Thoughts on removing an ancient water softener
I’m remodeling a house and one of the things that i have to do is remove a 1930’s 0r 1940’s era water softener from the basement and hopefully off to the scrapman. Take a look at the pic below: the unit made up of two steel tanks, one sealed that (I think contains the ion exchange resin); the other one is filled with LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of salt (200-300 lbs worth). Steel on both tanks is 3/8″ so they’re going to be heavy. If I had a cutting torch (and knowledge how to use one properly), I’d cut the tanks up and haul them out in pieces. A more realistic option that I’m thinking has two parts: First the salt tank: Since the salt tank is open, start hacking away at the salt and chip it, dig it, shop vac it out.. What remains, I could just add water and let the brine go down the drain (or is that not a good idea?). With the salt gone I figure a helper and I could move this thing. The ion exchange tank has me baffled. It has 3/4 galvanized running into and out of it. Could I cut the upper and flood the tank with water to flush the beads out? I’m really at a loss here – hopefully one of you out there have run into something like this in the past.
Replies
Appliance cart.
Or contact:
Elgin Water Care
1009 Broad Ripple Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
[email protected]
[email protected]
317-251-9223
They may come and get it for their museum.
Ha! I'd love it if they'd send one of their reps over. Certainly save me a bit of time and chiropractic bills.
An electric angle grinder with a diamond blade intended for cutting metal should do the trick on the smaller tank.
See how much it weighs after you get the water out.
My 1924 house came with a primitive water filter, a 7' high 3' wide steel tank filled with sand. Again, I don't know how to use a torch. Carbide metal cutting blades in a recip saw allowed me to cut up pieces small enough to carry away. Diablo carbide blades.
Good luck.
Thanks for the help everyone. Looks like a grinder or sawzall is the answer. If I can’t hack the salt out is there anything wrong with sending a ton of brine down the drain? House is on a city sewer, cast iron pipes are in good shape.
It would have gone down the drain originally, so go for it. you can hook up a slow trickle and let it run. remember to keep an eye on it so you don't fill up the basement.
Once you get the salt out, two guys and a hand truck should be able to manage the tanks without toom much trouble.
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Your plan for the brine tank seems good. Removing the ion exchange resin tank will be more challenging. After you bypass the unit from your water supply, you can try draining the water from the tank by removing the galvanized plug near the floor and removing the top lid (cap fitting should come off counter-clockwise). Your best bet is to remove the tank with an appliance cart and two people with strong backs at this point. If the tank is still too heavy (it will still weigh over 100 lb), you can try removing the resin, but this is very difficult. You cannot simply drain the resin out as the distributor tubes (screening tubes) inside the base of the tank are designed to prevent the resin from washing out during normal use. You can try backwashing the unit to suspend the resin in the water and siphon (or suction) it out through the top opening, but this task is messy and difficult. I hope you have a floor drain in your basement that works well.
I conducted extensive study on several systems and spoke with every seller at the Phoenix Home and Garden Show before we bought the softener four years ago. Any home needs this AFWFilters water softener since it can get rid of 48,000 grains of calcium and magnesium before it needs to be recharged. People will value that it has an NSF certification to back up its promises.
You can read more here: https://www.usawaterquality.org/ion-exchange-water-softeners/