Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Well pump shuts off duringor after regeneration

Hi, my problem is this. I have a Kinetico nonelectric water softener,approx 10 yrs old. When we use it exclusively , it works fine except after regen. in the middle of the night, we use the shower in the morning and the well pump shuts off.:madhell: I think due to the over heat reset switch on the well pump. How can I use the softener and not have this problem Is the well pump shot or what?? Very frustrating!!!!! Spent almost $2000 on this softener and can't hardly use it! Please Help!!

What is the production of your well in gallons per minute?

When the well pump shuts off what do you do to restart the pump?

What could be happening is that the level of water in the well is drawn down by the regeneration process and there is not adequate time for the level to recover before your morning use of water. This problem could be made worse if the softener is malfunctioning so that it uses more water than usual. It could occur if you have a leak in your system that is increasing your use of water.

The out put is approx. 5 gpm.
To restart the pump I have to shut off the breaker to the well pump, wait for it to cool down, the restart the pump with the breaker.
Do you think that the addition of a jet pump could maybe help? I still have the original jet pump we used before the well was dug in 2000.
Would a new pump help?? Thanks for answering. Steve

The Kinetco water powered softener regenerates on a meter that counts water usage. If you are getting a regeneration in the middle of the night then you must be using water in the middle of the night. Unless you can account for the water usage that is triggering the regeneration you probably have a leak.

You may ultimately need a new pump but I think you need to find out what is causing the problem before buying a new pump--you could destroy a new pump in short order if the well is being pumped dry as the pump works to supply water that is leaking away.

I use to have a problem with mud in the water. It was a very fine clay-like silt. It even filled the hot water tank and I was told it was due to a minor cave in down in the well. I was also told that the pump could have a leak in it and when it kicks on it stirs the water enough to cause mud, so do you think the pump itself could have a leak enough to cause these problems? Thanks for your input.:wall:

A leak in the well will reduce the water supplied to the house but doesn't result in a dry well--the water simple remains in the well.

I think you may have a lead somewhere in your plumbing that is causing the softener to regenerate in the middle of the night. The leak could be a malfunction of the softener itself with the water going to the drain.

Do you have an explanation as to why the softener is regenerating in the middle of the night?

Yes, The dealer set it to regenerate in the middle of the night because of less usage. Should it be set for another time?

You said it is a water (non-electric) powered softener--the water powered versions are twin resin tank and don't have a clock and don't regenerate at a set time--they regenerate when a set number of gallons of water has been used.

If yours has a clock to regenerate in the middle of the night it must have some electric and then the middle of the night is usually a good time because regeneration of single resin tank units should be done when there is no water consumption.

If the softener is working correctly then a possibility is that the extra water usage from regeneration is drawing the water level in your well down and it is not recovering before you begin water usage in the morning. This might happen if the well recovery rate is very low.

Do you have information on the well from when it was drilled (the drillers log or the report that is usually filed with the state)? Of interest would be the well recovery rate--the amount of water in gallons per minute that can be taken from the well continuously without pumping the well dry.

I'll check on that. I believe you are correct about the regeneration settings. I'll call my dealer and find out what's up! Thanks again for the info.!!