Need some assistance with a Chem Free Iron Buster

[animalmother224]

A few years ago I bought into a softer and Iron Buster from a local dealer. The units worked really well for my hard, sulfur/iron water for a quite a while. They have since stopped working. The dealer/installer has since went belly up and have no local support for this gear.

I have already replaced the softener with my old unit I rebedded myself, but my concern with the Iron Buster is that when I removed it from service (temporarily) it was full to the top with water. (no air bubble)

it utilizes a fleck 5600sxt control head with the air port/screen installed.

my two questions. how to i go about investigating why the air bubble is no longer present (concurrent with the poor water recently) and what type/kind of media is in the tank so I can rebed it and get it back into service.

there are no obvious markings or anything indicating what is inside the tank. I actually spent a number of hours just to discern what control head is on top. the dealer/installer left me with NO paperwork for the hear at all. (sketchy outfit but great salesman, no wonder they are out of service)


i removed the head and the base and beginning of the tank were backed up pretty good with green/brown slime so I can only assume the valves are as well.

let me know if you wizards need any further info, I can gather it.

I appreciate the help!

 

[Mialynette2003]

Look at the injector nozzle & throat. This is what will cause an air draw. Also, check for any leaks, internal as well as external like the drain or brine.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

Further to Mialynette's reply, here is a copy of the Fleck 5600SXT Service Manual: http://waterpurification.pentair.co...6sxt-service-manual-down-flow-42684-rev-g.pdf
Parts are more clearly labeled in the 5600 Manual found here: http://www.donamarc.com/FL5600.pdf

Your media may not require replacement as restoring the proper operation of the control valve will permit the media to be thoroughly backwashed, thereby flushing away the sediment and oxidized iron debris.

Searching online for 'Iron Buster' revealed 1 eBay listing which indicated that unit contains BIRM media. If media replacement is found to be necessary, you may wish to consider Katalox Light as it is a newer, highly effective media which seems to have become the media of choice for iron and sulphur reduction.

The media capacity may be estimated if you state the diameter and height of the Iron Buster media tank. You may wish to also post some photos along with your water analysis results.

 

[Akpsdvan]

Iron Buster is like a softener, rather than brine it draws air, but if there is enough iron in the water it will load and plug the injector and screen so that would be the first place that I would look to clean.
Once it is drawing air again one should see little air bubbles in the water like it was new again.

 

[animalmother224]

Thanks fellas. I will get the tank dimensions. The intake screen and tube are external and i can verify they don't seem to be plugged.

I was wondering, would any of the chemical rejuvenators for softeners could work on this unit to clean the valve and tank out? or should this be done manually with a full dismantle?

 

[Bannerman]

would any of the chemical rejuvenators for softeners could work on this unit to clean the valve and tank out?

A softener has a brine pick-up assembly. If brine is being drawn into the resin tank, then a cleaner can be placed into the brine tank to be drawn into the resin through the control valve.

As your Iron Buster has an air inlet instead of a brine pickup, there is no direct method to draw in any cleaner. Currently, your system doesn't seem to be even drawing air.

You're going to need to disassemble and manually clean-out whatever blockage is present.

You should start with inspecting and cleaning the areas which Mialynette and Akpsdvan recommended before proceeding to further disassembly if necessay.

 

[Reach4]

How much iron does your raw water have?

A Super Iron Out solution can be good for soaking parts. Vinegar or citric acid are milder and would be better if you will not be able to rinse the part completely.

Would this be about 4 years in service?

 

[animalmother224]

I would have to get it tested again since I don't remember how much or the test results, then again the salesman had some fancy color changing sticks that just blew my wife away... and wrote the check.

the system would be about 5 years old about now..

the tank is 10X54 if that helps

can someone suggest a reputable place to send a sample of my water? maybe a place that doesnt want to sell me something or has a dog in the fight sorta say?

 

[Reach4]

can someone suggest a reputable place to send a sample of my water?

I like Kit60 from http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/ for most wells.

 

[animalmother224]

Thanks Reach.. ill get it ordered and start the process.

 

[animalmother224]

Already a few minutes in tearing this valve apart and have identified two problems already. one being the check valve for the air intake. it was stuck and needed to be pushed out, and this is supposed to operate on a VERY light spring.. so thats a good sign


also noticed another piston that goes into the timer/controls and that also had to be yanked. everything will get a good cleaning and reassembled and reinstalled.. we will see what happens!

thanks so much for everyone that has been posting, I truly appreciate it

 

[Smooky]

Here is more Fleck 5600SXT Info
http://www.flecksystems.com/fleck-5600sxt.html
http://www.flecksystems.com/fleck-parts/5600sxt-parts.html

 

[Reach4]

Glad to hear your teardown is productive. It is good to give O-rings a very light lube of silicone grease for reassembly.

 

[animalmother224]

Ok. she's back together. Im down a 6 pack and no extra parts left over. All good so far. Before final assembly I lubed all parts with food grade silicone. I fired it up (off the tank, on the bench) and everything seems to be working. It kept its initial programing it seems (minus the current time) I left the back cover off and fired off a man regen to watch the gears to make sure they were still in time. manually fired off each step, and the programing only goes through three steps, which would make sense since its a filter/air head and not a softener. when the valve kicked over for the air draw i blew in with my mouth and air went into the port, so hopefully the venturi will work correctly and suck air in. I would REALLY prefer not to get into the programming if I got to change anything. Its going back in service tomorrow after a quick parts run for some fittings. I will fire a manual regen right away

One quick question. in its current form and set up, would this be considered an up flow or down flow? Not sure if it makes a difference but there is an external check valve on the discharge water port between the valve body and the bypass body. the intake water port just has a plastic flange that takes up the same space (no turbine)

Again guys, thanks so much of the help and info!

 

[Reach4]

Upflow would be very unusual I think. Downflow means the water flows downward while in service.

 

[animalmother224]

resintalled and running through a manual backwash. everything seems to be running good. but does anyone know how I can verify air is being drawn in doing the brine draw cycle? I can only assume it is .. It was totally full of water when I reinstalled it. 30 minutes into the BD (40 min) cycle and it seems to be totally empty. That a good sign right? I can wiggle it and shake it around and it feels Super empty.

 

[animalmother224]

Ok .. its finished its regen. I can run the water in the house and hear the "rain fall" inside the tank. so far so good.. going to let it go for a few days.. and still have my water tested. I am going to have the lab test my raw water and treated water to see if my system is doing any good.

thanks again guys

 

[Bannerman]

but does anyone know how I can verify air is being drawn in doing the brine draw cycle?

I assume, you would be able to feel some suction on the air inlet port during the Draw portion of the "regen" cycle.

 

[animalmother224]

Got my results back from my water test. If any of you guys would care to interpret the results and let me know whats up. This is RAW untreated water that has only gone through a spin down style filter (since I didnt feel like disconnecting it to draw the sample)

its a PDF so I attached it to this thread.. hope it works.


So far with the update softener in, the water has been super soft(almost slimy) and the smell has gotten much better. I still think the iron buster needs to be rebedded. We will start looking into that material the gentlemen posted above.

 

[Reach4]

This is RAW untreated water that has only gone through a spin down style filter

Pretty good. With 0.52 ppm of iron, there is not all that much for the iron buster do do.

Regarding the slicker feel, start using significantly less soap for bath and laundry. See the last paragraph of https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/im-back-with-softener-questions.61760/#post-458321