In article ,
Woodworking Smarter wrote:

On Wednesday, May 30, 2018 at 8:31:26 AM UTC-7, Ecnerwal wrote:
My personal experience with keeping old softeners alive is that buying a
new softener is less hassle, works reliably, and has a warranty for a
while, unlike fussing with the old one. The parts that are reusable from
an old one are the parts that cost the least, so you can spend as much
(or more) refurbishing an old one and it takes more time. Up to you.

Thank you for all that detail. As I mentioned in my reply to Bill, 180-ft
loop might be a struggle to manage given the surroundings of the well-head.

I take your point on the softener v replacement, but cash is in short supply
so refurbish makes sense for us. Although, we will run without it in the
plumbing for a while and see how life is without it. If it messes with the
clothes washing then I am guessing I will be given no option by the boss, to
make it work.

When I pulled it apart the float for the change over valve had a salt-crystal
growth on top of it of about 1/4-lb so it was clearly staying at the bottom.
The saline tank must have been totally saturated all the time.

There are two 10" x 2.5" filters installed and I have always changed them
each month, so the sand ingress was not on my watch. I guess my question on
that was more of, will it still soften, even some, with the 50% sand content?

If properly regenerated, yes, sure. Some (deliberately installed) sand
and/or gravel is not uncommon simply as a filter bed at the bottom of
the column (look for pretty pictures on softener websites - perhaps even
animated ones) which gets stirred up in backwashing and settles itself
under the resin when normal flow is restored. There would be screens to
keep it in place, if so. Sounds like yours is not regenerating
correctly.

I fiddled with the old one for years before replacing it, and in
hindsight I should have replaced it at the start, but follow your own
path there.

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