What maintenance does a water softener system need?

Three things on a routine: keep salt in the brine tank, clean that tank periodically, and have the system serviced annually. Everything else is diagnosis when something has already gone wrong.

Salt: The Monthly Habit

Check the brine tank monthly until you learn your household’s consumption rate, then top up on that rhythm. Most homes settle into a predictable pattern.

Keep the salt level above the water line in the tank. Running it empty means the system regenerates with plain water and does nothing, and you will find out when hard water symptoms return.

Salt type matters less than most marketing suggests, but quality does. Pellets and solar salt generally perform better than rock salt, which carries more insoluble impurities that accumulate as sludge in the bottom of the tank.

The Two Salt Failures to Watch For

Bridging is the one that catches people. A hard crust forms across the salt, leaving an empty cavity underneath. The tank looks full, but the salt is not in contact with the water, so no brine is made and the softener quietly stops working.

Break through the crust with a broom handle. If it happens repeatedly, humidity, salt type, or an overfilled tank is usually the cause.

Mushing is the opposite — a sludgy layer of recrystallized salt at the bottom that blocks brine flow. That one requires emptying and cleaning the tank.

Cleaning the Brine Tank

Every year or two, depending on salt quality, the tank should be emptied and washed out. Insoluble residue accumulates on the bottom and eventually interferes with the brine draw.

This is a straightforward job — let the salt run low, scoop out what remains, remove and rinse the brine grid if there is one, wash the tank with mild soap and water, rinse thoroughly, and refill.

Homes using higher-purity salt need this less often.

Annual Professional Service

The parts of maintenance that require testing and tools happen once a year.

We sanitize the resin bed, which matters because the resin sits wet and dark year-round. We clean and inspect the injector and venturi, which are small passages prone to clogging with sediment and are a frequent cause of a system that will not draw brine. We check the drain line and air gap, verify the control valve is cycling correctly, and inspect seals and the piston.

Then we test the water. That last step is the point of the visit — it is the only way to confirm the softener is actually delivering soft water rather than merely running through its cycle.

Programming Drifts

The control valve is programmed with your hardness and household size. Both change.

If your household has grown or shrunk, or if your municipal supply’s hardness has shifted, the settings should be updated. A system programmed for a family of five running for a couple regenerates far more often than necessary, wasting salt and water for years.

We verify programming against a current water quality test during service.

Resin Does Not Last Forever

The resin bed performs the actual ion exchange, and it degrades. Ten to fifteen years is typical, shorter where chlorine is present in municipal water, and much shorter where iron is fouling it.

A softener with exhausted resin regenerates normally and still produces hard water — a confusing symptom, because everything appears to be functioning. Testing is what catches it.

Resin can be replaced on a system that is otherwise sound. On an older unit with a failing valve as well, replacement is usually the better value.

Iron Is a Separate Problem

On well water, iron alongside hardness is common. A softener removes some, but beyond a threshold the iron fouls the resin and progressively destroys capacity.

Orange staining plus a softener that keeps underperforming usually means you need dedicated iron treatment ahead of the softener, not softener repair.

Making It Automatic

The realistic failure mode is forgetting. Our Care Club maintenance plan puts softener service on a schedule alongside your other plumbing maintenance.

If you are already seeing symptoms, that is a softener repair conversation rather than a maintenance one.

We serve Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Boerne, Comfort, and the surrounding Hill Country. Contact 72 Degrees or call (830) 468-5316.