Fleck 7000 By-Pass Valve

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WassupTC

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I'm just going to ask the question and let the chips fall where they may: is it necessary for proper softener operation to install the by-pass valve included with my Fleck 7000?

Here's the story: I ordered a Fleck 7000. We were moving into a home that didn't previously have a water softener and so I needed to have the plumbing in the house configured to allow hard water in a few locations but generally have soft water at both cold and hot tap locations. The plumbers came out and reconfigured the water as I wanted. They also said they would install water softener. The water softener arrived by courier the day the plumbers were out and since we were in the process of moving I had to leave the house. The softener got installed, but the plumbers gave me some reason as to why they didn't install the bypass valve. They installed three ball-valves to manually bypass the softener, so I thought I was all good to go.

I got involved in other things but my better half had been noticing that there was a noticeable lack of suds in our water, so I went back and tested this last week and we're getting 18gpg hardness from the city supply and ~14gpg through the softened taps on cold. I'm trying to troubleshoot and wondering if the lack of soft water could be related to the fact that the plumbers did not install the provided by-pass valve.

I cleaned out the injector screen and injector today and ran regen. Still have hard water. I did clean about a 1/8-inch by 1/8-inch small dollop of pipe dope off of the injector screen but I couldn't see that causing major headaches.

I bought the softener online because I thought I could get a better deal than if I'd gone through one of the big two names (Cull... and Kine...). Feel free to call me any names you wish, as long as provide me with some helpful tips.

Additional information: The discharge tube was 5/8 ID vinyl tubing that had a few kinks. Water came out just fine, but just in case I replaced the tubing today with braided vinyl so there aren't any more kinks. I'm drawing brine and filling brine just fine even before replacing the discharge tubing. I'm going through salt. The settings on the softener are as follows:

DF: Gal
VT: St2b
CT: Fd
C: 36,000 (1.5 cu. ft. or 48k grain system)
H: 22
RS: SF
SF: 10
DO: 8
RT: 2:00
B1: 10
BD: 60
B2: 5
RR: 10
BF: 30
FM: t1.2

Thank you all for the help!
 

ditttohead

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The bypass is not needed if you have a proper 3 valve bypass. Can you supply a picture? Is the center valve closed? Try closing the inlet and see if that shuts down the house.



I am going to take a wild guess on this one. Check the manifold, see if they installed a 32mm head onto a 1.05 manifold. This will give you almost no reduction in softness but the system will use salt and seem to function properly.

You can test this in a couple of ways. The simplest is to put the system into regen, advance to brine draw, and taste the water going to the drain. it should not be salty for several minutes. If the water is immediately salty then we have a winner.

You can also remove the valve and visually inspect the riser (tube) and valve to see if they match.

The salt taste method is much easier, but... nas. Just a drop on the tongue is all that is needed, do not drink. :)
 
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WassupTC

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Thought about taking a picture and then thought I'd try the taste test. Started a regeneration, waited for the Backwash timer to start and then skipped to the Brine Draw. The timer had run for about 30 seconds and there was a noticeably salty taste to the water.

What was frustrating was the company I ordered from claimed that everything was ready to go and had been assembled. Thought I was going to save myself some money and hassle. Wrong and wrong.

I checked the injector. The system said it was supposed to be a Injector '0' and it turned out to be a Injector '00'. Not sure if that makes a big difference or not. The website dealer had a great BBB rating so I assumed, again, wrongly, that I made the right decision. Should have just gone with the pre-packaged unit the plumber was pushing.

So ticked.
 

WassupTC

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Not sure if this link will come through, but is this the part that I need? Part 61419

[h=1]32mm Distributor Adapter for Fleck 7000 (Part# 61419)[/h]Is this easy to install? Should I require the vendor supply me with the part?
 
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ditttohead

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61419 is correct assuming they mixed the 32mm valve with the 1.05" manifold. This is a common mistake. Whats even worse is that it is unlikely the company you purchased the unit from has ever touched one of these systems, they are usually working from their garage or a UPS store and pay to have one of the cheapest distribution companies that have no expertise available... oh well, the price is great, lol.

Be sure to confirm your findings by removing the valve and checking. If it as I suspect, then to install the piece is very simple. You must first remove the existing riser o-ring and o-ring retainer from the valve, then install 61419 into the valve to convert it to 1.05". Be sure the adapter has an inner and outer o-ring. Once it is installed, it can not be removed.

Hope this helps.
 

WassupTC

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Well, took off the control head from the tank, slipped off the distributor cap, and sure enough, there was the part (61419) just chillin'--unattached and loose--in the top of control head, two o-rings slipped over the narrow end of the part and yes, there is an o-ring on the inside of the part. If I remember correctly the part was reversed--narrow side down. So I'm not sure at this point if the part was included with instructions on how to install it and the plumbers didn't know what to do with it or what.

Anyway...good news, I don't need to get the part...bad news, I broke one of the safety clips trying to disconnect the softener and I have no replacement parts. Is this a commonly available part? By that I mean is this something I can just call a plumbing supply place or softener supply place and get a replacement? Before anyone asks, I've gotten into this 'throw away stuff I don't think I'll ever need again' phase and so I threw away the by-pass valve with the few extra clips.

I found the inner o-ring seated inside the part, where does the outer o-ring get placed? Does it get placed over the larger diameter end and then seated on the ledge at the transition between the larger and smaller diameters then push the part into the control head until I hear a snap?

Thanks again!
 

WassupTC

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IMAG0766[1].jpgIMAG0767[1].jpg

So here are the two pictures. The first is the part that was resting in the distributor basket at the top of the control head--notice the two o-rings on the outside. The second picture is how the part was resting when I took off the distributor cap.

My understanding is that the part needs to be installed by pushing the narrow end of the part into the opening at the bottom of the control head until I hear a 'snap'. Where does the extra o-ring get placed? I'm assuming that one of the o-rings just gets thrown away.

Thanks again!
 

ditttohead

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Look in the manual, parts 19 and 20 (19054, 40538) must be removed prior to installing 61419. 61419 should have only 1 oring on the outside, and 1 on the inside. 61419 will be pushed into the valve with a small amount of force and will snap into place, making future remove nearly impossible. The valve ships with 2 extra clips. You can watch my video to see how to remove them without breaking them. They are a safety device and make it impossible to remove the clips causing potential injury if the valve is under pressure. They are available online and fairly cheap., otherwise I can send you some N/C in a week when I return from my business trip
 

WassupTC

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Sorry to continue to be a bother, but I'm wondering where the outside o-ring on the adapter is supposed to be placed.

This is a picture of the inside of the adapter with the o-ring in place:
2014-03-16 15.50.35.jpg

I'm not certain I received the outside o-ring, but there were two on the adapter when it came out the distributor basket, and the one I have placed on the adapter in this next picture seems to fit. This is a picture of where I believe the outside o-ring is to be placed just prior to installation of the adapter--at the narrow end of the adapter right at the flange that connects the adapter to the opening in the bottom of the valve. Is this correct? I'm just nervous because as you've mentioned, once this thing gets snapped into place there's no turning back:
2014-03-16 15.50.43.jpg

Thank you for the offer of sending the clips. I don't think that's necessary, but I really appreciate it.

Thank you for all of your help. I really can't thank you enough.

TC
 

ditttohead

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The oring locations are correct. Now look inside the valve where that adapter is to be installed. You should see an oring and a plastic retainer that is holding the oring in place. These will be removed prior to installing this adapter. If you don't remove the oring and retainer clip, the adapter will eventually slip out of place and you will have the same problem again.

The red clip will work even though it is broken until you get replacements. It is just difficult to remove. watch my video on how to replace them without breaking them.
 

WassupTC

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This last bit of information was the final piece of the puzzle. I had seen where the o-ring sat inside the valve, and realized from the exploded view of the valve that there should be two parts to remove, but your description of a plastic retainer holding the o-ring seem to click. I thought the inset where the o-ring sat was a molded portion of the valve, once you mentioned that the o-ring was held in place by a retainer I then noticed that there was a ring that rotated freely. I used a flat-head screwdriver to remove the retainer ring, made sure I had the o-ring on the adapter, placed it in the hole, gave it a little bit of a push and snap...just like you wrote.

I reinstalled the top distributor basket, slipped the riser through the distributor basket and adapter on the control head, twisted the head on, and then reconnected the softener to the house plumbing. It was a bit of a trick getting it hooked up again to the copper supply lines, but once that was complete, I ran a regen and voila! SOFT WATER. And yes, I wasted an entire tank of hot water to make sure everything in the house would be soft for the morning.

Thank you for all of your help and time. Your help was a real blessing. Also, knowing that the red clips could be re-used in the interim while I waited for replacements was a great bit of information, it meant that I could complete the reinstall and get the system up and going. It was a great end to the weekend. Thank you again!
 
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