Home Improvement

Was the softener bypassed during this time, or was there a regular supply of water flowing through it?

I re-activated a "stagnant" softener about 4 years ago immediately started failing well water tests due to coliform bacteria. Eventually I figured out it was the softener and not the well. It has since been replaced.

That one had been bypassed for who knows how long, which is worse than keeping water running through the beads and simply not adding salt.

For the brine tank (pictured in your post) let the salt run out on purpose and bring it outside and rinse it out once a year.

Brine water is very sterile. Stuff can't grow in it.

Looks way worse than it is. Clean it out and add salt. The resin should be fine, they're rated for like 15 years. I'm sitting at 20 years with mine and it still does a fine job. In fact, by happenstance a buddy works for Culligan and he doesn't even bring up replacement unless the unit shows actual problems keeping water soft, regardless of age.

E. Another user mentioned bacteria, which can definitely be a cause for concern if the unit was sitting for that time, but should be less of an issue if it was just used without salt and NOT on bypass. Especially considering softeners typically have a pre-filter that sits in untreated water for 4-6 months at a time and a softener doesn't sterilize water in any way. So you're getting same bacteria regardless.

Add bag of salt, 1/3 bottle of softener cleaner, and do an immediate regen, cross your fingers, and try out your hopefully softened water.

$16 cad @ home depot

Salt is cheap enough that I would just rinse it out and try it. If it doesn't soften, try adding iron out (cheap and easy, instructions on the package are fine). I inherited a softener that was unplugged and apparently not working. I followed these steps and after the iron out treatment it works great.

Thats gross. Just clean it out. I mean that's just the salt tank. But your water rinses through that salt. E. Sorry I didn't see about the resin, I actually didn't even know there was a second components to the tanks. I mean price one out. If its 50 bucks and you can change it yourself, I would go for it.