So it seems nearly everything in the new place is breaking or just not working at roughly the same time. The water softener is the latest expensive surprise. It worked for the first couple months in the place, but now it's definitely not. Made sure there wasn't a salt bridge, replaced the water filter that's downstream of the system, and we still have really hard water. I've looked at ours closely and I'm confident I can install a replacement unit myself. I've done a few water heaters and this thing doesn't look much more complex. But I don't know how to spec an appropriate unit, or if I need something else other than the standard water softener. I'm really tired of stained showers, sinks, and toilets.........but want to save some $$$ on this and do myself if it's a doable project since I've already put in a boatload of unexpected $$$ in this place. Anyone familiar with water softener systems? Any thoughts/experiences to share?
Take a water sample of the water before the water treatment and get it tested. That will tell you what type of system you need. The system you have may not be the right one to begin with. A lot of times the system you need to treat the problem will in turn create another problem with the water( like the water is to hard). It sounds like your brine tank stopped working. Have you check the salt level?
