I just bought a new house that has one and I've never had a system before. Seems there's about 5000 other people like me. Congrats on knowing this already.
This was a huge help, Thank You. I have a Culligan, but this still helps. The house I bought a year ago has a water softener, and I haven't done anything to it since we moved in. My wife has been complaining about her hair recently and I opened up the water softener and there was NO salt in the thing. I had no idea that this thing needed to be maintained ugh! Now I have finally managed to get this thing back up and working properly after a thorough cleaning and a few bags of salt. I travel for work, so sometimes the house work falls down the priority list behind family time when I'm in town. Anyways, I appreciate you making this video.
The way I understand how water softeners work is that there are plastic type pellets inside the brine tank that attack themselves to the hard water deposits that come through the water softener. The hard water deposits remain in the tank and softened water is delivered to home. Periodically depending on water usage and hardness of the water the water softener runs a cleaning cycle in which the salt in the tank is used to clean the hard water deposits from the pellets.
So, I won't necessarily see the water in the tank with the salt? I think my softener is a brand called Schurz. It's the model 1200. The resin tank is in the brine tank. Mine is hard to program as it is old and has dials. I don't understand how to put in the time of day that it is, and how to program the time when it regenerates. I finally got it figured out how often it regenerates.
So that little tan in the tank does not need to be filled or maintained? The salt in the big tank is used to clean the plastic pallets inside the little one or?
I have well water but I haven’t had it tested but I know that it’s super hard so do you think that the number would be the same as yours to set for the hardness part
Probably not. You can buy test kits for $10-40. Here's a link: inspectapedia.com/plumbing/Hard_Water_Measurement.php Scroll about 1/2 down the page. Watersafe has a well water test kit.
We've had this exact model for two years now but my husband is convinced you don't need to use the whole bag at once which makes no sense to me. Can you please clarify that you basically need to empty an entire bag usually monthly to actually make it work? My hair has suffered since I moved to this area and my husband is hard headed!
I just bought a house with a north star water softener. The tank is getting low and I was about to add salt, but it looks pretty dirty on the bottom. Have you ever cleaned your system out? Any tips or places I can go for info on how to do that? I want to clean out the main tank where the salt goes. It seem like it has some build up on the bottom too. Thanks!!
Cleaned the tank on mine once. I removed all the salt I could by hand and then added water to the tank to dissolve the remaining salt. Next I duct taped a rag onto a stick and carefully wiped the sides and bottom of the tank. Finally I took a shop vac and sucked out the remaining water. The tank looked pretty good after that. It turns into kind of a project.
After adding the salt. Isn't there something you have to change to show the level of salt you added so it can tell you days of usage left? Or is that depend on the softener you get?
I have a Sterling Brand water softener. The manual does not give instructions on how to adjust the level of softness. How does one find out what level of hardness the area water is. I noticed he said his was between 7-10, so he set his unit on 10. I'll admit....I hate the level of soft water in my house. I feel like I'm never getting rinsed in the shower and know I use far more water than I should.
How often should I be refilling this with salt? I have the same one. My husband thinks the level hasn't gone down but it definitely has. It is almost to the bottom of the number 5.
Can you redo this video and hold the camera in your hand the whole time? It's not shaky enough for the UA-cam videos I'm used to. But seriously, good job on the editing. It was informative for a first time water softener owner like me. My manual didn't even mention how to fill it. I didn't need such detail about the programming since I have a different model. My one question is how did you determine the water hardness in your area?
You can get some tests strips from Lowe's or Home Depot. You can just dip the test strip into a glass of water from your faucet. The test strip reacts with the water changing the color. There is usually a chart you compare your test strip color too on the packaging. This will tell the water 's hardness.
How much water is nornal in tank if salt level is at 3 ? is it nornal to have standing water there , the equipment says iy's working properly and needs salt in 60 days.
You right, they don't explained clearly and almost every video about Water softeners - the presenters all stop short of turning the dang thing on tell us how to work the machine.
I noticed some rude comments, especially by Portalcakemaker1234, calling others with no background on filling a water softener "stupid". He has written a run-on sentence with no ending punctuation.
i have a question , i am a first time user of water softener, what happened i accidentally put the salt in the brine tank instant of the regular tank , do you know if it will melt itself if i put some hot water over it?
The model number you gave shows a single tank with the brine well and resin tank inside the salt storage tank. Here's the link: www.sears.com/kenmore-high-efficiency-water-softener/p-04238300000P
Here's a link to the manual, refer to page 20 to adjust the recharge time: www.northstarconditioning.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/NS_NSC30-40UD1-NST45-70UD1_7332953H_2015.pdf
Roger Brose Went to the manual, followed instructions and when get to the section where recharge tonight is blinking I press set and the read out indicating recharge tonight goes out but it does not recharge. I have tried just leaving the recharge tonight blinking and still nothing. is there anyway to do a factory reset. What am I missing?
Roger Brose Remember that under the time display is a capacity percentage. The water softener won't recharge until the percentage reaches almost 100%. It will then display recharge tonight. Our softener only recharges around once a week depending on water usage. You could use the Recharge button to manually check if the softener will go through a recharge cycle. If you're stuck you might want to call North Star support at: 800-972-0135.
@@Iscaperdo you have a pdf of this downloaded? The link no longer works. I have ours filled but the percentage at the bottom keeps getting lower even though it’s filled - I need to know if I need to keep manually recharging it before it hits 0% or let it go all the way down by itself.
I made a BIG mistake on using crystal salt in my Water Boss, the salt wasn't going down and 4 mos. later still high...somethings wrong said my friend, there was an empty pocket between layers, today it recycled and I was chipping away at the salt so it wld drop down...FINALLY the salt is about 1 foot from the bottom but I noticed the water was dark & rusty. I watched a video saying to add 1 cup of bleach or hydrogen peroxide right before the water recycles. I don't like using bleach as it will kill off the good bacteria in my septic tank...shld I put 1 12 oz bottle of HP in there? I am female & don't have a male ard to do this for me. HELP!! PS: I will go back to Mortons Pellets
I agree, I wouldn't use bleach if you have a septic tank. I would try to clean and remove the rusty water and old salt from the tank. A rag taped to a stick and a shop vac works good for this.
Just moved into a house with one of these, never had one before. Thank you very much for the video! Extremely helpful
Glad I could help!
Unfair to call people stupid that have never done this before.
I agree. Why would they be on this video if they didn't need it.
This was a lot of help for someone who had no clue how to do it. Thank you.
Thanks for watching.
We have this unit scheduled for installation this week. I appreciate you showing how to use the display. Very helpful and informative.
I just bought a new house that has one and I've never had a system before. Seems there's about 5000 other people like me. Congrats on knowing this already.
This was a huge help, Thank You. I have a Culligan, but this still helps. The house I bought a year ago has a water softener, and I haven't done anything to it since we moved in. My wife has been complaining about her hair recently and I opened up the water softener and there was NO salt in the thing. I had no idea that this thing needed to be maintained ugh! Now I have finally managed to get this thing back up and working properly after a thorough cleaning and a few bags of salt. I travel for work, so sometimes the house work falls down the priority list behind family time when I'm in town. Anyways, I appreciate you making this video.
+David V
Thanks David, I'm glad the video was helpful.
Good information and demonstration….Thank you
Thanks!
Thank you! I just moved into a house that has one of these & I know nothing about water softeners. 👍👍
You're welcome!!
Fantastic!!! Thank you for the video. How much French should we add some salt?
The way I understand how water softeners work is that there are plastic type pellets inside the brine tank that attack themselves to the hard water deposits that come through the water softener. The hard water deposits remain in the tank and softened water is delivered to home. Periodically depending on water usage and hardness of the water the water softener runs a cleaning cycle in which the salt in the tank is used to clean the hard water deposits from the pellets.
Do we need to add water too, everytime we refill salt in the softener?
No, just add salt.
So, I won't necessarily see the water in the tank with the salt? I think my softener is a brand called Schurz. It's the model 1200. The resin tank is in the brine tank. Mine is hard to program as it is old and has dials. I don't understand how to put in the time of day that it is, and how to program the time when it regenerates. I finally got it figured out how often it regenerates.
So that little tan in the tank does not need to be filled or maintained? The salt in the big tank is used to clean the plastic pallets inside the little one or?
Correct.
Good video I don't have a water softener but this is good info whats the purpose of the salt?!! Thank you for sharing
Great info.
Thanks.
I have well water but I haven’t had it tested but I know that it’s super hard so do you think that the number would be the same as yours to set for the hardness part
Probably not. You can buy test kits for $10-40. Here's a link: inspectapedia.com/plumbing/Hard_Water_Measurement.php
Scroll about 1/2 down the page. Watersafe has a well water test kit.
We've had this exact model for two years now but my husband is convinced you don't need to use the whole bag at once which makes no sense to me. Can you please clarify that you basically need to empty an entire bag usually monthly to actually make it work? My hair has suffered since I moved to this area and my husband is hard headed!
I don't add salt to mine until it will hold a full bag.
I mean, if I knew what I was doing I wouldn't be on youtube... thx for this vid lol!
Thank you!!!!!
Thanks Erika for watching.
How do I get the water flowing again? Mine seems to have stopped
You mean it stopped working?
I just bought a house with a north star water softener. The tank is getting low and I was about to add salt, but it looks pretty dirty on the bottom. Have you ever cleaned your system out? Any tips or places I can go for info on how to do that? I want to clean out the main tank where the salt goes. It seem like it has some build up on the bottom too. Thanks!!
Cleaned the tank on mine once. I removed all the salt I could by hand and then added water to the tank to dissolve the remaining salt. Next I duct taped a rag onto a stick and carefully wiped the sides and bottom of the tank. Finally I took a shop vac and sucked out the remaining water. The tank looked pretty good after that. It turns into kind of a project.
After adding the salt. Isn't there something you have to change to show the level of salt you added so it can tell you days of usage left? Or is that depend on the softener you get?
Our softener doesn't have that feature. I usually check ours every week to see what the salt level is.
I have a Sterling Brand water softener. The manual does not give instructions on how to adjust the level of softness. How does one find out what level of hardness the area water is. I noticed he said his was between 7-10, so he set his unit on 10. I'll admit....I hate the level of soft water in my house. I feel like I'm never getting rinsed in the shower and know I use far more water than I should.
What is the funnel inside for? We have one on the outside.
I have salt in my water softener but there is more water than salt & my water smells. Should there be some type of chlorine or something in there?
How often should I be refilling this with salt? I have the same one. My husband thinks the level hasn't gone down but it definitely has. It is almost to the bottom of the number 5.
I add salt to mine when it looks like it will hold a full bag of salt.
iScaper1 thanks, that helps. Mine is on the number 5 right now, it looks like it's been there awhile, but the operating light is steady.
Can you redo this video and hold the camera in your hand the whole time? It's not shaky enough for the UA-cam videos I'm used to. But seriously, good job on the editing. It was informative for a first time water softener owner like me. My manual didn't even mention how to fill it. I didn't need such detail about the programming since I have a different model. My one question is how did you determine the water hardness in your area?
You can call your city water department and they will tell you what the hardness level is.
You can get some tests strips from Lowe's or Home Depot. You can just dip the test strip into a glass of water from your faucet. The test strip reacts with the water changing the color. There is usually a chart you compare your test strip color too on the packaging. This will tell the water 's hardness.
I have softener just like this and it says err1 but still working what should i do.
How much water is nornal in tank if salt level is at 3 ? is it nornal to have standing water there , the equipment says iy's working properly and needs salt in 60 days.
+CB Michael
A little water in the bottom of the tank is probably normal, a lot of water isn't.
You right, they don't explained clearly and almost every video about Water softeners - the presenters all stop short of turning the dang thing on tell us how to work the machine.
I noticed some rude comments, especially by Portalcakemaker1234, calling others with no background on filling a water softener "stupid".
He has written a run-on sentence with no ending punctuation.
I agree!
i have a question ,
i am a first time user of water softener, what happened i accidentally put the salt in the brine tank instant of the regular tank , do you know if it will melt itself if i put some hot water over it?
Does your softener have 2 tanks? What the make and model number?
+iScaper1 Yes it has 2 tanks
model # Kenmore 38300 24 000
The model number you gave shows a single tank with the brine well and resin tank inside the salt storage tank. Here's the link: www.sears.com/kenmore-high-efficiency-water-softener/p-04238300000P
Northstar water softener install
One thing I needed to know is how to set recharge time and you did not show it
Here's a link to the manual, refer to page 20 to adjust the recharge time: www.northstarconditioning.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/NS_NSC30-40UD1-NST45-70UD1_7332953H_2015.pdf
Thanks I will check it.
Roger Brose Went to the manual, followed instructions and when get to the section where recharge tonight is blinking I press set and the read out indicating recharge tonight goes out but it does not recharge. I have tried just leaving the recharge tonight blinking and still nothing. is there anyway to do a factory reset. What am I missing?
Roger Brose
Remember that under the time display is a capacity percentage. The water softener won't recharge until the percentage reaches almost 100%. It will then display recharge tonight. Our softener only recharges around once a week depending on water usage. You could use the Recharge button to manually check if the softener will go through a recharge cycle. If you're stuck you might want to call North Star support at: 800-972-0135.
@@Iscaperdo you have a pdf of this downloaded? The link no longer works.
I have ours filled but the percentage at the bottom keeps getting lower even though it’s filled - I need to know if I need to keep manually recharging it before it hits 0% or let it go all the way down by itself.
I made a BIG mistake on using crystal salt in my Water Boss, the salt wasn't going down and 4 mos. later still high...somethings wrong said my friend, there was an empty pocket between layers, today it recycled and I was chipping away at the salt so it wld drop down...FINALLY the salt is about 1 foot from the bottom but I noticed the water was dark & rusty. I watched a video saying to add 1 cup of bleach or hydrogen peroxide right before the water recycles. I don't like using bleach as it will kill off the good bacteria in my septic tank...shld I put 1 12 oz bottle of HP in there? I am female & don't have a male ard to do this for me. HELP!! PS: I will go back to Mortons Pellets
I agree, I wouldn't use bleach if you have a septic tank. I would try to clean and remove the rusty water and old salt from the tank. A rag taped to a stick and a shop vac works good for this.
OMG who doesn’t know where the salt goes? A better video would have explained when to add salt and what salt level to maintain.
Lots of people who have never had to maintain one before.