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sallym610_gw

fleck water softener

sallym610
12 years ago

WSe have a 5600SE system that is not delivering soft water. Did all the standard trouble shooting (bypass valve closed, salt in brine tank, injector/screen clean, regen stages all work, distributor tube seems OK, flow meter cable connected). I do not hear the clicking that used to occur when water was flowing through meter and I also wonder if resin might be worn out. It is a 6yr old system, has 9 x 48" tank w/ 1sq ft of resin, have regenerated every 14 days (some times more often) and our town water is 14gpg hardness. Untreated water tests 7.4ph while water in resin tank is 6.4ph (seems kind of high). System has worked very well up until now. I have done all I can think of, to no avail. All/any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sally

Comments (6)

  • User
    12 years ago

    Whenever someone says they've done all the standard troubleshooting and can't find the problem I always cringe.

    You missed something.

    Check that the motor is working. Without that, there will be no regeneration.

  • User
    12 years ago

    Make triple sure the softener is NOT on bypass.

    When you run water in the house you should see a flow indicator in the display. If you don't then you could have a problem in the turbine, a bad display, or a wiring problem.

    If the softener can't count the gallons used then it will regenerate at the calendar override setting which might be 14 days... that may be where your 14 days between regenerations came from.

    With your softener regenerating every 14 day the resin life can be shortened and I suspect the softener was not set up correctly or for efficient operation.

    With your water conditions I'd expect the resin to last 10+ years easy if the softener was setup to operate efficiently and IF the softener regenerated every 7 days or less.

    If you can't figure it out hit the Yellow Pages looking for an independent water treatment professional. There's always someone pretty much everywhere that services Fleck control valves.

  • rjh2o
    12 years ago

    You did not state how many people are in the home. It sounds like you do not have the system set for the proper gallons. If it is relying on the 14 day over ride most of the time you are probably running out of soft water.
    RJ

  • sallym610
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The motor is working and when the house calls for water the meter led light flickers and the gallons are counting down. The only difference I notice is the faint clicking sound that use to occur during flow metering is not happening now. We watched the motor/gears (back cover off) go through the cycles and every thing seems OK (nothing moves when water is flowing, but maybe this is normal). I am positive that the bypass value is allowing water flow into the system.
    We have two people in the house and don't use a lot of water, but even after a regen the water tests 6.4ph. Would it be worth replacing the resin and changing the regen to run every 7 days (what is the most efficient lenght for the 4 stages of the regen cycles)?. Thanks for all your help.

  • User
    12 years ago

    Don't be changing any stage settings in the programming unless you know what you are doing.

    Without knowing the details of your water conditions (hardness, iron, manganese, etc) along with the # of people (2), # of bathrooms, and any water hogging appliances it is difficult to know if your softener is sized or set up correctly or ever was.

    When a softener is correctly sized and set up for the water conditions, water usage, and SFR it will regenerate every 6 to 7 days which is best for the resin and use an efficient salt dose cutting down on operating costs.

    You've checked all the obvious things so at this point it would be prudent to get a local water treatment professional in there to diagnose the problem.

  • rjh2o
    12 years ago

    You stated the PH is changing through your softener. The PH should never change through any softener. A softener is designed to remove hardness, iron and manganese. If the PH levels are changing through the system then you have Chinese made resin. There was/is a severe problem with Chinese made resin not being rinsed properly and causing low PH levels as low as 3.0. This was also causing the resin to degrade. This may be the cause with your system. I suggest pulling the head off, inspecting the bed depth of resin.
    Re-bedding the tank is recommended (with american made resin).
    RJ

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