How Long Will A Water Softener Last

A water softener is an incredibly useful system to have in your domicile. There are so many benefits to soft water that thousands of homeowners invest in this difficult water softening solution on a yearly ground.

If y'all do consider investing in a water softener, you're probably bang-up to know exactly what you're coin's being spent on. Ownership a water softening organization that has a reputation for being reliable and effective is one thing, but having a long lifespan is every bit as of import. In this guide, we'll be looking at the typical lifespan of a new h2o softener, and how to tell if it's however working properly – and when it'due south time to purchase a replacement.

📅 Practice Water Softeners Have a Lifespan?

So how long does a h2o softener last?

The majority of the all-time home water softeners last for a minimum of 10 and upward to 20 years.

The actual lifespan of your water softener depends on how well y'all maintain the system, and the quality of the materials used in the system's structure. Keep in mind that no water treatment appliance lasts forever, and while water softeners have impressively long lifespans, there will come a time when you need to supplant yours in the future.

📌 Common Signs Your Water Softener is Starting to Neglect

If you currently utilize a water softener in your home, y'all probably don't recall much of information technology. It just quietly gets on doing its thing to soften your water, and, aside from occasional maintenance, you lot just leave the system to it. So you probably don't know how to observe when a h2o softener is reaching the end of its lifespan.

If y'all're not sure how to check for a failing water softening organization, here'south what you need to know:

Drinking H2o Tastes Different

Hard water has a singled-out alkaline metal sense of taste, which comes from the hardness minerals, namely calcium and magnesium, in the water. When you get a new water softener for your home, y'all will notice that your water taste is smoother and less distinctive than it was before.

If h2o starts to accept on a more chalky gustatory modality, y'all might need to supersede your abode h2o softener – information technology's a sign that your softener isn't working as effectively as information technology used to, and hard water minerals are slipping through.

Soap Won't Soap Well

One of the nearly obvious characteristics of hard water is that its minerals, calcium and magnesium, foreclose information technology from lathering well with soap.

You can test your water's lathering abilities by filling a water bottle or drinking glass container with h2o from your faucet, then squeezing nearly 10 drops of liquid soap into the water.

Put the hat on the bottle and shake vigorously, and then check your results.

If the water doesn't go many suds, or information technology looks cloudy, this indicates difficult water. Information technology'south probable that if your water isn't lathering well, your water softener isn't working as well every bit it was before.

Problems with Laundry

Another hard water blood-red flag is stiff, scratchy and yellow-tinged laundry. With a softener, water no longer contains the minerals that make clothes potent. When your water softener is starting to fail, it won't remove all of these minerals from your domicile water supply, leading to the laundry issues y'all probably experienced earlier installing your new water softener.

This is easily resolved by buying a new softener to replace your old one.

Scale Buildup on Pipes and Faucets

When your water contains hardness minerals, these minerals will leave streaky deposits on your pipes, faucets and water-based appliances, known as scale. Using h2o softeners should eliminate your scale problem, as with softeners, water is treated to eliminate the minerals or prevent them from being able to demark to surfaces.

If you're noticing a new scale effect in your bathroom, which may present itself equally white spots on your faucets or dull grey markings in your sink and bathtub, information technology may be time to consider replacing your h2o softener.

📝 How to Extend the Life of Your Water Softener

There are several simple things that you lot can practise to get more than value out of your water softener investment and add an extra few years onto how long your apparatus will last. Some of the all-time practices to put in place are every bit follows:

Adding a Prefilter

Adding a whole abode prefilter is one of the best ways to ensure water softeners can concluding a long time – 15 years minimum.

A prefilter can remove any suspended sediment that's commonly found in drinking water, like sand, rust and clay. These particles can impairment your water softener's softening media, impacting on how long it can last.

With a prefilter, your h2o softener should concluding longer considering information technology isn't being exposed to these particles. Y'all can purchase prefilters for h2o softeners online, and they generally cost between $20 and $50, depending on which make yous buy from.

If you are on a municipal or city water supply that uses chlorine equally a disinfectant, adding carbon filtration before the resin can extend the life of the media considering it is non breaking down over time due to chemical exposure.

Using the Right Kind of Regenerant

The blazon of regenerant, i.e. salt, that you use in your water softener is actually important when it comes to ensuring your system can last over the years.

Rock and block table salt aren't recommended for utilise, equally rock salt has a high calcium sulfate content that can crusade maintenance issues down the line, and you may non be able to fully submerge rock salt in the h2o in your alkali tank.

Solar salt pellets and evaporated salt pellets are best, and solar salt is peculiarly proficient for specially hard h2o.

Regularly Checking Salt Levels

Making sure at that place'due south plenty table salt in your h2o softener is likewise very of import. Being essential to the water treatment process, if common salt levels autumn likewise low, a water softener won't be able to regenerate its softening media.

Your system will go less constructive until, when there is no salt left in the tank at all, the system will only exist able to regenerate with difficult water. As a result, your water softener will cease producing soft water, and the water you use in your home will contain hardness minerals once again.

Cleaning the Alkali Tank or Resin Bed

For a brand new water softener, you demand to clean out the alkali tank or resin bed approximately every 2 years. If your water softener is older than this, you should clean information technology more often, roughly one time a year.

The mushy gunk in the bottom of your brine tank will subtract the efficiency of your water softener'south performance, making information technology work harder for less results. That'southward why cleaning it out is so important – yous'll keep the arrangement working in top form and prevent it from needlessly overworking for the same results.

Inspecting the Organisation Every 3 Months

Inspecting your h2o softener every 3 months can requite y'all a take a chance to check that everything looks expert and assist you to diagnose problems before they're given a chance to escalate.

Bridging, which is characterized by a hard chaff in the brine tank, preventing table salt from dissolving in the water to make brine, can stop your water softener from working properly. Merely the trouble is easy to diagnose and resolve with regular checks.

🌯 Wrap Up

Water softeners are a great manner to tackle a difficult water outcome in your home. Soft water doesn't just sense of taste better; it also improves the efficiency of your h2o-based appliances and gives you cleaner dishes and laundry. Only if you've been using your water softener for longer than yous care to remember, the system may be long overdue a check for potential faults and problems.

Following the to a higher place tips to assess your water softener and ensure it lives a long life volition assistance you to benefit most from your investment. A relatively pocket-sized corporeality of effort tin make all the difference when it comes to extending the lifespan of your softener and ensuring information technology keeps h2o taste and quality at its very best.