Water Softener Woes

   We are still unpacking and trying to get things in order around the house. It's coming along, but it's a slow process! Plus we're starting to get the itch to dive into some projects! It's been really good, though, and we have already had quite a few visitors up to see the place in it's "before" stages!

   The main reason I am writing this post, though, is for advice for anyone thinking of buying a home. Our home is only 9 years old. Therefore, building, electrical, etc. is all updated and up to code. However, you never really know how the people before you treated the home and/or the things inside. Always get an inspection! No matter the age of the home. It's totally worth it! Ours went awesome (don't get me wrong), but there's ALWAYS something.

   With that said, upon the signing of our papers, our realtor offered to buy our home protection plan coverage. It's a basic insurance-like package that covers any damage or defects in appliances, furnace, water softener, heater, roofing, siding, etc. It's like a "get out a jail free" card for things that happen that first year you live there (especially if it wasn't due to the care you gave it). However, after the inspection and the raving reviews of the home, he decided it would be a bit of a waste as a "house warming gift" and decided to buy us a LED flat screen TV instead. It wasn't the biggest TV we own nor was it the one we would have picked out necessarily, but it was a very nice gesture and we accepted it. I mean what could go wrong with a house and its appliances being less than 10 years old (some even newer...like the water heater is only 2 years old!!).

   Well....you know where this is going. Owning a house is $$$. First it was the dishwasher. Doesn't like to wash dishes (join the club...). Didn't matter the soap or number of dishes. Just refused to clean em. Well we found out that it can get them clean, but it has to be on the longest, hottest setting it has (for cookware and heavy duty things). So we're wasting water and energy on that every time we use it. However, it's working for the time being.

   Then it was a couple tripped circuit breakers for no reason. One of the times it was the refrigerator, microwave, and every outlet in the dining room out. Soooo that was concerning (we were under the impression the fridge should have it's own breaker). However, it was storming that day, too, so we're not sure exactly what tripped it.

   Lastly, it was the water softener. The old owner had been using it and had filled it with pellets a month or two before we moved in. However, when I went down to check the salt levels I noticed  a black sludge all around the inside of the tank (brine) and floating in the salt (awesome!). My first thought was mold. It looked stagnant and didn't seem to be filtering. Then I thought maybe she didn't have it on. Well come to find out she was SUPPOSE to be using salt CRYSTALS instead of PELLETS this whole time (no idea how long she was doing this). For those that don't know, if you use pellets in a system that requires crystals, you can cause sludge and blockages in your system lines (that you will have to hire out for cleaning). It can also cause backups and break downs of your appliances (dishwashers are common....mmm...sound familiar??). So I called the Water Doctors to schedule an appointment. I wanted to make sure my lines were clear and that I didn't have a huge problem on my hands. They told me on the phone to go ahead and clear all the pellets out of the brine, wipe it all down, clear as much as I can from the bottom, and then refill it with crystals. Otherwise, if they had to do it when they came to inspect the lines, it was going to cost us by the hour starting at $100+ (no thanks)!

   So guess what I got to do?

Me vs. water softener

   I forgot to take pictures before I started cleaning the brine out and scrubbing. It wasn't mold, though (thank GOD). It didn't smear and wasn't "slimy" to wipe up. It was more like dirt or mud (still don't want that in my water...thanks). To give you an idea what was in there...here is what the piece at the bottom of the brine looked like before cleaning:

Yum....black sludge

Here's a close up of the caked on mess

   I simply used really hot water and some dish soap on this piece. For the brine, though, I used hot water and a rag to get the majority. I didn't want to add cleaners because I didn't want it contaminating the fresh water. I used Ian's shop vac to vacuum up water and debris from the brine as I went along. I rinsed with fresh water, vacuum, wiped, rinsed, vacuum, etc. I definitely got my workout carrying the full shop vac up the stairs and to the laundry room utility sink, though!

What pellets look like as well as the gray/black sludge clogging the bottom of the brine.

   This was taken as I was cleaning the brine. This is my garbage can with the pellet waste piling up. It took me a long while to get it completely cleaned out. However, it looked a MILLION times better when I was done.

Clean bottom piece to the softener!

Clean softener!

   The Water Doctors said to then fill the brine 1/2 full of cold, clean water. Then add the salt crystals after that. They wanted at least 12 inches of crystals above the water. Then I was suppose to go ahead and cycle it like normal. Well I didn't know if it had been cycled, so I had to get out the manual and make sure everything was set correctly.

Morton Salt Crystals. Much smaller in size.

   I then went ahead and cycled through all the filtration settings for 5 minutes each to make sure the water came through the lines. I topped the brine off with more salt to make sure it wasn't too low, and that was it!

   The water guy came out the next week and ran through everything, but he said it all looked really good! He couldn't find any more sludge backed up or further up in the lines! So that was a relief. However, it still cost me $100 to have him make the "house call" to check on the appliance. At least I had the peace of mind that it was all working properly and up-to-date! Plus, it wasn't so far gone we had to replace the system! So yay for saving money that way! Go us! Hopefully this is the end of our little housing mishaps and appliance craziness! However, that housing protection plan is looking pretty nice right about now and would have come in handy for all these costly maintenance calls. Oh well...life as a home owner (and excited about it!)