Softener stopped softening, leaking, or stuck in regeneration? Find your symptom below. Some are a five-minute fix you can do yourself. When it’s more than that, our technicians diagnose and repair all major brands, with same-day service available.
Most softener problems show up as one of eight symptoms. Each has a short list of likely causes, and some you can fix without a service call.
The softener has stopped removing hardness. The usual causes, most likely first: the salt has run out, a salt bridge has formed, the bypass valve was left open, the hardness setting is wrong, or the resin is worn out.
Try firstCheck the salt and the bypass valve (steps 1 to 3 below).
If the salt stays level for weeks, the softener isn’t drawing brine. Either a hard crust (a salt bridge) is sitting above the water, or the unit has stopped regenerating because of a timer, power or valve fault.
Try firstPush a broom handle gently down through the salt to feel for a crust.
A few inches of water in the brine tank is normal. A tank that’s filling up means the brine can’t be drawn out: a blocked brine line or injector, a stuck float, or a kinked or clogged drain line.
Try firstCheck that the drain line isn’t kinked, then run a manual regeneration.
If water keeps running to the drain, the control valve isn’t completing its cycle. The cause is usually a worn piston or seals, a failing drive motor, or a timer or circuit-board fault.
Try firstPut the softener in bypass to stop the water loss, then call.
A sulfur smell usually comes from hydrogen sulfide in well water, or from bacteria in the resin or brine tank. A softener doesn’t remove hydrogen sulfide. That needs different treatment.
Try firstNote whether it’s hot water only or all taps, and tell the technician.
Pressure that drops after the softener points to resin fouled with iron or sediment, a clogged pre-filter, or resin beads broken down into fine particles that pack the tank.
Try firstPut the softener in bypass. If pressure recovers, the softener is the cause.
Small amber beads in faucet aerators or the toilet tank mean resin is escaping the tank. The distributor tube or the screen at the bottom of the tank has cracked.
Try firstThis isn’t a DIY fix. Call for a repair.
Leaks usually come from worn O-rings at the control valve, loose bypass or plumbing connections, or, rarely, a cracked tank. A leak under line pressure gets worse, not better.
Try firstPut the unit in bypass and shut off the supply if you can.
Put the softener in bypass, then call. Same-day service is available across Central Florida.
These take a few minutes and fix a large share of “my softener stopped working” calls. It’s worth trying them before booking a visit.
More on keeping a softener healthy: brine tank warning signs, water softener dos and don’ts, and how a water softener works.
Keep the brine tank at least a quarter full, with the salt sitting above the water. Use clean pellet salt or evaporated salt. Cheap rock salt leaves sludge in the tank.
Push a broom handle gently down through the salt. If it stops on a hard layer above the water, that’s a bridge. Break it into pieces and let the unit regenerate. Humidity in Florida garages makes bridges common.
The bypass valve sits on the back of the control head. If it’s set to bypass, hard water goes straight into the house. Put it back to service, the normal operating position.
After a power cut, many timers lose the time of day and regenerate in the middle of your morning shower, or not at all. Reset the clock so it regenerates overnight, usually at 2 a.m.
Start a regeneration from the control panel and listen for water running to the drain. Test with soap or a hardness strip a few hours later. Soft water again means the fix worked.
If the checks above haven’t fixed it, the fault is almost always inside the control valve or the resin tank. Those repairs need the right parts and a pressure-safe shutdown.
A rotten-egg smell deserves its own look. It’s often a well-water problem, not a softener fault. See why water smells like rotten eggs, and our iron filter options for iron and sulfur.
One visit, a clear diagnosis, and a price before any work starts. We repair Brita Pro systems and other major brands, including Culligan, Kinetico, RainSoft, EcoWater, Morton and Whirlpool softeners, and units with Fleck or Clack control valves.
Hardness, iron and total dissolved solids, measured on site. The test shows what the softener should be doing, so the diagnosis starts from your water, not a guess.
The control valve, resin tank, brine tank, float, injector, bypass and drain line, including the parts most visits skip.
We explain what failed and what it costs to fix. If repair doesn’t make sense on an older unit, we’ll tell you that too.
Parts replaced, settings matched to your water, and a hardness test afterwards to prove it’s softening again.
Is your system near the end of its life? Compare the cost of repair with a new water softener installation, or see the Brita Pro Platinum whole-house system. Not sure what’s in your water? Start with a free in-home water test.
Tell us what’s happening and we’ll call you back to schedule. For anything urgent, call us now on (407) 634-4345.
Tell us what’s happening and we’ll call you to confirm a time.
Our technicians work out of Longwood and cover Seminole, Orange, Brevard, Lake, Volusia and Osceola counties. That includes the cities below and the communities around them.
It depends on what failed. Resetting a clock or breaking a salt bridge costs nothing. Replacing seals, a brine float or an injector is a modest parts-and-labor job. A new control valve or a resin rebed costs more. We give you a price after the diagnosis and before any work starts.
If the unit is under about ten years old and the tanks and resin are sound, repair almost always wins. If the resin is exhausted and the control valve is failing on an older unit, replacement often costs less over the next few years. We’ll show you both options and the numbers behind them.
Most last 10 to 15 years. Resin wears faster on chlorinated city water and on water high in iron. Seals, O-rings and brine parts usually need attention before the system itself wears out.
Yes. We repair Brita Pro systems and other major brands, including Culligan, Kinetico, RainSoft, EcoWater, Morton and Whirlpool softeners, and units with Fleck or Clack control valves.
Some water is normal. Most softeners keep a few inches in the brine tank to dissolve salt. If the water is above the salt, or the tank is more than about a third full, the brine line, injector, float or drain line is likely blocked.
Once a year is a good rhythm: check the salt, clean the brine tank when it’s low, and have the valve and settings checked. Annual service catches worn seals before they become leaks.
