So, as you can see, your water softener hardness setting is set at 5 grains per gallon will tell the water softener to regenerate every two days rather than every day which is what it would need to do to provide constant soft water. Divide the output hardness by the baseline to get the percentage by which you should raise salt input. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. You have had your water softener for years, and it has been working great! You would have to test the water to determine the hardness of the water, and then as a rule of thumb, you would add 4 to the water hardness setting for every 1 part per million of iron found in the water. Page 17: Morton Water Softener Features & Settings MORTON WATER SOFTENER FEATURES AND SETTINGS NOTE: SEE PAGES 12 and 13 TO SET THE CORRECT TIME OF DAY AND WATER HARDNESS NUMBER. Your email address will not be published. Whereas your water softener may only regenerate once every 3000 gallons of water used if it is set correctly, raising the hardness setting could make it regenerate after only 1000 gallons of water have been used. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Usually the setting matches your water hardness (in grain per gallon) but you have to compensate the iron level of your water by increasing the setting. If the bead of resin needs to remove 10 grains of hardness per gallon of water that passes over it, it will be able to remove the hardness from 10 gallons of water. What Happens When A Water Softener Regenerates? Hardiness setting default is 25. Your water softeners hardness setting must be set to the correct hardness so the system will know when the water softening resin has removed all of the hardness that it can base on how much water has been used, and the hardness that the water contains per gallon. __ez.scxr.getDW(document).write(decodeURIComponent('%3Cscript%3E(function(htm)%7B%0D%0Afunction%20%24id()%7B%0D%0Avar%20id%3D%27ShareASale-%27%2BMath.random().toString(36).substr(2).toUpperCase()%3B%0D%0Areturn%20document.getElementById(id)%3F%24id()%3Aid%3B%0D%0A%7D%0D%0Avar%20ifr%2Cdoc%2Cid%20%3D%20%24id()%3B%0D%0Adocument.write(%27%3Ciframe%20id%3D%22%27%2Bid%2B%27%22%20src%3D%22about%3Ablank%22%20scrolling%3D%22no%22%20style%3D%22border%3A0%3Boverflow%3Ahidden%3Bbackground%3Atransparent%3Bwidth%3A100%25%3B%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E%27)%3B%0D%0Aifr%20%3D%20document.getElementById(id)%3B%0D%0Adoc%20%3D%20ifr.contentDocument%7C%7Cifr.contentWindow.document%3B%0D%0Adoc.open()%3B%0D%0Adoc.write(%27%3C!DOCTYPE%20html%3E%3Chtml%3E%3Cmeta%20charset%3D%22UTF-8%22%3E%3Cbody%20style%3D%22height%3A100%25%3Bmargin%3A0%3Bpadding%3A0%3Bfont-family%3Asans-serif%3Bfont-size%3A12pt%3B%22%3E%27%2Bhtm%2B%27%3C%2Fbody%3E%3C%2Fhtml%3E%27)%3B%0D%0Adoc.close()%3B%0D%0Awindow.setTimeout((%0D%0Afunction(I%2CD)%7B%0D%0Avar%20s%3D%20I.style%2C%20%0D%0Ab%20%3D%20doc.body%3B%0D%0As.width%20%3D%20b.scrollWidth%20%2B%20%27px%27%3B%0D%0As.height%20%3D%20b.scrollHeight%20%2B%20%27px%27%3B%0D%0A%7D%0D%0A).bind(null%2C%20ifr%2C%20doc)%2C200)%3B%0D%0A%7D)(decodeURIComponent(%27%253Ctable%2520border%253D%25220%2522%2520style%253D%2522border%253A1px%2520solid%253B%2522%253E%253Ctbody%253E%253Ctr%253E%253Ctd%2520align%253D%2522center%2522%253E%253Ca%2520href%253D%2522https%253A%252F%252Fshareasale.com%252Fm-pr.cfm%253Fmerchantid%253D13667%2526amp%253Buserid%253D1237609%2526amp%253Bproductid%253D462495301%2526amp%253Bafftrack%253D%2522%2520target%253D%2522_blank%2522%253E%253Cimg%2520alt%253D%2522Sensafe%2520(481108)%2520Total%2520Hardness%253B%252030%2520Test%2520Strips%2522%2520src%253D%2522http%253A%252F%252Fwww.isopurewater.com%252Fassets%252Fimages%252Fdefault%252F481108.gif%2522%2520border%253D%25220%2522%253E%253Cbr%253E%253Cb%253ESensafe%2520(481108)%2520Total%2520Hardness%253B%252030%2520Test%2520Strips%253C%252Fb%253E%2520-%2520%252416.95%253C%252Fa%253E%253Cbr%253E%253Cp%253EWith%2520the%2520Total%2520Hardness%2520Test%2520Strips%252C%2520you%2520can%2520teach%2520chemistry%2520principles%2520in%2520a%2520fun%2520and%2520safe%2520way%2520without%2520expensive%2520and%2520complicated%2520equipment!%2520Test%2520the%2520calcium%2520and%2520magnesium%2520levels%2520of%2520drinking%2520water%2520throughout%2520your%2520neighborhood%2520and%2520quickly%2520gather%2520data%2520with%2520an%253C%252Fp%253E%253C%252Ftd%253E%253C%252Ftr%253E%253C%252Ftbody%253E%253C%252Ftable%253E%27))%3B%3C%2Fscript%3E')); If you suspect that you have iron in your water, use a general water test kit to determine the level of iron in your water so that you can adjust your water softeners hardness setting to remove whatever iron there is. link to What Happens When A Water Softener Regenerates? Increasing the regeneration frequency will increase the amount of salt you use, but will keep the softener from dumping hardness back in when the salt in the resin is exhausted. Helpful, thank you. But, for the most part, you should be able to find an alternative system that works for you for about the same price as a salt-based system or less. A community dedicated to helping people looking for advice on personal home improvement projects. Using a simple water hardness test kit, you can quickly find out the amount of hardness in your water. You probably don’t give your water softener much thought. Generally, having your water hardness setting set too high will not cause any damage to your water softener, or create any change to your water. Raising the hardness setting on a water softener does not mean that it will make the water coming out of the water softener harder. The output of your system should be near 0 ppm. The previous salt charge will not be expelled totally. If your system has cycled recently and its output is not at 0 ppm, you will need to increase salt input. The first thing you will need is a test method for water hardness. Check water hardness after that number of days. Think of a bead of water softening resin as looking like a tiny golf ball with dimples in it that hold the hard minerals that are removed from your water. “This site is owned and operated by Freewateradvice.com. 80) appropriate for “harder” water? Required fields are marked *. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. So I would need to set it to 13 or whatever setting is above that? Our reservoir is a limestone canyon. Setting it at an 80 when you need 20 isn’t going to result in softer water, it’s just going to run the regeneration cycle more often and cost you a small fortune in salt because the controller will think you captured more hard minerals than you actually did. You can also check out this thread where someone else was having similar issues. When you can taste salt in your water you have gone too far. By raising the hardness setting on a water softener, you are simply telling the water softener that the water that will be going through it has more hardness in it. These might vary from one unit to the next. Yes, water softening resin will continue to remove hardness from water as long as it can. Learn about a little known plugin that tells you if you're getting the best price on Amazon. Your email address will not be published. Is a higher number (I.e. Setting the water hardness setting on your water softener will tell your water softener to regenerate often enough to provide you with soft water, but not to regenerate more than is needed which will just waste your water, and use more salt. These should measure hardness or alkalinity in parts per million (ppm). These cookies do not store any personal information. Freewateradvice.com also participates in affiliate programs with Bluehost, Clickbank, CJ, ShareASale, and other sites. You could go with a high setting but your softener will regenerate more often, increasing drastically the salt consumption. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. If you have a timer system or a DIR usage-based system, you can try increasing time between regenerations to suit your household requirements. Properly setting your water softeners hardness setting will allow your water softener to remove the iron from your water as well as the hardness. Set it in accordance with your water hardness and make sure you have enough salt in your brine tank. You should read your owners manual for the proper method of making any adjustments on your system. __ez.scxr.getDW(document).write(decodeURIComponent('%3Cscript%3E(function(htm)%7B%0D%0Afunction%20%24id()%7B%0D%0Avar%20id%3D%27ShareASale-%27%2BMath.random().toString(36).substr(2).toUpperCase()%3B%0D%0Areturn%20document.getElementById(id)%3F%24id()%3Aid%3B%0D%0A%7D%0D%0Avar%20ifr%2Cdoc%2Cid%20%3D%20%24id()%3B%0D%0Adocument.write(%27%3Ciframe%20id%3D%22%27%2Bid%2B%27%22%20src%3D%22about%3Ablank%22%20scrolling%3D%22no%22%20style%3D%22border%3A0%3Boverflow%3Ahidden%3Bbackground%3Atransparent%3Bwidth%3A100%25%3B%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E%27)%3B%0D%0Aifr%20%3D%20document.getElementById(id)%3B%0D%0Adoc%20%3D%20ifr.contentDocument%7C%7Cifr.contentWindow.document%3B%0D%0Adoc.open()%3B%0D%0Adoc.write(%27%3C!DOCTYPE%20html%3E%3Chtml%3E%3Cmeta%20charset%3D%22UTF-8%22%3E%3Cbody%20style%3D%22height%3A100%25%3Bmargin%3A0%3Bpadding%3A0%3Bfont-family%3Asans-serif%3Bfont-size%3A12pt%3B%22%3E%27%2Bhtm%2B%27%3C%2Fbody%3E%3C%2Fhtml%3E%27)%3B%0D%0Adoc.close()%3B%0D%0Awindow.setTimeout((%0D%0Afunction(I%2CD)%7B%0D%0Avar%20s%3D%20I.style%2C%20%0D%0Ab%20%3D%20doc.body%3B%0D%0As.width%20%3D%20b.scrollWidth%20%2B%20%27px%27%3B%0D%0As.height%20%3D%20b.scrollHeight%20%2B%20%27px%27%3B%0D%0A%7D%0D%0A).bind(null%2C%20ifr%2C%20doc)%2C200)%3B%0D%0A%7D)(decodeURIComponent(%27%253Ctable%2520border%253D%25220%2522%2520style%253D%2522border%253A1px%2520solid%253B%2522%253E%253Ctbody%253E%253Ctr%253E%253Ctd%2520align%253D%2522center%2522%253E%253Ca%2520href%253D%2522https%253A%252F%252Fshareasale.com%252Fm-pr.cfm%253Fmerchantid%253D13667%2526amp%253Buserid%253D1237609%2526amp%253Bproductid%253D502374636%2526amp%253Bafftrack%253D%2522%2520target%253D%2522_blank%2522%253E%253Cimg%2520alt%253D%2522Sensafe%2520(481046)%2520Its%2520IDA%2527s%2520Iron%2520Check%2520Kit%253B%2520Bottle%252025%2520Test%2520Strips%2522%2520src%253D%2522http%253A%252F%252Fwww.isopurewater.com%252Fassets%252Fimages%252Fdefault%252F481046.gif%2522%2520border%253D%25220%2522%253E%253Cbr%253E%253Cb%253ESensafe%2520(481046)%2520Its%2520IDA%2527s%2520Iron%2520Check%2520Kit%253B%2520Bottle%252025%2520Test%2520Strips%253C%252Fb%253E%2520-%2520%252422.29%253C%252Fa%253E%253Cbr%253E%253Cp%253EIf%2520low%2520range%2520detection%2520of%2520Fe%252B2%2520is%2520what%2520you%2520need%252C%2520this%2520is%2520the%2520answer.%2520Ida%2527s%2520Iron%2520Check%2520is%2520designed%2520to%2520specifically%2520react%2520with%2520Iron%252C%2520without%2520interference%2520from%2520other%2520heavy%2520metals%2520that%2520may%2520be%2520present.%2520Say%2520goodbye%2520to%2520dangerous%252C%2520time-consuming%2520wet-chemical%2520kits%253C%252Fp%253E%253C%252Ftd%253E%253C%252Ftr%253E%253C%252Ftbody%253E%253C%252Ftable%253E%27))%3B%3C%2Fscript%3E')); Let’s say that the hardness of the water is 10, and you have 1 part per million of iron in the water.