Smelly water in salt tank

[peanutbutterjellytime]

The water in my softener salt tank really stinks. Our softener is about 5 years old and we have a drip feeder that drops res-up into the tank.

What can we do to make the tank smell better, I'm really worried about bacteria contamination.

[greg-cws]

Hi

Your odor is most like bacteria. Bacteria can generally enter your brine tank from three sources:-

1. The air
2. The salt
3. The water

Bacterial contamination is a "dirty little secret" of the soft water industry.
Most traditional water softeners are designed with the belief that bacterial contamination is simply inevitable. Manufacturers just hope that the vigorous backwashing of a softener will minimize bacterial growth inside their softener/conditioner. I guess since nobody has sued a softener manufacturer/dealer yet for bacterial contamination, nobody really cares too much about it.

I take a very different approach in my own designs that are incorporated into products manufactured by Intermountain Soft Water or our affiliates who display the "Evertech" & "Digital Lifestyle" trademarks.

My design philosophy espouses that bacterial contamination can be significantly reduced if not completely eliminated using dry brine, fractional brining and Pur-Gard technologies as well as annual system tune-ups. Dry brining keeps as little water in the brine tank as possible, fractional brining technology allows the softener to clean periodically, whether the owner has used water or not, but unlike all other softeners, if you haven't used any water, it doesn't use any salt. - just Pur-Gard and a vigorous backwash.
Annual tune-ups ensure that you find problems while they are small & cheap and theat you maintain system calibration in relation to constantly changing water quality challenges.

Res-up and it's cousing Pro res-care is more and more commonplace these days and it is a good start. It is designed to help clean the softening resin and descale the control valve.

Intermountain began using res-up about 15 years ago, but we quickly discontinued it because it didn't meet our standards. We also tried Pro res-care and finally formulated our own to incorporate the proper cleaning, performance enhancing and disinfection compounds to work in conjunction with our proprietary technologies to provide you with the very best water quality possible.


Res-up is not a disinfectant or enhancer at all. Just like Pro res-care and other blue system cleaners, it is just designed to help clean the softening resin and system components.

I'd suggest that you switch to Pur-Gard or Pur-Gard Plus (Intermountain products). You can learn more about them at www.pur-gard.com

You can get Pur-Gard from your local plumber, water professional, or direct from Intermountain.



If you still want to stick with the res-up, you should disconnect and rinse your brine tank every quarter and also sanitize your softener with chlorine bleach monthly - the disadvantage to this is that it can damage your resin and internal seals.


Good luck

Greg


***DISCLAIMER - I work for Intermountain Soft Water and have some strong opinions about how things should be done properly. Res-Up and Pr0 Rescare are good products manufactured by very reputable manufacturers for a specific purpose - to clean water softening resins and components - NOTHING MORE. ***

[ion_avenger]

What he said, I love the stuff, I just wish my company invented it.

Bacteria is a serious issue. I wouldn;t be surprised if somebody gets sick from HPC bacteria growth in a water softener/filter and some sharkey lawyer files a class-action lawsuit. We've being reselling the Pur-Gard for about 6 years. Greg, when did you guys start using Pur-Gard with disinfectant in your systems ?

[dfm]

Great post Greg! Thanks so much for the information.

I'd always wondered why my brine tank was free of bacteria. Life has evolved to live everywhere and I was stumped that my brine tank remained pretty clean looking. I know, for example, how full of unintended life a salt water fish tank can get. Anyway, a couple of months back I accidentally set the lid of my brine tank against an object and I casually wondered if I might have contaminated it. Well, it may be coincidence, but I now have a grungy gray looking bacteriological scum in my brine tank.

I've been using Res-up in a drip feeder, but obviously that's not helping with this problem. Can I use Pur-Guard to "shock treat" my softener tank. I have a sample bottle of Pur-Guard. Once I clean out my brine tank could I pour a bottle in the brine tank and regenerate and expect a "shock treatment"? How should I then proceed to prevent future infections? Would the Pur-Guard end up so diluted from a drip feed that it would not have an anti-bacteriological effect? Would I instead need to pour an amount of Pur-Guard into my brine tank periodically? Thanks for any suggestions! dfm




Hi

Your odor is most like bacteria. Bacteria can generally enter your brine tank from three sources:-

1. The air
2. The salt
3. The water

Bacterial contamination is a "dirty little secret" of the soft water industry.
Most traditional water softeners are designed with the belief that bacterial contamination is simply inevitable. Manufacturers just hope that the vigorous backwashing of a softener will minimize bacterial growth inside their softener/conditioner. I guess since nobody has sued a softener manufacturer/dealer yet for bacterial contamination, nobody really cares too much about it.

I take a very different approach in my own designs that are incorporated into products manufactured by Intermountain Soft Water or our affiliates who display the "Evertech" & "Digital Lifestyle" trademarks.

My design philosophy espouses that bacterial contamination can be significantly reduced if not completely eliminated using dry brine, fractional brining and Pur-Gard technologies as well as annual system tune-ups. Dry brining keeps as little water in the brine tank as possible, fractional brining technology allows the softener to clean periodically, whether the owner has used water or not, but unlike all other softeners, if you haven't used any water, it doesn't use any salt. - just Pur-Gard and a vigorous backwash.
Annual tune-ups ensure that you find problems while they are small & cheap and theat you maintain system calibration in relation to constantly changing water quality challenges.

Res-up and it's cousing Pro res-care is more and more commonplace these days and it is a good start. It is designed to help clean the softening resin and descale the control valve.

Intermountain began using res-up about 15 years ago, but we quickly discontinued it because it didn't meet our standards. We also tried Pro res-care and finally formulated our own to incorporate the proper cleaning, performance enhancing and disinfection compounds to work in conjunction with our proprietary technologies to provide you with the very best water quality possible.


Res-up is not a disinfectant or enhancer at all. Just like Pro res-care and other blue system cleaners, it is just designed to help clean the softening resin and system components.

I'd suggest that you switch to Pur-Gard or Pur-Gard Plus (Intermountain products). You can learn more about them at www.pur-gard.com

You can get Pur-Gard from your local plumber, water professional, or direct from Intermountain.



If you still want to stick with the res-up, you should disconnect and rinse your brine tank every quarter and also sanitize your softener with chlorine bleach monthly - the disadvantage to this is that it can damage your resin and internal seals.


Good luck

Greg


***DISCLAIMER - I work for Intermountain Soft Water and have some strong opinions about how things should be done properly. Res-Up and Pr0 Rescare are good products manufactured by very reputable manufacturers for a specific purpose - to clean water softening resins and components - NOTHING MORE. ***

[greg-cws]

Good question !

You definitely can shock your brine tank with Pur-Gard.
Pour 1/2 a bottle of Pur-Gard into your brine tank via the brine well.
Allow at least 1 hour of contact time & then regenerate the system within 12 hours.

After that, pour the balance into the feeder with the existing res-up.

Top up with Pur-Gard from now on and life is good.


The drip-feeder does indeed cause dilution, so I'd suggest you shock the tank about once a year for total peace of mind.

On our systems, we actually inject concentrated Pur-Gard directly into the system every time it regenerates to help with bacteria control and to optimize system performance.