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nnmjdklil

Newbie here, water softener issues (amongst others!)

nnmjdklil
10 years ago

Please excuse me in advance, we just bought our house in March and so much about it is completely new to us-- well and septic, with water neutralizer, water softener, and a R/O system on the kitchen sink. I've had many anxieties around these things and it's difficult for me to know if they are all warranted so lots of my questions will probably be wordier than necessary and/or need more info but I will do my best to avoid both of those things : )
So, here's the current situation that has me posting here today. Our water softener doesn't appear to be working. I found this out kind of by mistake, as the plumber was here almost 2 months ago to add minerals to our water neutralizer (which had gotten really low even though it was filled 6 months prior, to my knowledge anyway-- I was counseled to have it filled every 6 months or so and couldn't even see the line through the tank wall by the time I checked at the 6month mark, our pH wasn't even registering on the scale of my tester by then, under 6.8). Anyway while he was here and testing everything, he reported a hardness of 8 and asked if the softener had been working. I know we had to add a few bags of salt a couple months after we moved in, late spring probably. Then I forgot all about it. But when he asked, I realized that the funny slippery feeling our water had when we moved in wasn't happening anymore and the salt level had not gone down much since we filled it. Even though the first couple months it was moving down somewhat steadily-- noticeably enough for us to add more anyway. So, he said he would "call the company who made it" to see if there were any recalls or issues with our particular model, as he was the one who installed it new shortly before we moved in. This plumbing company has worked on the house somewhat regularly since it was built in 1973, through 3 owners if you include us, so I initially felt good sticking with them. Especially bc they seemed knowledgeable about a huge water damage claim ($30,000) made to the previous owners insurance back in 2010 that we found out about quite on accident when searching out our own homeowners insurance. That's another story but I wanted to mention it in regards to why I have stuck with these plumbers so far, bc I'm starting to wonder.
So anyway. I called him a few days later and when he finally called me back he said the company showed no issues with our model and set up a time to come back. When he returned, he was working on it downstairs for a while, over an hour. Then he came up and said that he did some sort of backwashing (I don't remember exactly what he said and am wishing I had written it all down now) but that he had to do it a certain way so that it would be quicker, otherwise he'd have to be here for a long time. He said he "thought" it would be ok now though and to give him a call and let him know. I asked what went wrong to begin with and he kinda fumbled over some vague "not really sure"s, which felt weird so I asked if it was something we had maybe done, bc I surely didn't want to do it again. He said no, that we hadn't done anything and in fact he "had a theory" about what might have happened but really couldn't say for sure. I laughed little at that point and said, "well...what's your theory?" and he said that he thinks "maybe...when he installed it...something wasn't done right". He gave a little more explanation after that that I don't remember exactly but think was something to do with lines getting backed up or something, too much mineral getting in. I really don't remember. Kicking myself now, ugh.
So. I asked if there was a charge for the day and he said no, which I was very glad to hear bc I was trying not to be angry. This plumber is the main guys son and very nice but this isn't the first time he's come and seemed not quite up to par-- he's had to call the dad for help several times on seemingly little things like once, how to use their pH test kit. Yeah. He tells me to call and let them know how it's working.
At first it seemed good. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but it seemed like that slippery feel was coming back and I was hearing noises coming from the basement that I hadn't heard in a while. Like something was working now that wasn't previously. But then a couple weeks later I wasn't sure- didn't feel the slippery so much, if at all. My hair gets sudsy when I shampoo though. Although I did put up a new shower curtain liner 3 weeks ago and it's already covered in water scaly spots. The salt does not appear to be going down in the tank. I called and left a message with this info, in addition to the fact that I think there were little traces of green on one of our faucets so I also worried the neutralizer wasn't doing it's thing well enough, and the dad called back right away and said he'd be out the next day. I was relieved to be getting him again, and so soon. But the next day he called to cancel due to his being sick and said he'd be out the following day or Monday at the latest. Monday late afternoon I called back and left another message with their receptionist, now starting to really worry bc who knows how long this has been going on?? Maybe for months and months. I really wanted him to come out soon and remedy the situation as I worried the pipes might be getting all caked up with residue or something and I do not want a major disaster on my hands, obviously. That last call was over 3 weeks ago and I've not heard back from them at all. Left another message on a machine last Thursday, finally sounding upset, saying I hadn't received a call back in weeks and really needed someone out soon, hopefully Friday or Monday (tomorrow). Nothing yet.
I can't imagine a business just ignoring a customer like this. It almost seems like they WANT me to get frustrated and find someone else-- maybe the thought of having to fix their own mistakes isn't worth it to them, but I could be making too many assumptions. Maybe they've had some personal emergencies or something. I need a call back regardless. I'm ready to file a report with the BBB and write reviews on these people but will let them know that once first and give them one last chance... I don't know.
So my question is-- given all this info-- does this seem like a scary and extremely urgent matter or do I need to calm down? Is there anything I should be doing that I am not currently?
If anyone can give me *any* direction on this, I would be so greatly appreciative. Thank you for reading!!

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