One of the biggest concerns with owning a water softener is the waste of water during the regeneration cycle. Here are four things that homeowners can do to minimize this waste and we will address them here.
1. The first thing we need to look at as far as water waste is to look at the type of system that you have. Older and inefficient water softeners regenerate off of a timer. In other words, these water softeners are regenerating every so many days no matter how much water you use. If your water softener is set to regenerate every 3 days it does not matter how many gallons of water you use in that 3 days whether it is 10 gallons or 1000 gallons the water softener is still going to regenerate using the same amount of water every single time, which can be up to 80 gallons of water for each regeneration. There are many water treatment dealers today who still sell and install time-initiated water softeners. It is my opinion that these systems should never be installed.
2. Make sure the water hardness that the softener is programmed for matches the actual water hardness of your water. Many plumbers are famous for just installing a water softener and walking away leaving the water softener at the default manufacturers program settings. If the default program setting is for 20 grains of hardness and you actually only have 10 grains of hardness per gallon in your water you will waste 50% of your salt and twice as much water in regeneration cycles.
3. If you have already had a newer system installed, you should consider having a professional look at the systems cycle settings and make sure the system is operating as efficiently as possible. Many times the program settings are set for much longer backwash cycles and rinse cycles than they need to be. Your water softener might be backwashing for 15 minutes at 2.7 gallons per minute when it only needs to backwash for 6 minutes.
4. Make sure you have no water leaks in your home. Fix that leaky faucet or toilet, even if it just dripping. I’ve seen “small” or “insignificant” leaks that add up to 700 gallons of water per day wasted. Think about this matter carefully. Not only are you wasting water at the leaky faucet or sink or toilet, but you are also causing your water softener to regenerate a lot sooner than needed causing water waste there as well.
Give us a call at Royal Water Systems today if you would like your Utah Water Softener system looked at today. We would be more than happy to show you what you can do, if anything to conserve water.
Sam Nielsen
Royal Water Systems
855-763-8637