I was able to get the entire softener disassembled and there is a piece called the "spacer stack assembly" that has a torn gasket. I will order a new part on Monday and hopefully that fixes it

Actually I do understand how the float works. You said it yourself that the float comes into play to prevent overflowing of the brine tank if the control valve fails. So if the valve did fail, then the float should stop the water flow but it does not and the water drips out the area around the threads holding the float assembly to the brine tank and the hole for the clear tubing. . So the float safety failed since it allowed the water level to rise much higher than the float. Second, is that I have been down this road twice before and if I empty the tank, clean the inlet tube and air check valve etc then its fine. It happens if the tank runs basically out of salt leaving just the white soft undissolved salt on the bottom. But if during the brine sucking phase the air check is clogged or the intake is clogged thus preventing any brine from being sucked out then the water level will not drop but when it goes back to fill the tank the volume of water gets compounded and eventually reaches the level of the float . I do agree that many of the site do not give all the info. although I really did not find any that did not give you a formula of how to size the softener. What I see that can be misleading is that many aren't showing grain capacity needed based on a seven day requirement but more are only 5 days. I did find one that I had gone to before for some info that did calcuate for 7 days. http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/water_softener_sizing.htm It also uses 75gal per person vs. the more realistic 60 you gave. In their sizing they say you need a 64,000 grain capacity. I get this. In your original post you said I needed 42000 grains to be treated each week. What I then can't understand is why is your recommendation for almost double the capacity for 2.5 cu ft thus a 80,000 grain water softener? This what I am trying to understand.

I'd love to believe that these no-salt water softeners work as it is a chore to lug salt to the water softener but none of them have an understandable scientific basis with solid controlled experimental evidence to support it. While conventional water softeners work on a clearly understood and easily confirmed chemical process. When we move to our present home, it was clear our water had unacceptable levels of calcium in it. We're on a neighborhood well and well water in many regions has this problem. We have both a front loading washer as well as a continuous melting ice maker. Both had problems with our water immediately. Continuous melt ice makers don't tolerate scale at all. The deposits on the freezing plate interfere with the sheets sliding off and cause the unit to jam up. I was having to clean the freezing plate on ours monthly. Front load washers also have all sorts of problems with hard water. The soap forms scum deposits which quickly become smelly. I was running two packs of washing machine cleaner through ours every month to try to combat this. Plus I had the usual scale on the dishes and bath fixtures, plus the soap scum buildup in the showers. I installed a basic Whirlpool water softener from Lowes and this immediately solved all our problems. I clean the ice maker about once a year which was the same frequency I had done it in our previous house on city water. And occasionally I run a washer cycle with washing machine cleaner but no longer does our washer continuously get smelly. This is also a good place to point out that the science behind calcium removal using resins with salt or potassium salt is the same across all brands. I won't argue that $3,000 water softeners have a lot of extra features that you will not find in a $400 Whirlpool one. BUT the way the remove calcium is exactly the same. They ALL use an ion exchange resin that substitutes sodium for the calcium. Periodically the resin is flushed with super saturated salt water to unbind the calcium, dispose of it, and replace it with more sodium for a new cycle. Note, it is a myth that water softeners add salt to your water, they add sodium, not salt. For those that are concerned with sodium intake, for a little more money, potassium chloride can be used instead of regular salt in just about any resin based water softener. As a plus with potassium, those with gray water systems can have a water softener and still use the waste water on plants and the lawn.

What you are describing is called recrystallization and is described (click) here To help keep the KCl brine a more constant temp, and supress recrystallization, you can place the brine tank on a 1.5 styrofoam sheet. You should only keep as much KCl in the brine tank as needed to cover the water, no more, and check KCl level once a week. As a routine maintenance put one gallon of hot tap water down the brine well (the 4" tube where thew float lives) once a month. That will dissolve chunks that have formed. I've been using KCl for over 10 years in my softener located in a garage. I clean out my brine tank once a year and have never had a recrystallization problem.