the softener!!! Our water is so much better and no smell at all. We used the bleach and I can’t believe no one else told me about this. The water people wanted us to remove our system and replace with a whole new system. You saved myself and our little family from a big credit card transaction (we also used sani system too as a just in case)
Hey Gary! I just installed a brand new AquaSure 64,000 grain unit a couple days ago. A little background.....we're on a well, have an iron filter, and a softener. Our old softener needed to be replaced because the valve leaked every time it regenerated. I followed the installation instructions by filling the brine tank with 80lb's of salt pellets and 5gal of water before regenerating it for the first time. After everything was completed I noticed our water had a distinct musty/plastic-y/chemical-y taste, to the point where it seems unsafe to drink. I regenerated it again, but the taste didn't improve. The only way I could get the water to taste better was when I bypassed the softener and flushed the lines. Is this common issue for brand new water softeners?? Could the o-ring grease provided be imparting this taste? I talked with a local water conditioning technician and he recommended adding a 1/4 cup of bleach to the brine tube, but I'm seeing other results on google saying that adding bleach can ruin your resin. Nothing about our system is different from before other than a new softener. I don't understand why this new softener makes our water taste so bad. Is there a setting I need to change on how long each stage of the regeneration takes? Looking for any advice!
I have never had that happen to our water softeners, but it must be coming from the media. I agree with the 1/4 cup of bleach in the brine well and then regenerating. Otherwise you need to speak with whomever you purchased the water softener from about a fix.
@@water_estore Thanks! I just talked with the manufacturer and they recommended adding an additional 10min rinse in the settings. They said that is common for their units when new. If that doesn't work I may try the bleach
@@DesignBurgessHey! So I ended up talking with the manufacturer and they recommended upping the rapid rinse time from the default 10 minutes to 15 minutes. I did that with slight improvement after a manual regeneration. I then upped it to 25 minutes, and then did another regeneration the next day with pretty significant improvement. Now that it has regenerated a few more times since then, I moved the rapid rinse time back down to the default 10 minutes and our water has been tasting significantly better. I would do that before any other bleach method. In fact, the manufacturer specifically told me not to do that, but sometimes you never know.
Great Video Gary! Water was very filmy and smelled foul here at summer cottage. I cleaned out brine tank and added some RES following by 2 new regen cycles. I did not have any bleach on hand so hope to do that today. Can I still add the bleach even 1-2 days later? Following the bleach, how long after both regen cycles are completed do I need to run the water to remove any bleach from water lines? Kind of scared to use the water if there is still bleach residue. Also, what are the optimal setting for the system once all this is completed. The cabin is mainly used in the summer months only but up here now in quarantine. What should I set the system at considering no one might come back here until May-June? Thanks again!
Yes, you can use the bleach at any time. There will be very little if any residual after the water softener has backwashed it out. I would set the days over ride to 7 to keep it back washing more often to minimize the chances of this re occuring.
@@water_estore Thanks Gary. I also notice that the water is less filmy after the RES alone was added and REGEN'd but that the hot water still has a film to it. Anything I can I do for this? Or should I just stick with the bleach for now?
@@benjamingrubner6948 Stick with the bleach but you should run some chlorinated water into the hot water tank and then leave it overnight to disinfect the inside of the tank.
@@water_estore Hi Gary. I've got 2 issues. 1) All the stores are out of bleach! Tried 5 stores. 2) All the videos for disinfecting hot water tank are telling me to replace the anode rod. Is there a way to add bleach without doing that? Any of your other videos show how to just add bleach without disconnecting everything? Thanks again
Trying again egg smell back within a day. I didn't use hot tap water. Gonna try hopefully gone. I got rid of the smell in water heater by changing the rod. Now it reared its head in my cold water.
Hi Gary, my softner stopped processing soft water because it ran out of salt. I then filled it up with salt all the way to the top and the salt never moved. I had to remove all the salt and realized a salt bridge had formed. I cleaned out the brine, and the tube as well as the float. I didn't blow through the tube, and maybe that's the problem. But I cleaned it out and refilled it with just one bag of salt and it doesn't seem like it is working. Do you have any advice?
If a salt bridge formed it must have been using salt. Make sure that the salt level is higher than the water and then regenerate it manually. Then have the water tested to see if it is now soft. If not this video might help th-cam.com/users/liveLr3jyGiJdC0
@@farahsanon105 You would want to use a product that is called Sani-System. It is EPA registered and NSF Certified to sanitize you water softener. Bleach will hurt your resin. Sani-System will not.
Gary hi i gollow all your Your videos are great tutorial videos. I bought a house and changed out the resin because the guy owned the house for 20 some years and it was nasty looking and very small used up. I had that smell I had yellowish water so I did go ahead by the resin. I cleaned out everything and got rid of the saltwater block. Clean that out cleaned out the brine tank. I tried the iron out before I had cleaned it and then I just changed out the reserve now. I have a odor like a rotten egg smell once in a while. I will have a little bit of Brown run through but if it's if I didn't run the sink long In the spare bathroom or something but i'm gonna try the clorox thing To see if that works it's been long enough without the iron out and I've changed everything overseas but my sister is very sensitive skin and Clorox really. Bothers her breathing will it go through the system? Will she smell it? Should I do it when she's gone? Or if I just put it in and regenerate and then do it again? Will it get rid of the odor before she takes her Next shower?
Thank you, GARY. Very easy to follow. Question now though…we did this a few months back following this video, but now the water inside of the sale bin is brown and slimy. Help!!! If we do this again, will it help with this issue also?
Thank you Gary, the video is very helpful. I am about to start cleaning resin. However, I just can't figure out how to remove the well cap inside brine tank. The top of the well looks as if there is no cap .. any tips? I have Fleck 5600 SXT. Checked online, manual.. no help ! thank you
Gary your video was awesome and really helped our water!! What a difference 👍! Can I use the same process on my arsenic system? Thank you Glenn from NH
Gary the Water Guy thank you sir for the reply. I really appreciate your content because I moved into a house with a well and 2-tank softener system. My water has super high iron content, so managing it has been an adventure. If you have time, I’d love to know if there is a more efficient system than greensand that requires less maintenance. I’d read about MangOX; but if you have videos on the best iron filtration systems, I’d love to check them out!
Hi. I have a water guard system with salt softener. I got a new well pump and water is brown at times and smells bad. I have drained water heater twice and had it regenerating nightly. I've had the plumber back and he says that's too much Regen and it should be every 4 days. I live in an area that has a lot of tannin and sulpher in the water. The water seemed fine before with the exception of a hurricane and it smelled bad. Cleaned it out with some peroxide about 3 years ago. The plumber says I need the sediment tank rebedded which will cost 1400. Is cleaning the only thing it needs. My daughter says the hot water is the only thing colored.
Are you sure you are not getting some fine mud coming in from the foot valve in the well? Had a similar situation lately and I was sure the problem was tannins in the water. We added a tannin filter the water became totally colorless. 4 months later they were getting lots of mud coming through and had the foot valve in the well replaced. All is good now and they really didn't need the tannin filter after all.
A few months ago I had a well pump replaced. So instead of the installers running the pump before they connected it to the house line. They just connected it. I had to run the water hose bibs for a long time to get clear water. And I also had dirty water running through my softener and filters and my acid reducer. Now I got a trash smell in everything!!
Gary the Water Guy No not yet. But I have to clean everything out! Water heater, my acid neutralizer all my filters water softener. Everything! Gonna be a fun time. Lol
Hey Gary! Appreciate the videos! We just had a softener and light aeration unit installed. We're on well water. While the sulphur smell is gone, we now have a fishy taste to the water. Any thoughts on why this would happen?
This happens occassionaly. Just add a carbon filter after it and you will get rid of that fishy smell. Like this one waterestore.com/products/kx-matrikx-10-bb-carbon-filter-32-450-10-green in this housing waterestore.com/products/viqua-awp40c-v-filter-housing
Gary, you have an amazing YT channel! I followed these steps to disinfect my WS1 thanks to this great video. Can I please ask: 1.) During a regen cycles , both red shutoff valves stay in the normal open position. The unit never went into bypass mode. Is that normally how you do it? 2. My water hardness (according to my local city) is 10. I also checked this using some generic Water Hardness strips. Those strips read about the same. Should I set my WS1 water hardness level to 10 inside the menu? Thanks!
Can't say that I have ever heard of this. Have you tried cleaning out the brine tank and starting fresh? Thsi video will help th-cam.com/video/BQT7c9wIzWY/w-d-xo.html
If the water softener is working correctly it will suck out all of the brine during the regeneration and if it is a post fill water softener add the correct amount of water back into the softener when done.
@@water_estore I think it is a post fill one, how do I know how much water to add back into it? Haha I did these steps and never added water back into it, could I have damaged the softner now?
As an update, cleaned the water softner about 4 times with the steps involved and it seemed to help but not be a final solution. Ended up switching salts from one that was an iron fighting salt to just a normal one. After a week it has fully corrected itself it seems!
I have a egg smell coming back every month in my water softener. Every month I clean it out with bleach but why is it coming back? Should I get a filter also for bacteria? Also can you use Hydrogen Peroxide instead of bleach to clean the water softener?
Check the water before the water softener to see if it smells like eggs. If it does you need a sulphur filter like this FOC waterestore.com/products/hum-foc-sulphur-water-filter-one-cubic-foot I have only ever used chlorine for cleasning out the water softener.
We just had a drain blocked in our building and all the water from other people's sinks and showers backed up through the overflow into our salt tank (and flooded the apartment). The salt tank is still half full with salt cubes but the top has been contaminated (water with food waste etc. - not pleasant). Does the salt touch the "soft water"? Am I at risk of contaminating the usable water?
Sorry to hear, I have never heard of this happening to anyone. Yes, you need to clean out the salt tank, disinfect it with chlorine and disinfect the water softener.
Great and helpful video Gary. Can the water inside the home be used during the regen cycles in the process you described above? With multiple regen cycles necessary, that would be a few hours without running water. Maybe the water softener can just be bypassed for a few hours?
Hey Gary, just had a Aquasure water softener installed yesterday and I’m getting a plastic smell and taste in my water and this morning after doing a little research I put the softener in bypass Mode and the smell and taste went away. Do I have a bad resin and or can it be cleaned?
I have a very similar issue! I just installed an AquaSure 64,000 grain unit a couple days ago and now my water has distinct musty/plastic-y/chemical-y taste, to the point where it seems unsafe to drink. After regenerating it for the first time, I regenerated it again, but the taste didn't improve. Curious what you ended up doing.
What would make my salt bin have like a gas like odor literally 24 hours after installation?I have 45,000 grain AO. Smith system from Lowe’s. I used Morton salt pellets with iron out.
Gary I used boiling water in my softener to break up a salt dam. Will this damaged the resins. The water is brown with bubbles. This after removing all the salt and water and disinfecting. Veronica
Hi Gary - I had a new water softening system installed last Tuesday and my water immediately smelled terribly of fish, manure & plastic. It's so bad I cannot use it. I called the guy who installed it and sent several messages and he is not returning my calls (although he cashed the $5,200 check). The only information I have about the two tanks installed is: IMS/ozone & katalox and the other 10x44 softener/tannin resin metered. I've bypassed the units and am back to well water until I get this resolved. I'd appreciate suggestions/help. Thanks
Don't you just hate that kind of (non)service? The smell may be coming from the tannin filter, we typically install a carbon filetr after the tannin filter in case there is a fishy smell afetr installation. I would bypass just the tannin filter, put the rest of the system on line and see if the smell is gone. If so install a carbon filter like this waterestore.com/products/viqua-20-bb-modified-carbon-block-10-m-c2-02?variant=43997880484053 in a housing like this waterestore.com/products/viqua-awp42b-v-20-bb-filter-housing after the tannin filter.
Sir I have an automatic softener.it regens ,uses salt and everything is fine.but there is one problem.the problem is it is not taking groundwater fastly and we know this by looking at the screen of softener,when it shows "TOTAL LITERS" and the numbers change there(increases).but from many days the numbers are not changing and it is taking so much of time.what might be the problem sir?
Either the meter is not working or you have a 3 way bypass around the water softener that has been left open. See this video th-cam.com/video/2EcQrrlxMqo/w-d-xo.html
@@water_estorethank you so much sir. we called technician and he said there is airlock in softener.he said he will change something in softener.sir my softener is only "1MONTH OLD".does this kind of problems occur in softener?we are calling him but he is not coming from 3 weeks.sir did the technician lie to us??
@@suzumm6150 yes, there could be an air lock in where the meter is located that could cause this concern, although that is very rare, or it could be a defective meter but always check the 3 way bypass (if there is one) first. If it is only 1 month old is it not under warranty?
I have 2 year old Rainsoft system and my laundry smells moldy no matter what I do, as well as mold in toilets since install, is this normal or this issue you have here?
In the video I was suggesting a disinfectant that could be readily found in most homes. In the quantity mentioned in the video it will not hard the resin. Sani-System should work but I have not tried it so I can't say for sure..
Before I followed your instructions, the KCl in my brine tank was very low and the brine water looked scummy. I probably should have taken the opportunity to empty the tank and scrub it out, but after the ResCare treatment, I added KCl up to the half way point so I could pour in the hot water per your video. I added chlorine down the tube and did the recommended regenerations. I also emptied my water heater and flushed my hot and cold pipes. My tap water seems better, but is still not as fresh as I'd hoped. Now I have 160lb of fresh KCl in the tank (plus 5 gal of water). Could I add some chlorine directly onto the KCL (or down the side) to hopefully sanitize the tank?
Had my softener for 18 years, it just started smelling bad, I don't see a well tube. My water has never smelled like sulfur despite other wells in area. Water doesn't smell bad from faucet, use bottled water for drinking. May try adding some chemical last tech gave me, then see.
Rick Dangerous good question! It is a rare occurrence, but very frustrating. If you are on a municipal, chlorinated water supply it will likely never happen. On well water more likely. Add some res care once a year and keep the salt level at about the 1/2 level are your best bets to keep the stinky water away!
My water doesn't smell when I use it but after I use it 10 mins later there is the gas like smell. I changed my anode rod in water heater but problem is still there and I feel itchy after shower. So I think it could be my water softener which is only a year old. Please help I don't know where to look any more. Thank you very much.
my water has was tastin bad for years, we were away from home for a month and when we got home the water smelled so bad it was unbarable. I did what you reccomended and it was better than expexted, my water has not tasted this good in 20y. Thanks for the information.
I Can't Stand Chlorine Bleach😜... This Is Why We Chose Not To Hook-up To The City Water!!😜... So My Question Is... Would It Be OK To Use 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide... Which Can Be Diluted Down To Whatever Percentage Needed... "Instead Of Using The Toxic Chlorine Bleach"!!??🤔😓😞... Just Curios!!??🤔😞
Since making this video I believe you are better off to skip the media cleaner, if you have that garbage smell, and go right to using the bleach. A few viewers have had the media cleaner react with the bleach giving the water a strong smell and taste that can last months!
Oh no Gary! I just did what you said in your video to eliminate our problem. I used iron out followed by the bleach to clean our resin. I hope our problem doesn’t become worse! Please get back to me if you have any advice! It’s literally going through the steps this very moment.
I did this based on your step by step directions and this made our water horrible! Far worse than before. This process has clearly created a problem for us. Do you have any positive suggestions?
Maybe you need to put this comment right on your video. I planned to follow the steps and caught this comment just before I did the bleach process. Can you recommend, how long one should wait between the Rust Out treatment and a bleach treatment? Thanks.
Gary, If I am already using a rust fighter or rust defense softener pellet, should I avoid this treatment with bleach altogether? We do have the smell and I’m hoping to try the second half of this strategy, but I hope the bleach won’t react with anything already in this rust fighter salt.
How would you remedy this if this occured?
Thank you Gary for the video!!! We had such a bad problem and I tried everything, sanitized the well and used rust out but I didn’t even think to sanitize the softener!!! Our water is so much better and no smell at all. We used the bleach and I can’t believe no one else told me about this. The water people wanted us to remove our system and replace with a whole new system. You saved myself and our little family from a big credit card transaction (we also used sani system too as a just in case)
Glad to hear! Please share video with friends and family.
This did the trick! No one ever mentioned the bleach! The smell is gone.
Perfect! Please share with friends and family
Thank you Gary from Houston!
You're welcome! Please share video with friends and family.
Hey Gary! I just installed a brand new AquaSure 64,000 grain unit a couple days ago. A little background.....we're on a well, have an iron filter, and a softener. Our old softener needed to be replaced because the valve leaked every time it regenerated. I followed the installation instructions by filling the brine tank with 80lb's of salt pellets and 5gal of water before regenerating it for the first time. After everything was completed I noticed our water had a distinct musty/plastic-y/chemical-y taste, to the point where it seems unsafe to drink. I regenerated it again, but the taste didn't improve. The only way I could get the water to taste better was when I bypassed the softener and flushed the lines. Is this common issue for brand new water softeners?? Could the o-ring grease provided be imparting this taste? I talked with a local water conditioning technician and he recommended adding a 1/4 cup of bleach to the brine tube, but I'm seeing other results on google saying that adding bleach can ruin your resin. Nothing about our system is different from before other than a new softener. I don't understand why this new softener makes our water taste so bad. Is there a setting I need to change on how long each stage of the regeneration takes? Looking for any advice!
I have never had that happen to our water softeners, but it must be coming from the media. I agree with the 1/4 cup of bleach in the brine well and then regenerating. Otherwise you need to speak with whomever you purchased the water softener from about a fix.
@@water_estore Thanks! I just talked with the manufacturer and they recommended adding an additional 10min rinse in the settings. They said that is common for their units when new. If that doesn't work I may try the bleach
Hey Ryan, did that work? We just put one in and have the same problem. Plastic/Synthetic Oil taste and smell.
@@DesignBurgessHey! So I ended up talking with the manufacturer and they recommended upping the rapid rinse time from the default 10 minutes to 15 minutes. I did that with slight improvement after a manual regeneration. I then upped it to 25 minutes, and then did another regeneration the next day with pretty significant improvement. Now that it has regenerated a few more times since then, I moved the rapid rinse time back down to the default 10 minutes and our water has been tasting significantly better. I would do that before any other bleach method. In fact, the manufacturer specifically told me not to do that, but sometimes you never know.
Very informative, Thank you for your time.
Glad it was helpful! Please share video with friends and family!
Hi Gary, I love you info! Question, how do I get the media cleaner into the resin tank? Thanks.
just add it to the brine well, this video shows you how th-cam.com/video/c8QKYr3B02I/w-d-xo.html
Great Video Gary! Water was very filmy and smelled foul here at summer cottage. I cleaned out brine tank and added some RES following by 2 new regen cycles. I did not have any bleach on hand so hope to do that today. Can I still add the bleach even 1-2 days later? Following the bleach, how long after both regen cycles are completed do I need to run the water to remove any bleach from water lines? Kind of scared to use the water if there is still bleach residue. Also, what are the optimal setting for the system once all this is completed. The cabin is mainly used in the summer months only but up here now in quarantine. What should I set the system at considering no one might come back here until May-June?
Thanks again!
Yes, you can use the bleach at any time. There will be very little if any residual after the water softener has backwashed it out. I would set the days over ride to 7 to keep it back washing more often to minimize the chances of this re occuring.
@@water_estore Thanks Gary. I also notice that the water is less filmy after the RES alone was added and REGEN'd but that the hot water still has a film to it. Anything I can I do for this? Or should I just stick with the bleach for now?
@@benjamingrubner6948 Stick with the bleach but you should run some chlorinated water into the hot water tank and then leave it overnight to disinfect the inside of the tank.
@@water_estore Hi Gary. I've got 2 issues. 1) All the stores are out of bleach! Tried 5 stores. 2) All the videos for disinfecting hot water tank are telling me to replace the anode rod. Is there a way to add bleach without doing that? Any of your other videos show how to just add bleach without disconnecting everything? Thanks again
Awesome video thanks for the info!
Thanks for watching Please share video with friends and family
Trying again egg smell back within a day. I didn't use hot tap water. Gonna try hopefully gone. I got rid of the smell in water heater by changing the rod. Now it reared its head in my cold water.
Do you need to run your water a little after you do this?
Yes, I definitely would.
Gary what about the water boss pro 180, manual says not to add water to system
It says you don't need to add water, not that you should not. Adding water increases the brine dosage which facilitates better cleaning of the media.
I have two water softeners, one brine tank. Do I regen both tanks at the same time?
When you add 3 to 6 gallons of warm water is that on top of the 3 to 6 gallons that was in there already
Correct! You wnat the extra water to absorb more salt than usual for this one regeneration
@GarytheWaterGuy thanks for answering I guess after regeneration it puts the right amount back
Hi Gary, my softner stopped processing soft water because it ran out of salt. I then filled it up with salt all the way to the top and the salt never moved. I had to remove all the salt and realized a salt bridge had formed. I cleaned out the brine, and the tube as well as the float. I didn't blow through the tube, and maybe that's the problem. But I cleaned it out and refilled it with just one bag of salt and it doesn't seem like it is working. Do you have any advice?
If a salt bridge formed it must have been using salt. Make sure that the salt level is higher than the water and then regenerate it manually. Then have the water tested to see if it is now soft. If not this video might help th-cam.com/users/liveLr3jyGiJdC0
Gary the water guy is it possible to sanitize with bleach the water filter (not the softener) from a dual tank system?
Yes, you can sanitize a back washing filter but getting the chlorine into the filter might be a challenge.
@@water_estore Thank you for your reply!
@@farahsanon105 You would want to use a product that is called Sani-System. It is EPA registered and NSF Certified to sanitize you water softener. Bleach will hurt your resin. Sani-System will not.
Thank you Sir!
You are welcome! Please share video with friends and family!
Gary hi i gollow all your Your videos are great tutorial videos. I bought a house and changed out the resin because the guy owned the house for 20 some years and it was nasty looking and very small used up. I had that smell I had yellowish water so I did go ahead by the resin. I cleaned out everything and got rid of the saltwater block. Clean that out cleaned out the brine tank. I tried the iron out before I had cleaned it and then I just changed out the reserve now. I have a odor like a rotten egg smell once in a while. I will have a little bit of Brown run through but if it's if I didn't run the sink long In the spare bathroom or something but i'm gonna try the clorox thing To see if that works it's been long enough without the iron out and I've changed everything overseas but my sister is very sensitive skin and Clorox really. Bothers her breathing will it go through the system? Will she smell it? Should I do it when she's gone? Or if I just put it in and regenerate and then do it again? Will it get rid of the odor before she takes her Next shower?
Do it when she isn’t around and then regenerate again after you are done
Thank you
You're welcome. Please share video with friends and family
Thank you, GARY. Very easy to follow. Question now though…we did this a few months back following this video, but now the water inside of the sale bin is brown and slimy. Help!!! If we do this again, will it help with this issue also?
Fat fingers, sorry 🥴 “salt” bin
After several regenerations it will clear up again.
Thank you 😊
We have this issue. Is it ok if there is salt inside the brine tank?
Yes, no problem at all
@@water_estore thank you Gary!
Does the chlorine hurt the resin beads?
Short term like this, no. But long term chlorine does degrade the beads.
@@water_estore Thanks Gary!
Thank you Gary, the video is very helpful. I am about to start cleaning resin. However, I just can't figure out how to remove the well cap inside brine tank. The top of the well looks as if there is no cap .. any tips? I have Fleck 5600 SXT. Checked online, manual.. no help ! thank you
It will have a cap, they alwys do, try to pull it off the top.
How do I regenerate it?
There should be a "Regen" button. Hold it down for 5 seconds and once you hear water running let go.
Gary your video was awesome and really helped our water!! What a difference 👍! Can I use the same process on my arsenic system?
Thank you
Glenn from NH
I really don't know much about arsenic filters, so I don't know.
Is this process useable for a Greensand filter?
I really don't think so if you are using potassium permanganate as a regenerate. If not yes, it should work fine.
Gary the Water Guy thank you sir for the reply. I really appreciate your content because I moved into a house with a well and 2-tank softener system. My water has super high iron content, so managing it has been an adventure.
If you have time, I’d love to know if there is a more efficient system than greensand that requires less maintenance. I’d read about MangOX; but if you have videos on the best iron filtration systems, I’d love to check them out!
Do I do full regenerations for each step
yes you do.
Hi. I have a water guard system with salt softener. I got a new well pump and water is brown at times and smells bad. I have drained water heater twice and had it regenerating nightly. I've had the plumber back and he says that's too much Regen and it should be every 4 days. I live in an area that has a lot of tannin and sulpher in the water. The water seemed fine before with the exception of a hurricane and it smelled bad. Cleaned it out with some peroxide about 3 years ago. The plumber says I need the sediment tank rebedded which will cost 1400. Is cleaning the only thing it needs. My daughter says the hot water is the only thing colored.
Are you sure you are not getting some fine mud coming in from the foot valve in the well? Had a similar situation lately and I was sure the problem was tannins in the water. We added a tannin filter the water became totally colorless. 4 months later they were getting lots of mud coming through and had the foot valve in the well replaced. All is good now and they really didn't need the tannin filter after all.
A few months ago I had a well pump replaced. So instead of the installers running the pump before they connected it to the house line. They just connected it. I had to run the water hose bibs for a long time to get clear water. And I also had dirty water running through my softener and filters and my acid reducer. Now I got a trash smell in everything!!
Sorry to hear. Did you try this procedure?
Gary the Water Guy No not yet. But I have to clean everything out! Water heater, my acid neutralizer all my filters water softener. Everything! Gonna be a fun time. Lol
Hey Gary! Appreciate the videos!
We just had a softener and light aeration unit installed. We're on well water. While the sulphur smell is gone, we now have a fishy taste to the water. Any thoughts on why this would happen?
This happens occassionaly. Just add a carbon filter after it and you will get rid of that fishy smell. Like this one waterestore.com/products/kx-matrikx-10-bb-carbon-filter-32-450-10-green in this housing waterestore.com/products/viqua-awp40c-v-filter-housing
Gary, you have an amazing YT channel! I followed these steps to disinfect my WS1 thanks to this great video.
Can I please ask:
1.) During a regen cycles , both red shutoff valves stay in the normal open position. The unit never went into bypass mode. Is that normally how you do it?
2. My water hardness (according to my local city) is 10. I also checked this using some generic Water Hardness strips. Those strips read about the same. Should I set my WS1 water hardness level to 10 inside the menu?
Thanks!
The valve is bypassed internally during regeneration. This video will help with the settings th-cam.com/video/XMY69hdhX44/w-d-xo.html
Hi, i need help. So i accidentally added rust out and res care together and it made my water smell worse. What should I do?
Just backwash and run the water to flush it out.
Do I need to close water line to water heater before doing all this??
No.
It’s not the water from my softener that smells, it’s the water in the brine tank. Is there a way to keep this from occurring?
Can't say that I have ever heard of this. Have you tried cleaning out the brine tank and starting fresh? Thsi video will help th-cam.com/video/BQT7c9wIzWY/w-d-xo.html
Do I have to worry about the water I pour into the brine tank remaining after the regen, or possibly causing it to crust over?
If the water softener is working correctly it will suck out all of the brine during the regeneration and if it is a post fill water softener add the correct amount of water back into the softener when done.
@@water_estore I think it is a post fill one, how do I know how much water to add back into it? Haha I did these steps and never added water back into it, could I have damaged the softner now?
As an update, cleaned the water softner about 4 times with the steps involved and it seemed to help but not be a final solution. Ended up switching salts from one that was an iron fighting salt to just a normal one. After a week it has fully corrected itself it seems!
I also want to add that after I poured hot water in and then the bleach, a bunch of smoke and fiz came back up through the tube.
You are just seeing some gas escape.
I have a egg smell coming back every month in my water softener. Every month I clean it out with bleach but why is it coming back? Should I get a filter also for bacteria? Also can you use Hydrogen Peroxide instead of bleach to clean the water softener?
Check the water before the water softener to see if it smells like eggs. If it does you need a sulphur filter like this FOC waterestore.com/products/hum-foc-sulphur-water-filter-one-cubic-foot I have only ever used chlorine for cleasning out the water softener.
Can I substitute bleach with Chlorine Dioxide? Is it safe for the softener resin?
I have never used Chlorine Dioxide, so I don't know.
Hi Gary, I tried going through commentd to see if someone else asked but can I add bleach directly to the brine tank if I do not have a brine well?
You can add it to the brine tank but it works better through the brine well.
We just had a drain blocked in our building and all the water from other people's sinks and showers backed up through the overflow into our salt tank (and flooded the apartment). The salt tank is still half full with salt cubes but the top has been contaminated (water with food waste etc. - not pleasant). Does the salt touch the "soft water"? Am I at risk of contaminating the usable water?
Sorry to hear, I have never heard of this happening to anyone. Yes, you need to clean out the salt tank, disinfect it with chlorine and disinfect the water softener.
Great and helpful video Gary. Can the water inside the home be used during the regen cycles in the process you described above? With multiple regen cycles necessary, that would be a few hours without running water. Maybe the water softener can just be bypassed for a few hours?
Yes, you can bypass it once the chlorine is inside the tank but you will need to take it off bypass to back wash the chlorine out.
Hey Gary, just had a Aquasure water softener installed yesterday and I’m getting a plastic smell and taste in my water and this morning after doing a little research I put the softener in bypass Mode and the smell and taste went away. Do I have a bad resin and or can it be cleaned?
No, likley just because it is new. If it persists call whomever you bought it from.
I have a very similar issue! I just installed an AquaSure 64,000 grain unit a couple days ago and now my water has distinct musty/plastic-y/chemical-y taste, to the point where it seems unsafe to drink. After regenerating it for the first time, I regenerated it again, but the taste didn't improve. Curious what you ended up doing.
What would make my salt bin have like a gas like odor literally 24 hours after installation?I have 45,000 grain AO. Smith system from Lowe’s. I used Morton salt pellets with iron out.
I really don't know.
Gary I used boiling water in my softener to break up a salt dam. Will this damaged the resins. The water is brown with bubbles. This after removing all the salt and water and disinfecting.
Veronica
Do not use water hotter than from the hot water tap. You will end up warping the riser tube in the water softener.
Hi Gary - I had a new water softening system installed last Tuesday and my water immediately smelled terribly of fish, manure & plastic. It's so bad I cannot use it. I called the guy who installed it and sent several messages and he is not returning my calls (although he cashed the $5,200 check). The only information I have about the two tanks installed is: IMS/ozone & katalox and the other 10x44 softener/tannin resin metered. I've bypassed the units and am back to well water until I get this resolved. I'd appreciate suggestions/help. Thanks
Don't you just hate that kind of (non)service? The smell may be coming from the tannin filter, we typically install a carbon filetr after the tannin filter in case there is a fishy smell afetr installation. I would bypass just the tannin filter, put the rest of the system on line and see if the smell is gone. If so install a carbon filter like this waterestore.com/products/viqua-20-bb-modified-carbon-block-10-m-c2-02?variant=43997880484053 in a housing like this waterestore.com/products/viqua-awp42b-v-20-bb-filter-housing after the tannin filter.
Sir I have an automatic softener.it regens ,uses salt and everything is fine.but there is one problem.the problem is it is not taking groundwater fastly and we know this by looking at the screen of softener,when it shows "TOTAL LITERS" and the numbers change there(increases).but from many days the numbers are not changing and it is taking so much of time.what might be the problem sir?
Either the meter is not working or you have a 3 way bypass around the water softener that has been left open. See this video th-cam.com/video/2EcQrrlxMqo/w-d-xo.html
@@water_estorethank you so much sir. we called technician and he said there is airlock in softener.he said he will change something in softener.sir my softener is only "1MONTH OLD".does this kind of problems occur in softener?we are calling him but he is not coming from 3 weeks.sir did the technician lie to us??
@@suzumm6150 yes, there could be an air lock in where the meter is located that could cause this concern, although that is very rare, or it could be a defective meter but always check the 3 way bypass (if there is one) first. If it is only 1 month old is it not under warranty?
@@water_estore only 1 year warranty and sir what causes airlock ? And how could I fix it without any technician.
I have 2 year old Rainsoft system and my laundry smells moldy no matter what I do, as well as mold in toilets since install, is this normal or this issue you have here?
It would be odd to see it in a 2 year old water softener but it could be. Give the procedure a try and see if it helps.
If your on well water yes it happens often use bleach like in the video.
Did it with a little cap of bleach. Cycled it twice. No more gross smell but now it smells like bleach.. any advice? :(
Just keep regenerating it until the smell is gone.
How about just using a pack of Sani-System? It is EPA registered sanitizer for the water softener? Bleach isn't, plus it damages the resin.
In the video I was suggesting a disinfectant that could be readily found in most homes. In the quantity mentioned in the video it will not hard the resin. Sani-System should work but I have not tried it so I can't say for sure..
Before I followed your instructions, the KCl in my brine tank was very low and the brine water looked scummy. I probably should have taken the opportunity to empty the tank and scrub it out, but after the ResCare treatment, I added KCl up to the half way point so I could pour in the hot water per your video. I added chlorine down the tube and did the recommended regenerations. I also emptied my water heater and flushed my hot and cold pipes. My tap water seems better, but is still not as fresh as I'd hoped. Now I have 160lb of fresh KCl in the tank (plus 5 gal of water). Could I add some chlorine directly onto the KCL (or down the side) to hopefully sanitize the tank?
yes you can, but keep it to about 2 ounces.
Had my softener for 18 years, it just started smelling bad, I don't see a well tube. My water has never smelled like sulfur despite other wells in area. Water doesn't smell bad from faucet, use bottled water for drinking. May try adding some chemical last tech gave me, then see.
Did you try this procedure?
so... how to simply avoid this in the first place? What caused this? This shouldn't happen...
Rick Dangerous good question! It is a rare occurrence, but very frustrating. If you are on a municipal, chlorinated water supply it will likely never happen. On well water more likely. Add some res care once a year and keep the salt level at about the 1/2 level are your best bets to keep the stinky water away!
My water doesn't smell when I use it but after I use it 10 mins later there is the gas like smell. I changed my anode rod in water heater but problem is still there and I feel itchy after shower. So I think it could be my water softener which is only a year old. Please help I don't know where to look any more. Thank you very much.
good question. Try bypassing the water softener for a week to see if those symptoms go away. If they do the problem is with the water softener.
Is everyone enjoying their water softner? Is it giving any problems to your skin?
Usually a water softener prevents skin problems
my water has was tastin bad for years, we were away from home for a month and when we got home the water smelled so bad it was unbarable. I did what you reccomended and it was better than expexted, my water has not tasted this good in 20y. Thanks for the information.
Glad to hear it helped! Please share with friends and family!
Did you turn off water to water heater when you did bleach? Or just followed his instructions…?
I Can't Stand Chlorine Bleach😜... This Is Why We Chose Not To Hook-up To The City Water!!😜... So My Question Is... Would It Be OK To Use 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide... Which Can Be Diluted Down To Whatever Percentage Needed... "Instead Of Using The Toxic Chlorine Bleach"!!??🤔😓😞... Just Curios!!??🤔😞
I really don’t know, never tried it.