salt disappearing from water softner when away on hol

[tan8856]

Hi

I suspected this happened last time i went on hol so this time i marked the level the 2 blocks of salt were at before i left. i was away for 2 weeks and on my return both blocks had gone down by 2 inches!

We have a Harveys water softner and it uses the large salt blocks (in pairs). We get through aprox 2 blocks (1 pair) every 2 weeks.

http://www.harveywatersofteners.co.uk/

It is metered so only regenerates when x amount of water has run through it. So how/why can it have regenerated when we wernt using any water? We turn everything off before a hol, the only thing left on is the boiler but just the flame not the heating/hot water.

Im baffled.

 

[Agile]

Some regenerate at a default period even if no water has been used.

Or you could have a leak?

Or the time/consumption for regeneration just happened to coincide with one drip from a tap during your holiday.

My advise is to forget about it.

Do you turn off the water before your holiday?

 

[tan8856]

Some regenerate at a default period even if no water has been used.

Or you could have a leak?

Or the time/consumption for regeneration just happened to coincide with one drip from a tap during your holiday.

My advise is to forget about it.

Do you turn off the water before your holiday?

The reason im bothered is that our softner seems to use an excessive amount of salt, and salt isnt cheap. If its using a fifth of 2 blocks unnecessarily every 2 weeks then id like to know why.

I would have thought that 1 generation is much less than 5th of a block as we get through a pair of blocks every 2 weeks and i hear it regenerating around twice a day. So by my sums 2 inches of salt is 5.5 regerations so a fair bit of water must have gone through it whilst we were away.

We dont turn the water off at the stopcock but i will next time.

I sometime hear the sound of trickling water in the pipework around the combi boiler even when the hot water/rads arnt circulating. Is that normal?

Thanks

 

[adlplumbing]

right you may have driping tap
and you could always use a magnet

 

[Agile]

Regen TWICE a day?

How many people live there?

What volume is it set to regen at?

Tony

 

[Onetap]

I sometime hear the sound of trickling water in the pipework around the combi boiler even when the hot water/rads arnt circulating. Is that normal?

Usually condensate being discharged; the condensate is collected and discharged when the atnk is full to reduce the risk of the external pipes freezing.

I haven't had any dealings with block salt softeners.
Might it be the brine tank overflowing, or the bottom of the block disintegrating into the bottom of the brine tank?

 

[tan8856]

Regen TWICE a day?

How many people live there?

What volume is it set to regen at?

Tony

Its 2 adults and 2 young kids. Id say we-re fairly sensible with out water consumption. How do i see that volume its set to regen at? Im sure it regens too often.

 

[JohnD]

You will have to look at the instructions for your machine to see how to adjust the regen

However it is also possible that water is dripping into the salt tank due to a leak or jammed refill valve (usually it only refills ready for the next regen)

The tanks usually have an overflow hose to take excess water away. If this is not where you can see it you might not notice the overflow dripping. However it will have left substantial salt contamination unless it goes into a drain.

alternatively as adlplumbing says you may have a dripping tap, or similar such as an overfilling WC cistern or loft tank, that is causing water to be used up and therefore the regen will be triggered by the wasted water.

Have you got a water meter?

 

[Agile]

Ideally the softener will only be on the hot water supply for the house.

But many are on the whole house except the cold in the kitchen.

I would say if you are careful the twice a week should be adequate if it was correctly sized for the house or every couple of days if not.

You will have to see the instructions or ask the supplier how to reset the regen volume.

Tony

 

[tan8856]

We just pulled the unit out and cant see any way to adjust the regen.

There is a label on the top that says ' Regen : 17 or 26' and 26 is crossed out so i assume we are on 17 (whatever that means). Does this mean our softner can only be on 1 of 2 regen settings and we are already on the lowest?

 

[tan8856]

ps we didnt get any instructions with it and cant find any online.

 

[tan8856]

what did i miss?!