About 1 year ago, our water softener broke down. The plumber we brought in said the inside cracked open and all the tiny ball-like particles came through and blocked my kitchen faucet. He cleared out the kitchen faucet and the water softener was turned off. I thought that was the end of it until about 4 months ago, my kitchen faucet lost pressure. My dad took it apart and once again there were these tiny ball-like particles clogging the hose. Since then, ever so often, we need to take it apart and unclog it. My question is three-fold: 1)Are these tiny balls from the water softener and why do they continue to clog up the kitchen faucet? 2)If these are from the water softener how come there is no sign of them in the other faucets around the house? Have we been ingesting them? 3) HOW DO I GET RID OF THEM FOR GOOD?? PLEASE HELP!!
Yes they are from the softener. He should have removed it rather than just turning it off, since he must not have done a very good job of it, otherwise the material could not get out of the softener and into the system.
They will accumulate anywhere the openings are too small for them to pass through, and you should also find them in the toilet tank.