I have just purchased a  house whith a culligan water softener system. The previos owner turned off the system. I turned it back on and there is little pressure and the water is brown.  what is wrong?

Answer: It is very likely that the resin bed has become fouled over time.  From your description, this probably means that the likely culprit is fouling due to iron.  You can try using a commercially available preparation called Iron-Out to clean the resin bed, but as you mention that there is reduced water pressure, it is probably too far gone, and requires replacement of the resin.  You can find replacement resin at our site on the Chemical, Resin, & Filter Media page.  By the way, we are sorry that we took so long in replying to your message, but you neglected to hit the “Publish” button after composing the message, and we just noticed the draft version.

I’ve had a WaterBoss softener since March 2003 and until recently have been satisfied with its performance.  However we begun to lose water pressure, after trying several suggestions the softener was bypassed (city water) and the pressure was restored.  After other suggestions from WaterBoss they have determined that the resin should be replaced.  I have emptied the old resin and after finding your web site decided to ask your opinion of this procedure before investing in replacement resin.  I would appreciate and respect your opinion of this particular brand and whether or not I should just replace the resin or the entire unit.  I live in an area of west Texas with extremely hard water (don’t know exact hardness) and wonder which brand might have the longest life expectancy.  Thank you for your time.

Answer: Deciding whether to replace the resin or just purchase a new softener is really a budgetary issue.  On one hand, replacement resin is fairly economical; for instance, the price on our site is between $110 and $130 per cubic foot.  On the other hand, big-box store water softeners do not have very good track records with regard to longevity, and you may instead decide to consider a more commercial quality unit.

If you can spend only $130 and get a few more years of life from your softener it may be money well spent.  However, you can also take a look at some of the units we offer on our Metered Water Softeners page if you like.  Recommending a specific unit depends on a number of factors, like pipe diameter, water quality, and number of residents in the home.  If you are considering purchase of a new unit, and have this information available, just let us know and we will be pleased to provide you with a quotation.  Hope this helps! 

I have a GE SmartWater water softener I was wondering why it won’t drain. I also don’t know how to take it apart to fix it. I looked inside I can see all the way through to the bottom of the tank and I can see some rocky stuff, a layer of sediment, or whatever you call it. The water is up three quarters of the way where you put the salt. During recharge the instruction manual says that this water is suppose to be drained. I checked the nozzle and venturi and the screen and the flow plugs looked clean. When it was plugged in it made the water pressure low throughout the home in the faucets and shower head. When I released the bypass valve it sounded like it pressurized again and then when I tried to mandatory recharge it the water was quickly flowing through the drain hose but the water in the tank was exactly the same. I think this might have been fresh water flowing out of the drain hose. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thank you.

Answer: From your description, it sounds as you might have two related problems – possibly caused by resin bed failure.

First, you may have a “salt bridge” formed in the bottom of your brine tank.  A salt bridge is a solidified layer of salt in the bottom of a brine tank, and may be preventing the softener from drawing the brine solution into the resin tank during the regeneration stage.  If a bridge has formed, simply drain the brine tank of all water (you can use a wet vac or siphon to do this), and then try to dissolve and break-up the salt bridge.  Heated water sometimes helps dissolve the salt so that you will be able to remove it easier.  When the brine tank is clean, place a few gallons of water into the tank, and try to manually regenerate the unit again.  During the “brine draw” stage of regeneration, this water should recede, and be drawn into the resin tank.  If it does not, there may be other problems with your unit.

The loss of water pressure when the unit is in service may point to failure (plugging or deterioration) of the resin bed. This is a common indication of bed failure, and can also cause the water level in your brine tank to rise.  This is because there needs to be a good flow of water through the resin bed in order for the venturi to generate the suction needed to draw the brine solution into the resin tank.  If there is bed plugging or failure, then water cannot move fast enough past the venturi, and the water in the brine tank is never removed.  Additional water is placed into the brine tank during each regeneration, and eventually the water level will rise higher and higher, until the refill is stopped by a safety shut off float that triggers at high water level.  This is where you are now, and if the salt sits in stagnant water for a long period of time, it is possible for the bridge as mentioned above to form.

If removing the salt bridge fixes the problem, you should be “good-to-go”.  However, the unit you own is more of an entry level product.  It’s not really manufactured by GE directly, GE has their own GE/Autotrol brand, that is used in many high end water softeners. Your unit is made by another company under license – you can find similar units that are available at many big-box stores under various big name brands – same deal, just a different cabinet style & logo.  If your resin bed is fouled, or there is something defective in the control, it may not be cost effective to repair the unit (replacement part + service call cost can sometimes be almost as much as these types of softeners cost when originally purchased).  Check out what is most cost effective for you, but you can also consider some of our water softener products if you decide to replace the unit – internet pricing allows commercial quality water softener pricing to be about the same as you will find in big box store.

When looking through your site we came upon a post that mentioned the resin in a water softener would be affected if left in freezing temperatures, our question is if you drained the water out of the resin and introduced non toxic antifreeze would that be advisable, as we have a lot of water softeners to winterize and removing them is prohibitive….???? Thank You

Answer: Yes, that’s the way you do it.  However, it’s very important to use food grade antifreeze, as some non-food grades contain compounds that would poison the resin bed and lead to failure – or worse – cause negative health effects when the water is consumed.  Be sure to backwash the unit very effectively upon restart to be sure that there is no residual antifreeze left in the system.  To be very safe, just re-bed the unit with new resin after exposure to freezing temperatures, and at a cost of around $100 to $200, it may be worth it.

I recently purchased a house with a Culligan system. The previous owners had it off.  I turned it back on and I have little pressure and my water is brown.  what do I do?

Answer:  Your water treatment system is fouled.  We’re not sure if you are referring to a filter or water softener system, but in either case, the brown coloration is probably due to the accumulation of iron and/ or sediment.  This material has built up in the filter bed over time, resulting in your loss of water pressure. It is unlikely that the unit is functioning properly anyway, and your best option is to either re-bed (replace) the media contained within the water softener/filter tank, or perhaps just replace the unit completely.  In the short term, by-pass the unit so that you water pressure will be acceptable. If you can provide us with additional information as to the model number and type of system, perhaps we can make some additional suggestions.