Water softener
 

I just moved into my new house last week. Last night the water softener made a very loud horrible noise for about 10 min. When it stopped it showed a count down from 300 to 1. Seems fine right now. I know nothing about water softeners. What was that noise? Could it be because it's low on salt? I would call the manufacture but they don't open for another 4hrs. Should I disconnect it until I speak to the manufacturer?

Sounds, literally, like the water softener was regenerating. They way they work is one cell of the tank has millions of polymer ball that contaminants in the water cling to, like calcium that make the water hard. The softener is programed (generally at night) to flush a salt water solution through that tank to flush the contaminants off the balls. The process is called regeneration and if you have a digital water softener it will tell you that is what is happening. That is probably what you were hearing.

Thanks Kurt. I hope thats all it was. How often do water softeners normally run the regenerating process? Ounce a week?

Mine is set to cycle every 24 hours....

Depends on the amount of water you use. Any where from once a week to several times a week. If you notice your water getting hard, you need to set the regeneration cycle to run more frequently.

Most are set based on time, and regenerate when you are least likely to be using the water. Some more expensive systems go by volume by alternating between two ion exchangers.

Yep. If the softener has a digital screen and soft touch buttons, you can usually navigate through the menus, and set a new regenerate time.

I think mine is set to run about 3a.m.