Water Softener Parts

If you’re going to repair your own water softener, you’ll need to find the right water softener parts to get the job done right. Regardless of the quality or brand, anything mechanical needs periodic maintenance, but having the right parts and tools will make the job much quicker and maybe even enjoyable.

In all likelihood the parts you need to repair or maintain are in the control head. The rest of the system is basically plastic tubing and large buckets. They’re important, specialized buckets, but buckets nonetheless. There are no moving part there so unless you’ve managed to somehow punch a hole in one you won’t need any water softener parts for them.

The control head is an entirely different story, however. These buggers can be pretty sophisticated and have several valves and probably an embedded controller. You will be best off if you can find parts recommended by the manufacturer. If you try to go generic you could end up with a nasty surprise when you get everything back together and start running water back through the system again.

While you have the whole control head apart anyway, you should give it a thorough cleaning. A wipe down of the internal works with a paper towel should be good enough, but as you go through it take note of anything that could be wearing out. Operate the valves manually, if you can, and see if you can tell if they move freely or if they stick at all.

A standard maintenance procedure will involved replacing the o-rings as well as any pistons and seals your unit may include. If you’re lucky and the manufacturer puts together a good maintenance kit with the water softener parts they will include the proper lubrication for the seals. This is typically a silicone based grease, but you will need to double check in your instruction manual.

As you contemplate doing this work, even before you pick up or order the new water softener parts, you need to take a look at your plumbing and see how the system is tied in to the rest of the house. Hopefully when it was installed the plumber put in a water bypass circuit so that the water softener can be taken out of the loop and the rest of the house can still get water. It may be hard water, but at least the home would still function if the water softener maintenance took longer than expected.

If there is a bypass, you will just have to close the valve that leads to the softener and open the valve that goes to the bypass circuit. Be sure to reverse this procedure when you’re done working on the unit. If you don’t have a bypass, you’ll just have to explain to the family why they won’t have water for a few hours while you work on the water softener system. I’m sure they’ll understand. Of course, they’ll understand more if you send them to the mall with a few bucks.

And as a last note, remember to set the timer on your unit to do the regen/flush when the noise will bother you the least.

Water Softener Parts Video