We have had an annual servicing of our system and several weeks later experienced a problem where the injector was clogged with a small particle of iron that subsequently caused our brine tank to overflow. Where would this likely come from and are there any ways to avoid this in the future? (ie. a float)

Answer: Are you certain that the material found plugging your injector was iron? The reason for this question is that the cation exchange resin contained inside your softener can also resemble an iron particle, and is normally present as a very small brown “plastic” bead. If you find that this may be what is plugging you injector, please let us know, and we will make some recommendations.

However, assuming that the material plugging your injector is actually iron, we would expect that you are using water supplied from a private on-site well that contains a higher level of iron. Municipal (city) water does not normally contain elevated levels of iron, so this would not be a probable occurrence.

The way that particulate (ferric) iron contained in your water can plug your injector depends on the type of water softener you own. The injector you mention is a small venturi that creates a vacuum when water runs past it to drain. This vacuum is used to draw the solution in your brine tank into the resin tank during the regeneration process. With a standard down-flow type water softener, raw untreated water is used to refill the brine tank, and during the brine draw process, it is possible that a particle can become lodged in your injector. If the injector is plugged, it will not generate a vacuum, and the solution will remain in your brine tank. During brine refill, new water will be added into the brine tank, causing the level to increase. Unless the injector is cleaned, this process will repeat, until the brine tank overflows onto your floor.

For this reason, all of our systems include a back-up safety float. This float is part of the brine valve assembly, and is located inside of the brine tank. Its purpose is to shut off the brine tank refill process when a set water level is reached. This prevents an overflow problem. We have safety overflow systems available, but the type you require depends on the type of control valve used in your softener system. You will also need to have a brine well in your brine tank, as a float system is mounted inside of a brine well (the brine well is a large diameter plastic tube that is mounted on the inside of your brine tank). If there is no brine well, this can be added to your design as well.

If you do have elevated levels of iron in your water, you might want to consider a Res-Up feeder. The Res-Up is slowly dripped into your brine solution by use of a drip feeder. The drip feeder would be installed into your existing brine tank. The solution slowly drips into your salt solution, and provides additional cleaning of the resin and removal of iron and manganese during regeneration. This may not completely resolve your problem, but would be beneficial for the cation exchange resin bed if higher levels of iron are present. You can purchase the drip feeder and Res-Up solution on our “Chemicals, Resin, & Filter Media” page on any of our sites.

Please let us know if you have any questions.