A few this i have come across whilst using a water softener. About 4 years ago i moved my business in to a small industrial unit 5 miles from where i used to be. Within weeks i started getting problem with my RO. Got new membranes thinking they were coming to the end of their life and that would be the problem, but again same thing happen. I noticed that the kettle for making a cup of tea was loaded with limescale / Calcium couldn't believe it . Had a water softener put in and the RO worked like a dream. Well up until lately. I use about 100kg of salt each month but noticed that the softener wasn't using hardly any salt also my water pressure was rising and the pure water volume was going down. I had changed the brand of salt i had been using and supposed that this was why. As things got worse i got the guy/agent from the water softener company out and the mechanical head of the softener had a blockage, stopping it from working. Wondered if i had done my membranes in as the volume of pure water had about halved and asked the agent what he thought. He said that once the resin vessels for the softener were regenerated and the membranes were being feed by the water softener the membranes would once again function ok. He was totally right, and all back to normal. I ask him how i could tell in the future if the softener was working correctly if i noticed that the salt hopper was not depleting? He gave me a test tube with a little box of tablets in it and said to fill the test tube with water after softener and drop a tablet into it, if the water turns green the sortner is working correctly, if it turns red then its not working . If i didn't have the water softener i would have to change the two 40/40 membranes on my RO every month as i wouldn't be able to make water fast enough for supply and demand. So spending £53.00 per month on salt is a good way to go for me as i normally would only change the membranes every couple of years now having the water softener. {Message for Rob Mitchell at I shine. I know that we live in the same town and as yet we have never meet and wondered if you would like to meet up for coffee sometime?}
Jase