Trickling sound in resin tank

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pdenlinger

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I have a Fleck 9100 SE twin tank water softener that has been working well for about 15 years.

Lately I have been hearing a trickling sound in one of the resin tanks when a tap is running somewhere in the house.

Also, when the unit is beginning its recharge cycle, a lot of air blasts out of the discharge drain line before the water starts flowing.

So there is air in the resin tank somehow.

Recently, when the family goes away for a long weekend, I turn off the electricity to the well pump.
I do this so that if there is any plumbing break that we don't come back to a river. (I had a well pressure tank suddenly spring a leak one time)

I also unplug the water softener when I turn off the well pump.

Am I creating my own problem here -- when the water pump is off, does air get into the water lines and the water softener?
 

LLigetfa

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Air is obvoiusly getting into the water line. You just need to determine how. What kind of well pump, sub or jet? What kind of pressure tank, bladder or hydropnuematic? Does the tank have an air volume control? Do you also have an air injection system?
 

Gary Slusser

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pdenlinger, regardless of what type pump, you probably have a leaking check valve (submersible pump) or a foot valve (jet pump) in the well. Or a leak in the drop pipe.

Does the pump run at times when no water has been used? Maybe you don't know if it is a submersible because you can't hear them running so... If so you have a leak.

If the pump doesn't run without water use, run water until the pressure switch shuts off the pump. Then shut off the water at/on/after the pressure tank, before the softener and do not use any water while you check the pressure gauge over 15-30 minutes. If the pressure decreases you have a leak between the foot valve/check valve and the main water shut off valve at/on/past the pressure tank.

The leak or a loose fitting will be above the water level in the well or the foot/check valve. As water runs out eventually air fills the line, you use water and the air then enters a resin tank and can not get out until the unit goes into backwash.

If the gauge shows no leak now, the leak may be lower in the drop pipe when the well is fully recovered and you'd have to use a lot of water to see evidence of it or the softener is pulling the static water level down enough during regeneration so the leak is below the water level.

Or you have a well that's going dry and the pump is sucking air when the water level falls to the foot/check valve.
 

LLigetfa

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...or the softener is pulling the static water level down enough during regeneration so the leak is below the water level.

The symtoms don't support that theory. The resin tank is accumulating air during normal operation and is then getting expelled at the start of the backwash. Throughout most of the regen cycles that consume any significant quantity of water, the drain line would be bleeding it off and so not accumulating it.

I had a neighbor that used a regular bladder tank instead of a hydropnuematic precipitation tank. The air from the micronizer would accumulate both in the iron filter media tank and the softener resin tank. When it got so bad that air would knock a glass out of his hand at the kitchen sink, he would do a manual backwash. It was mind boggling that he could accumulate so much air between softener regens for it to pass through to the sink.
 

Gary Slusser

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I believe he would have mentioned any type of aeration he had if he had any and he didn't but...

If a well is going dry due to the water use of a regeneration or backwashing a filter, the last large water use cycle position is down flow rinse. If air is sucked in by the pump, the air can not get out of the media tank until the next regeneration or backwash.

And actually there is no other cause of air in a resin tank unless the pump is a jet pump sucking air at a loose fitting above water, or a brine system air check is not working to shut off the suction of air after the brine is sucked out but... then the air would be flushed out during backwash unless it were an upflow regenerated softener that backwashes before brining. Post/wet brine refill with air from loose brine line fittings or a bad air check could do it but not to the extent he describes unless he has a very high salt dose. Neither of those things happen very frequently but a leak in a drop pipe or a leaking check/foot valve does.

So the safe bet is on an air suction leak in the well, or the plumbing from a jet pump, and as I described, it is very easy and quick to find with my instructions of how to test for it.
 
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