Water Softener Leaking

Find the leak first

Wipe the valve head, bypass, tanks and floor dry. Lay paper towels around the base of each tank. Then look again after a few hours of normal use, and once more during a manual regeneration.

Pay attention to when it leaks. A leak that drips all day is a pressure leak at a fitting or seal. A leak that only appears during regeneration is usually the drain line or the brine tank overflow. Don't ignore a small one, either. Whirlpool's manual says a small leak can waste hundreds of gallons of water in a few days.

Water softener leaking at the bypass valve

The bypass is the valve where the house plumbing connects to the softener. Its O-rings dry out, get nicked when someone yanks the handle, or get pinched during install. A hiss or a trickle you can hear outside of regeneration often points to a faulty bypass valve, worn O-rings or seal leaks.

The fix: put the house on bypass (or shut the main), pull the bypass apart, and replace the O-rings with the exact ones for your valve. Give the new rings a light coat of silicone grease so they seat without rolling. If the plastic body itself is cracked, replace the whole bypass. Our page on the water softener bypass valve shows how the common styles come apart.

Water softener leaking from the top

Leaks at the control head on top usually come from:

• The injector cap. It has an O-ring that wants a light coat of silicone grease and hand-tightening only. Overtightening cracks the cap.
• The inlet and outlet connections where the valve meets the bypass.
• The joint between the valve and the resin tank. Whirlpool lists a leak between the valve and resin tank as a cause of water problems, and the seal there is a large O-ring that can be replaced.
• High pressure. GE warns that if daytime pressure is over 80 psi, nighttime pressure may exceed the maximum, and says to use a pressure-reducing valve if necessary. The Fleck manual says a pressure regulator must be installed when daytime pressure is above 80 psi, or the warranty is void. Water pressure that's too high pushes past every seal in the valve.

If water drips out of the valve body itself, between seams, the internal seals or spacers are worn. Fleck's correction for internal leaks is to replace seals, spacers or the piston. That's a doable repair on some valves, but most homeowners hand it to a tech.

Water softener leaking from the bottom

A wet floor under the resin tank (the tall, narrow one) is the bad one. Check first that the water isn't just running down from the valve above. If the tank itself is weeping at the base, the fiberglass shell has failed and the tank needs replacing.

Under the brine tank (the wide salt tank) it's usually one of two things. Either the tank overflowed, or it's cracked. Whirlpool's fix for a crack in the brine tank is to replace the salt storage tank assembly.

Water softener overflowing

Water coming out of the brine tank's overflow fitting means the tank is filling faster than the softener can draw the brine out. A dirty injector, a kinked drain hose, a drain hose teed into the overflow line, or a bad float can all cause it. That's a separate fix, covered on brine tank full of water.

Water softener leaking during regeneration

During regeneration, water running from the unit into the drain is normal. What isn't normal is water on the floor. Check that the drain hose is clamped at the valve, that it hasn't popped out of the floor drain or standpipe, and that it isn't kinked. Whirlpool warns that the hose must have no kinks, sharp bends or blockages.

If the drain keeps running long after the cycle should have ended, the valve may be stuck. Fleck lists incorrect valve programming, foreign material in the control and internal leaks as causes of a drain that flows continuously.

What causes water softener resin to leak?

Resin beads look like tiny yellow-brown balls, and they show up in faucet aerators or the toilet tank. GE's manual traces resin in the drinking water to a cracked distributor (the tube inside the resin tank) and says to call for service. Resin in the drain line is a different problem: Fleck lists air in the water system and a wrongly sized drain line flow control as causes.

Either way, it's not a leak you can seal. The distributor or the drain control has to be replaced.

When to call a pro, and what it costs

Handle fittings, bypass O-rings, the injector cap and the drain hose yourself. Call a water treatment tech for internal valve leaks, a cracked resin tank or resin in your water.

HomeGuide puts most water softener repairs at $150 to $600, with a national average of $430. HomeAdvisor's numbers run higher, $162 to $985, with labor at $45 to $150 an hour. A new brine tank costs $125 to $700 in HomeAdvisor's data. On an older unit, compare that with a new softener using our water softener cost guide before you approve a big repair.