Vacation + water softener - do you turn it off?

[nagooro]

If you're going to be away from home for a few days (or more), are you turning off your water softener?

[Darell_n]

No. It only works on demand and won’t regenerate if no water is being used. Turn the water off for the entire house instead.

[eblend]

My manual says otherwise, so I would say you should check on that as well. Mine says after x amount of liters of water (based on hardness setting) or every 2 weeks regardless. My vacations are usually 3 weeks long for the most part, I never bother, just leave it and let it do it's thing.

[Darell_n]

Well, the house water should definitely be off during vacation. The softener will be idle in this case.

[revelations]

A week? no ..... 3 weeks? = water off

[eblend]

Hum, i travel like 6-8 weeks of the year, never turned off water, don't see the point?

[Darell_n]

Hum, i travel like 6-8 weeks of the year, never turned off water, don't see the point?

I’ve had a hot water tank rupture twice in 14 years and a hot water hose blow clean off the underside of my kitchen sink, all while being nearby. Could you imagine the damage from an unchecked major water leak over a 6 week span? (or 2 hours with my kitchen sink instead of the 20 seconds it took me to kill it). I think insurance would bend you over badly. I turn mine off if I leave for a weekend.

[ExtraSlow]

I’ve had a hot water tank rupture twice in 14 years and a hot water hose blow clean off the underside of my kitchen sink, all while being nearby. Could you imagine the damage from an unchecked major water leak over a 6 week span? (or 2 hours with my kitchen sink instead of the 20 seconds it took me to kill it). I think insurance would bend you over badly. I turn mine off if I leave for a weekend.how would insurance "bend you over badly"? Is insurance not valid unless you turn off master water supply every time you leave the house? Of course not. It's valid, period.

[revelations]

Hum, i travel like 6-8 weeks of the year, never turned off water, don't see the point?

In one trip? If youre gone for 2 months most home insurance requires a check person every so often.

[Darell_n]

how would insurance "bend you over badly"? Is insurance not valid unless you turn off master water supply every time you leave the house? Of course not. It's valid, period.

Many are only valid for 5 days unattended.

[redline]

Mine only regen with demand ... never turned it off.

[BigShow]

No, never turn it off. Works fine this way, no issues.

[r3ccOs]

No, never turn it off. Works fine this way, no issues.

the beads like being recharged even if nobody is using water... so either you use your capacity and it does it right away (or switches tanks if its that super marketed kenitco) or it does it by itself on a set number of days even if you haven't used its capacity

[jaylo]

Since early spring, my regeneration stopped working.

The system does it's thing but the salt from the brine tank stays the same.

I would assume either is broken or both.

[eblend]

In one trip? If youre gone for 2 months most home insurance requires a check person every so often.

No sorry, usually 2 or 3 trips a year.

And I guess it's different because I have cats and my parents drop by every second day to feed them and check on the house.

[Xtrema]

how would insurance "bend you over badly"? Is insurance not valid unless you turn off master water supply every time you leave the house? Of course not. It's valid, period.

The language is not turning it off, but have someone checking your home's water and heating system periodically while you are away.

https://park.ca/blog/2015/09/21/3-common-activities-that-can-void-your-home-insurance-coverage/

But turning it off and draining the pipes will reduce the risk in the event of heating failure while you are away. So I do exactly that if I'm away more than a week.

[jaylo]

Does anyone know a good water softener installer/repair? Thanks!

[nagooro]

Does anyone know a good water softener installer/repair? Thanks!

Derek @ BRM installed mine and was highly recommended from other members.

http://www.thewaterman.ca

[macman64]

how would insurance "bend you over badly"? Is insurance not valid unless you turn off master water supply every time you leave the house? Of course not. It's valid, period.

Most policies are not valid if no one checks on the place. Other option exist like turning off the water. I suspect it depends on the policy but every one I have had states I need to either have water off or have someone check the place.

[jaylo]

Derek @ BRM installed mine and was highly recommended from other members.

http://www.thewaterman.ca

Thanks nagooro

[juwantme]

What are other items ppl turn off while going away on vacation?
I heard if you shut the main water line you need to put your hot water tank off or on vacation mode? Is that true?

[botox]

Never knew this was a thing. We go for 1-3 week vacation every year or so and only thing we do is turn down the furnace and have someone check in every day or two. Been doing that for 20 years and everything else stays on as normal. Am I just lucky that nothing breaks?

[ThePenIsMightier]

2023 BUMP.

So, I'm pretty sure my water softener potentially could go into regeneration while I'm on vacation and I always turn my main water line off. What would happen if it tried to regenerate without a source of water?

[killramos]

Does it have a pump?

I would guess nothing would happen without some kind of pressure to drive the system?

We turn our water off at the lake (literally off more often than it’s on) with a kinetico and can’t say we have noticed any issues. In the years it’s been installed.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Does it have a pump?

I would guess nothing would happen without some kind of pressure to drive the system?

We turn our water off at the lake (literally off more often than it’s on) with a kinetico and can’t say we have noticed any issues. In the years it’s been installed.

I certainly don't think so. It's a whirlpool kind from Canadian Tire.

[Darell_n]

2023 BUMP.

So, I'm pretty sure my water softener potentially could go into regeneration while I'm on vacation and I always turn my main water line off. What would happen if it tried to regenerate without a source of water?

Nothing at all. It will have a flow meter that triggers the regen cycle and not a timer.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Nothing at all. It will have a flow meter that triggers the regen cycle and not a timer.

I agree, but mine has a setting where I get to tell it that it can only Regen at 3am. So I'm picturing a scenario (albeit rare) where enough flow has gone through that it's scheduled to Regen at 3am the day we left.
But if the first stage of the Regen involves water flowing, I imagine it would simply attempt, fail, and then throw some error code without hurting anything... Probably?

[Darell_n]

I agree, but mine has a setting where I get to tell it that it can only Regen at 3am. So I'm picturing a scenario (albeit rare) where enough flow has gone through that it's scheduled to Regen at 3am the day we left.
But if the first stage of the Regen involves water flowing, I imagine it would simply attempt, fail, and then throw some error code without hurting anything... Probably?

It will be ok with the water off. All the big box store water softeners use the same components, just with a different lid and lipstick on it.

[nagooro]

I agree, but mine has a setting where I get to tell it that it can only Regen at 3am. So I'm picturing a scenario (albeit rare) where enough flow has gone through that it's scheduled to Regen at 3am the day we left.
But if the first stage of the Regen involves water flowing, I imagine it would simply attempt, fail, and then throw some error code without hurting anything... Probably?

I've had that exact scenario. Early morning flight and it was going to regen at ~2am or something, I just manually pushed a regen the evening before, so that when we left I could just shut off the main water and not worry about it. Mine usually regens when there is something like ~75 (gallons? liters?) left, so Ill usually check it day or two in advance so I know if I need to manually do it or not.

[StreetRacerX]

I would recommend shutting the water down every time;

We had a service call not long ago where the softener failed resulting in a significant amount of beads being flushed throughout their water suppy when they returned home and ended up plugging plumbing fixtures through out the home, it took a bit of time but we were able to vacuum and flush the beads out until everything was running freely again.

[ThePenIsMightier]

I would recommend shutting the water down every time;

We had a service call not long ago where the softener failed resulting in a significant amount of beads being flushed throughout their water suppy when they returned home and ended up plugging plumbing fixtures through out the home, it took a bit of time but we were able to vacuum and flush the beads out until everything was running freely again.

Wat?!!!??!!!

[StreetRacerX]

Wat?!!!??!!!

It's no where near as common as water supply lines to fridges, toilets, and sinks, leaking/bursting though, it's policy that our guys replace them and never reuse them.

[ThePenIsMightier]

It's no where near as common as water supply lines to fridges, toilets, and sinks, leaking/bursting though, it's policy that our guys replace them and never reuse them.

No, I mean how did you end up in a situation where the ion exchange beads ended up getting vacuumed throughout your plumbing system!!? That sounds completely impossible under any scenario.