It’s disheartening to notice that your coffee or tea is starting to taste metallic or that those annoying white crusty spots are returning to your showerhead. Though water treatment systems are supposed to keep these problems at bay, they start to tire out after years of constant service. Ignoring the signs of aging can lead to a house full of hard water before you even know what happened.
The Exhaustion of Filter Media
Inside the tall tanks of most water systems is a material called media. This is the actual “worker” that grabs onto contaminants. If you have a softener, this is usually a bed of resin beads. Carbon systems use ground-up coconut shells or coal. Over a decade of treating thousands of gallons of water, these materials physically break down and lose their ability to do their job correctly. When your media reaches this state, the water passes right through without getting treated. This explains why your skin might feel itchy or dry even though the machine is still plugged in and running.
Clogged Valves and Mechanical Fatigue
While the media does the heavy lifting, the control valve on top of the tank functions as the traffic controller for all that water. This valve contains tiny gears, spacers, and rubber seals that must move perfectly to flush out trapped minerals during a cleaning cycle. Over time, the very minerals the system is trying to remove, such as calcium and iron, begin to build up inside these moving parts. The buildup creates friction that can cause the valve to get stuck or leak internally. This wastes a considerable amount of water and salt. You might hear your system running for hours in the middle of the night because the internal “clock” or the piston is struggling to finish its job.
The Rising Cost of Outdated Technology
Modern water treatment systems use smart sensors to measure exactly how much water you use. However, older models usually regenerate on a timer regardless of whether you need them. This means an aging unit might be dumping gallons of perfectly good water and pounds of expensive salt down the drain more often than necessary. Keeping a tired system on life support costs more in extra salt and water bills than it would to simply start fresh with a smarter unit.
When a water treatment system loses its efficiency, the rest of your home pays the price. Scale builds up in your dishwasher and pipes. You deserve water that makes you feel great, and checking in on your old equipment is the first step toward getting that freshness back. If you notice that your water treatment system is not performing as you expect, call Jeff’s Custom Care to restore the quality of the water in your Waukesha, WI home.