How Often Should I Service My Water Softener? And WHY!

UPDATED: January 9, 2023

You have had your water softener for a few years now, and so far, so good! You have been adding salt to it regularly and the water feels great, but should you have your water softener serviced, and if so, how often?

How often you need to have your water softener serviced will vary based on water usage, the characteristics of your water, and the size and type of water softener that you have. A water softener that has to work harder will tend to need more frequent servicing!

Many people don’t think about servicing their water softener until there is a problem, and by that time it can be an expensive service.

Having your water softener serviced often enough based on your particular situation will help to extend the life of your water softener while keeping more money in your pocket.

What is done on a typical water softener service that would make a difference in how often I should have it serviced?

A water softener relies on water flow to control a large part of the functions required for it to do its regeneration process properly. When the parts of the water softener that control the water flowing through it get clogged, worn, or out of alignment, the water may not get used properly.

Cleaning or replacing the injector/venturi.

A very common problem that can develop inside of a water softener that is often part of a water softener service is the brine injector getting clogged or the screen protecting the injector becoming clogged.

The injector (sometimes referred to as a venturi) of a water softener is what creates a draw to use the salt water from the water softener brine tank.

If the injector is not working correctly because it is clogged or blocked, the water softener will not get a sufficient dose of brine to remove the hardness that it has collected.

If your water contains sediment, the sediment can get lodged in the injector and restrict or even completely block the injector water flow. If the water cannot flow through the injector, there will be no draw to draw the salt water from the brine tank.

Sometimes the sediment can simply be cleared from the injector with a small brush or pick, but I recommend replacing the injector to be sure that the system will work correctly.

Iron build-up on an injector will also cause it to get clogged and no longer be able to create a sufficient draw to use the salt water from the brine tank.

Finding your brine tank full of water is often a sure sign that your water softener injector is clogged and needs to be replaced or cleaned.

If your water contains iron then you might need to service your water softener more often because of the iron build-up.

A brine injector is not very expensive and they are not difficult to change, simply pull the old one out with a needle nose plier or pick, make sure that the hole where it belongs is clean, and press the new one in place.

Cleaning the screen that helps to protect the injector/venturi.

Because sediment in your water can greatly affect how well the injector in your water softener work, most water softeners will have a screen to stop sediment from getting into the injector.

This screen is often in the shape of a small tube or cone and is located right next to the injector. By catching sediment in your water, the screen can keep the injector clear and therefore you may need service to your water softener less often.

The more sediment or iron that you have in your water, the quicker this screen can get clogged. If your water has sediment or iron in it, you may need to have your water softener serviced more often than if your water was free of sediment and iron.

Checking your water softener settings.

Naturally, you want to make sure that your water softener is set correctly so that it is not using too much water or salt but still doing its job of softening your water and removing iron from your water if you have iron.

This is often just making sure that the clock, hardness, and other settings on your water softener are set correctly.

It is very important that your water softener settings are checked on a regular basis because something as simple as a power outage that may just last for a few seconds, could make your water softener lose its programming and you could be getting slightly hard water and not even know it.

This may not seem like that big of a deal, but over time, just a little hardness in your water can build up in your hot water heater and the plumbing in your home causing major, and costly problems.

So servicing your water softener annually, or at least checking your water softener settings yourself once a year is important for maintaining soft water in your home.

Testing your water.

Testing your water should be an annual routine at least. Testing your water hardness with a simple hardness test kit is very easy to do, and just takes a few seconds.

Also, if you have a history of having iron in your water, an iron test kit will let you know if your iron levels have changed, and therefore your water softener settings should be changed.

Whether you service your water softener yourself or have it done by a professional, I highly recommend using a simple water testing kit for testing your water for hardness and iron once a year if not more often.

Can I do the service myself?

You certainly can do a basic annual service on your water softener yourself. The key things that you will need to do are clean or replace the injector, and clean or replace the screen.

Testing the water and checking the water softener settings is recommended, but not always necessary every time that you service your water softener.

What kind of water softener do you have?

Although different brands of water softeners may soften your water in the same way, some may require servicing more often than others.

A non-electric water softener relies on a strong and steady flow of water to perform its water-softening functions and because it works with a complex series of gears and pistons, even a tiny bit of sediment can cause the entire system to stop working.

Since non-electric water softeners are so susceptible to problems due to sediment, installing a sediment pre-filter is highly recommended.

Depending on the amount of sediment you get coming into your home, this sediment pre-filter may only need an occasional change, or in some cases, it will need to be replaced quite often.

Replacing an inline sediment filter cartridge is not very difficult, but not replacing it often enough can result in poor water pressure, salty-tasting water, and possibly, an expensive water softener repair bill.

Some water softeners use softened water for the brine tank which means that it uses water that has already been treated to create the brine that it needs to regenerate its water-softening resin.

By using water that has already been treated by the water softener to make the brine, the brine will be cleaner and free of hardness and iron which can build up on internal parts of the water softener which will lead to having to service your water softener more often.

Not all water softeners can do this, and if your water is free of iron, there should not be a considerable difference in how often your system will need service because of this feature, but when iron in your water is a problem, it can be a huge benefit.

What’s in your water can affect how often it should be serviced.

Ideally, a water softener will just have to remove some hard minerals from your water but that is often not the case. Dissolved iron in your water can gradually build up to clog openings and cause extra wear and tear in the internal parts of a water softener.

Non-dissolved iron in your water can clog injectors and screens very quickly when a high volume of water is being used and can cause valves and pistons to wear out much faster than normal.

If you do not service your water softener often enough, the build-up of the iron inside of your water softener can significantly shorten the life of the system.

In some cases where the water contains a high amount of iron and there is a high volume of water being used, a water softener may need to be serviced several times a year to maintain soft and iron-free water.

Does your water softener have a pre-filter?

Although a water pre-filter is not actually part of a water softener, it can play an important role in the functioning of a water softener.

Protecting a water softener from sediment and other debris that could cause it to malfunction is very important and therefore changing a water softener pre-filter should be a consideration when judging how often your water softener system needs to be serviced.

While the actual water softener parts may only need to be serviced once a year, the system pre-filter may need to be changed several times a year.

Each water situation is different, so it is important to change your pre-filter when your situation calls for it.

How much water do you use?

Naturally, the amount of water that you use will determine how often your water softener will have to work and will make a difference in how often your water softener will need to be serviced.

A water softener in a home with a single person using 50 gallons of water per day will of course not need to be serviced as often as the same water softener in a home with 5 people using 300 gallons of water per day.

This is why the idea of “One Size Fits All” certainly does not apply when buying a water softener. If you think that you can just buy the smallest water softener and make it work harder, it may end up costing you more money in the end if you have to have it serviced more often.

Has your water usage changed?

As your water usage changes, so will the need to service your water softener. A growing family will put more demand on your water softener so you may at one time serviced your water softener once every few years but now find that it needs to be once a year.

On the other end, a home that now only contains 2 people because the kids have all grown and left the nest may have needed their water softener serviced annually, but now find that they only need to service it once every several years.

The simplest way to determine if you should increase or decrease how often you get your water softener serviced is to check that the water coming from your water softener is soft.

It’s not complicated at all to check that your water is soft, a simple water hardness test kit is all you need to test your water once or twice a year so you will know if your water softener needs to be serviced.

Did you let your water softener run out of salt?

In many cases, letting your water softener run out of salt is not a problem unless you leave it without salt for a long period of time or if you have iron in your water.

Without salt, iron can begin to build up on the water-softening resin, and eventually, it will coat the resin to the point where the resin will no longer be able to soften your water.

If you let your water softener run out of salt for just a brief time, it is not likely that enough iron will build up to cause any permanent damage to the resin, but if you occasionally let your water softener run out of salt, servicing it annually would be a wise idea.

If you are worried about damage to your water-softening resin, using a dose of water-softener resin cleaner a few times a year will help to keep your resin working better.

What would happen if I don’t have my water softener serviced often enough?

If the injector in a water softener gets clogged or restricted, it will not create the correct amount of draw in which to pull the brine from the salt tank.

Without a sufficient dose of brine, the water-softening resin inside of your water softener will not get properly regenerated which means that you will get hard water.

This may not sound all that bad, but hard minerals in your water will build up inside of your hot water heater and cause it to work less efficiently which will end up costing you more money on your fuel bill.

Eventually, hard mineral deposits can totally ruin your hot water heater and you will need to have it replaced.

Hard minerals can slowly build up in your plumbing and create poor water pressure throughout the home, and you will find hard water spots on your water fixtures. Hard water build-up can also cause your fixtures to wear and corrode.

The problem with not servicing your water softener often enough is that the hard water will gradually get worse, and you may never even know that it was there.

Since your water will not go from perfectly soft right to very hard, many people don’t realize that they have hard water until it becomes very hard.

By this time, there may be hard water build-up in your hot water heater and plumbing that could be causing problems.

Get your water softener serviced as often as your situation needs. Test your water a few times a year to make sure that your water softener is working correctly and never let your water softener run out of salt.

There is no exact time as to how often you should get your water softener serviced, but I suggest servicing it once per year if you have iron in your water, or if you have a home with high water usage.

If you are a single or two-person home without any iron in your water, you might be just fine only having your water softener serviced every few years.