How To Winterize Your Water Treatment Systems, Softeners, and Filters

Yes, it's that time of year again. The holidays are upon us, the cold is coming in, your water systems are…frozen?! If you are like some of our readers, you have some water treatment systems that need to be made ready for the winter, and are wondering how exactly you can do so.

(Note that this short tutorial is for people who don't plan to use their systems through the winter – for example, people whose systems are installed at summer cabins or timeshares that will be vacant for the winter. If you do plan to use your systems, the main thing to worry about is keeping them from freezing.)

For starters, we recommend draining all water from any tanks, control valves, pipes, and tubing on your water systems.

Softener_5600 — Flow diagram of a standard water softener

For water softeners, disconnect and drain the brine tubing. To drain the brine tank, run a normal regeneration cycle (during which the softener will suck the brine from the tank) then shut off your water before the final brine tank refill cycle.

Next, remove the control valve from your system and siphon any water in the tank by inserting some some small poly tubing down the distributor tube.

MangOX Iron Filter and Calcite Neutralizer — Winterize your iron filters and neutralizers using the same method you used for your softener

If you aren't already, consider using a bottom drain Enpress Vortech Tank. This tank, featuring a bottom drain plug for easy draining, can be used with your softeners, filters, and neutralizers, and will make winterizing your systems as simple as can be.

For more information, email us at [email protected], or leave us a message/comment on Facebook.