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Breaking a Salt Bridge
Sometimes, a hard crust or salt bridge forms in
the salt storage area. It is usually caused by high
humidity or the wrong kind of salt. When the salt
bridges, an empty space forms between the
water and salt. Then salt will not dissolve in the
water to make brine.
If the brine tank is full of salt, it is hard to tell
if you have a salt bridge. Salt is loose on top, but
the bridge is under it. The following is the best
way to check for a salt bridge.
Salt should be loose all the way to the bottom of
the tank. Take a broom handle or like tool, and
carefully push it down into the salt, working it up
and down. If the tool strikes a hard object (be
sure it’s not the bottom or sides of the tank), it’s
most likely a salt bridge. Carefully break the
bridge with the tool.
Do not
pound on the walls
of the tank.
If the wrong kind of salt made the bridge, take it
out. Then fill the tank with nugget or pellet salt
only. In humid areas, it is best to fill with less salt,
more often to prevent a salt bridge from forming.
A clean injector and screen is needed for the
water softening system to work properly.
This
small unit makes the suction to move brine from
the brine tank storage area to the resin tank
during regeneration. If it becomes plugged with
sand, dirt, etc., the water softening system will
not work and you will get hard water. This will
be evident by a high level of water in the brine
tank—over 4
″
when the system is in service
mode.
TO CLEAN:
•
Put system in Bypass mode and relieve water
pressure.
•
Remove injector screen (a flat-head screwdriver
is required).
•
Remove injector cap and injector (needle nose
pliers are required).
•
Clean and flush thoroughly.
•
Check for damage.
•
Reassemble injector and injector screen.
•
To check proper operation, see page 30,
Checking the Brine Draw and Refill Function
.
•
Initiate REGEN cycle to restore resin bed.
A back-to-back regeneration is suggested.
Excess water in the brine tank will be removed.
Cleaning the Injector and Screen
Push tool into salt
bridge to break
Pencil
mark
Broom
handle
Salt
Salt
bridge
Water level
1
″
–2
″
Injector
Injector cap
Injector
screen
Injector screen and cap installation
