Why Does My Water Softener Regenerate Every Day?

You have been adding salt to your water softener regularly, and your water has been feeling great. But it seems like you have been adding salt a bit more often than you used to. There are no more people living in the house. Why would your water softener have to regenerate more often?

Why Does My Water Softener Regenerate Every Day? A water softener will only regenerate when it is programmed to, either after a programmed amount of time, or a programmed amount of water usage. A water softener will only regenerate every day if the programming is changed or its maximum water capacity has been reached.

If your water softener is regenerating more often than it used to, there could be several reasons, there could be more water being used, or the programing may be incorrect, let’s find out why.

What can make your water softener regenerate more than it used to?

A running toilet:

You have probably had a toilet that just doesn’t want to stop running. You can hear a little trickle of water coming from inside of the tank, or you can see the water in the bowl moving just a bit because the water is not shutting off all the way.

Well, that little bit of water can really add up when it is running 24 hours a day.

And your water softener will recognize that extra water is used by that toilet. Just one running toilet can use several gallons of water a day, sometimes as much water as a person might use in one day.

Your water softener will read this water usage, and regenerate more often because it needs to.

Just because the water is being wasted down the toilet, doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been softened by your water softener. So get that toilet fixed, or you’re just flushing your softened water down the toilet.

If your toilet is running more than it should, watch this short video to find out why, and how to fix it!

A dripping sink faucet:

This is just as bad as a running toilet. If you have a sink that is dripping, you are wasting softened water.

And worse yet, if the water dripping from your faucet is coming from the hot water, you are wasting heated softened water. Don’t let your soft water go down the drain.

Leaking garden hose:

Can you see a pattern here? Anywhere that water is not shutting off correctly, you are wasting softened water, which tells your water softener to regenerate more often than it should have to.

Check your home for any leaks, or dripping water fixtures.

Change of habits:

This is usually a subtle change, but it can start to happen long before you notice a change in your water softeners’ regeneration change. Little things like, change of exercise habits can affect how much water you and your family are using.

During the summer months, we tend to use far more water than in winter months. We drink more water and tend to shower much more often, due to the heat. If you are noticing that your water softener seems to be regenerating more during the summer, this is totally normal.

Kids are getting older:

Remember when you just had to give your kids a bath once a day. Well if your kids are now teenagers, they not only may be taking multiple showers every day, but those showers are much longer than they used to be.

It’s funny how a child’s’ water usage changes dramatically as they get older.

When they were 8, you had to bug them to take a bath, and when they finally did, they were out in 2 minutes. Now that they are 15, they take two showers a day, and they are in there for 45 minutes!

Multiply this by a few kids, and your water softener could now be regenerating every day!

Power outage:

When the power goes out, you know that you have to reset all the clocks in your house, right!

But what about the clock on your water softener?

That’s a clock that many people don’t think about. But worse yet, if your power goes out, you may lose the programming for your water softeners computer.

Not a big deal, right! Well, it can certainly be a big deal if your water hardness is only 10, and your water softeners factory pre-set hardness is 20.

This means that the water softener has reverted back to the hardness setting set by the manufacturer, and your water softener will regenerate twice as much as it needs to.

Refer to your owner’s manual for directions on setting your water softener for the proper water hardness of your water.

And if you are not sure what your water hardness is, or you think that it may have changed, you can use a simple water hardness test kit to find out your water hardness.

Have you had your water softener serviced lately?

If you like to take good care of your home and all your home appliances, including your water softener, you probably have it serviced on a regular basis.

That’s great, do you know if your hardness has changed or do you have iron in your water?

Your service person should have tested your water for hardness and iron at the time of service. If your hardness or iron level has gone up, the service person should have increased the regeneration frequency of your water softener.

This would be needed for your water softener to remove any additional hardness or iron in your water.

Check your receipt, and call your service person and ask if they adjusted your water softener so that it now regenerates every day?

Check your water softeners programming:

Even a brief loss of power to a water softeners computer can cause it to lose its programming. In some cases, your water softener could be regenerated based on the wrong settings.

There are also two common ways that a water softener will be set to regenerate, based on the amount of water used, or on time between regeneration.

Normally, a water softener will be set to meter your water usage, and then regenerate once a pre-determined amount of water has been used. This is considered to be more efficient, as the water softener will only regenerate as needed.

Most water softeners can also be programmed to regenerate based on time.

In other words, it can be set to regenerate every 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, and so on. This is not as efficient because the water softener may regenerate, even when little water has been used.

If your water softeners computer program has been changed, or it has changed to a factory pre-set timed regeneration setting, your water softener may regenerate more often than is needed.

Water softener valve sticking:

Some non-electric water softeners are very complex and have several valves in their control head that control the water flowing through it. These valves can sometimes stick, causing them not to open and close properly.

When this happens, the water softener can continue to have water flowing through it which can tell the water softener to regenerate more often than needed because it has registered the water flowing passed the valve.

There are also electric water softeners that use valves in a similar way, and when they do not function correctly, the water softener may regenerate more often than it would normally.

Water softener piston sticking:

Much in the same way that a water valve can not open or close properly, most water softeners have pistons that will sometimes stick, causing water to flow when it should have stopped. A water softener may meter this water and cause it to regenerate sooner than it regularly would.

Most water softeners will only regenerate when a pre-set amount of water has been used. If you find that your water softener is regenerating every day, it is most likely because you are using enough water in one day to make your water softener regenerate.

Think about any changes that there might be in your water usage that could account for enough of an increase in water to make your water softener regenerate every day.

If nothing comes to mind, there is probably water being used that you are not aware of. Take a good look around anywhere water is used, and you should find the reason for extra water usage.