If your water softener has plenty of salt in the tank but the shower still leaves a film and your hands feel tacky after washing, the salt is probably not the problem. Many St. Louis homes have softeners that look fine from the outside while the water passing through them is only partly treated. Before you add more salt or schedule a service visit, run a few simple checks to find out where the problem actually is.

Confirm Which Tap You Are Testing

Hardness test strips only help if you know where the sample came from. You need two readings: one from untreated cold water and one from a softened tap. The untreated sample should come from a cold tap that sits before the softener, such as an outdoor spigot or a utility sink on the supply line. Check the plumbing near the unit to confirm this. A tap downstream of the softener will always read softened, which tells you nothing about the unit's performance.

Run the cold water for a minute or two before filling the test cup so you are reading fresh supply and not water sitting in the pipe. Read the color pad in good light, holding it next to the printed chart rather than trusting your memory of the colors.

Check the Bypass Valve

Most softeners have a bypass valve that lets untreated water flow straight into the house. If that valve is open, or only partly closed, some of your water skips the softening step entirely. The result is often hard water at the taps even though the tank looks healthy.

Look at the valve handles near the unit. They should be set to send water through the softener and not around it. If the handles look different from the diagram on the unit or from how they were set when the system was installed, note the position before you move anything. Then compare your two test readings again after the valve is set correctly.

Look for a Salt Bridge

A salt bridge forms when salt above the water line hardens into a crust that blocks the salt from dissolving into the brine. The tank can look full while little salt is actually available for regeneration. Shine a flashlight into the tank and look for a hard shelf or a hollow space under the salt surface. If you find one, you can gently break it up with a wooden tool, taking care not to damage the brine well or the unit's internal parts.

Confirm the Unit Is Regenerating

A softener restores its capacity through a regeneration cycle. Check the control display for the current time, the last regeneration date, and whether the unit is set to the correct water hardness and capacity settings. A clock that resets after a power outage or a setting that was never entered can leave the unit out of step with your household's water use.

Also confirm that the drain line is clear and that water is flowing during regeneration. A blocked drain can stop the cycle partway through. If the control shows an error code, write it down before you call for help, since it will make the next visit faster.

Test for Iron Before Blaming the Resin

Iron and manganese in the supply water can coat the softening material over time, which reduces how much hardness the unit can remove. Signs include rusty or reddish staining on fixtures, yellow or brown tint in the water, and a unit that seems to run out of capacity sooner than it used to. Use a separate iron test if you suspect this, since a standard hardness strip will not show it.

Decide What Your Results Mean

  1. If the softened tap reads as hard as the untreated tap, check the bypass valve and the regeneration settings first.
  2. If the softened tap reads soft but you still see film on fixtures, the cause may be soap type, scale already inside the water heater, or buildup from earlier hard water.
  3. If the iron test is positive, treat iron as its own issue, since it can interfere with the softener and needs its own assessment.
  4. If the untreated tap reads very hard and the softened tap is only somewhat better, the unit may be undersized for your household or past its useful capacity, and a licensed plumber or water treatment professional can inspect it.

Write down each reading, the date, and the tap you used. A simple log makes it much easier for anyone you call to see what changed and when.