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Am I wasting salt?

A

APW

Well-known member
I am going through salt like crazy at my new location. Right now everything is on soft water. Using soft water for high pressure rinse, am I cleaning cars better, making my pump last longer, or any other benefits? Or do I need to plumb non softened water to my pump stand for rinse. Every wash is followed by a spot free rinse. My hardness is 14.
 
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Hard water actually rinses much better than soft. You should use soft water to mix your detergents but not for sealants or drying agents.
 
I had a guy that specializes in Fleck Valves help me set it up. I am just washing a lot of cars at this location compared to my other one.
 
Almaprowash said:
I had a guy that specializes in Fleck Valves help me set it up.
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When I first bought my wash many moons ago, I had a softener company come in to do a repair on my softener. I can still recall him saying "oh this cant be right!" and he 'adjusted' my fleck valve settings, resulting in almost doubling my salt usage. A year or so later I re-adjusted (with hardness tests every week until I knew I had it right.) Funny thing, the correct setting actually used less salt than it originally used.
Hopefully the guy who helped you was good, but I suppose Reagan had it about right. "Trust but verify."
 
FWIW I used to work with a guy that "specialized in Fleck softeners," and he didn't know the first thing about diagnosing or setting them up, he'd just throw parts at it until it worked, two that I know of he actually plumbed backwards and flooded the equipment with resin and gravel.

There's a tag on the brine valve and a number on the fitting that goes to the drain - if you can post those two numbers and the height/diameter of the tank I can tell you how much salt you should be using per regeneration.
 
I'm not sure I ever dealt with in my life group of guys that I felt were a more knowledgeable about the product they sold than as those at Pacific Water Softeners in Salt Lake City. They've walked me through a few issues I've had with my Fleck heads and water softener system with ease. I recommend them with confidence.
 
When I first installed a softener at a 4/2 wash I bought ten years ago, I softened everything. Salt was less than $3/bag then. Going through 20-25 bags a month wasn't a big deal. But now the price of salt has doubled. On top of that it is a hassle to load the brine tank.

Like many others here I have tried to get more efficient in operations. I just recently re-plumbed my high pressure autos to use hard water rinse. I still use soft water on all chemicals and the SS. The only reason I am using it on SS is there is no quick way to replumb. With the autos on hard rinse, salt usage is down probably 75%. I can not tell a difference in wash quality. You can argue that I may have more scale and hardness build up on the walls and equipment, but IMO for the cost savings it is worth it. If you are plumbed for hard water rise I would try it.

You can also check your softeners and see if you can extend the regeneration time. I assume you do regenerate based on flow. Go in and check hardness just before the softener generates and see if the water is still soft. If so, take a grain of hardness off the programming. In other words adjust your input water feed from (I assume from your post)14 to 13 grains. This will increase the volume of water between regenerations about eight percent. When it gets ready to regenerate again, repeat the procedure. Continue this procedure until you finally check it and it is hard just prior to regeneration. When that happens go back "up" one grain on your programming.

There are other things you can do to minimize salt usage. Frequent regeneration is supposedly more efficient if you make the necessary adjustments in the settings to reduce brine usage, but I just usually leave that set to default. I've never tried it so can't comment. You may want to look into that.
 
MEP001 said:
FWIW I used to work with a guy that "specialized in Fleck softeners," and he didn't know the first thing about diagnosing or setting them up, he'd just throw parts at it until it worked, two that I know of he actually plumbed backwards and flooded the equipment with resin and gravel.

There's a tag on the brine valve and a number on the fitting that goes to the drain - if you can post those two numbers and the height/diameter of the tank I can tell you how much salt you should be using per regeneration.
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One tank has a 0, the other tank has 00. The two tanks are 16x65.
 
cfcw said:
When I first installed a softener at a 4/2 wash I bought ten years ago, I softened everything. Salt was less than $3/bag then. Going through 20-25 bags a month wasn't a big deal. But now the price of salt has doubled. On top of that it is a hassle to load the brine tank.

Like many others here I have tried to get more efficient in operations. I just recently re-plumbed my high pressure autos to use hard water rinse. I still use soft water on all chemicals and the SS. The only reason I am using it on SS is there is no quick way to replumb. With the autos on hard rinse, salt usage is down probably 75%. I can not tell a difference in wash quality. You can argue that I may have more scale and hardness build up on the walls and equipment, but IMO for the cost savings it is worth it. If you are plumbed for hard water rise I would try it.

You can also check your softeners and see if you can extend the regeneration time. I assume you do regenerate based on flow. Go in and check hardness just before the softener generates and see if the water is still soft. If so, take a grain of hardness off the programming. In other words adjust your input water feed from (I assume from your post)14 to 13 grains. This will increase the volume of water between regenerations about eight percent. When it gets ready to regenerate again, repeat the procedure. Continue this procedure until you finally check it and it is hard just prior to regeneration. When that happens go back "up" one grain on your programming.

There are other things you can do to minimize salt usage. Frequent regeneration is supposedly more efficient if you make the necessary adjustments in the settings to reduce brine usage, but I just usually leave that set to default. I've never tried it so can't comment. You may want to look into that.
Click to expand...

Is 14 grain too hard for hp wax and rinse? How hard is your water?
 
Probably okay for the hp wax and for sure for the rinse. Soft water (5 grains or less) is much more important for cleaners and foaming products.
 
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