WS-1 discharges media

[Greyredstar]

I hve a Clack WS-1 I installedmyself, and I have never been able to stop it from discharging media when it regeneraes. I bought it over the internet and the installation directions were sketchy, but I got it in and have no reason to think it's not installed correctly. It has worked but I think the resin level has gotten so low it is on the verge of not working. I have seen online tutorials where the installer uses gravel on the tank bottom, but he install kit did not have any.

Can anyone help me with this?

 

[Bannerman]

As you mentioned 'resin' and 'regenerates', I expect that this is a water softener as opposed to another type of water treatment device. WS-1 is a Clack control valve model which maybe used on various back washing water treatment devices containing different medias.

When did you install the unit and how do you know media continues to be discharged?

Although I would expect you would have mentioned it, is there any resin in your house plumbing or plugging your faucet aerators? This will occur with a broken bottom distributor (screen device at the bottom of the center tube) or a broken center tube. It can also occur if the softener is plumbed backwards and there is an occasion of high water flow.

Gravel is highly recommended as it sits below the resin, keeping the resin raised above the bottom distributor and aids in distributing water flow throughout the resin tank. Some online distributors do not include gravel as this adds to shipping costs, allowing them to undercut other online distributors by a few dollars.

Check your plumbing connections to ensure the softener inlet and outlet are connected as intended. I believe on the WS-1, the inlet is on the right when you are standing in front of the valve, facing it.

A few questions:
- Well or municipal water supply?
- Softener capacity?
- Tank size?
- Type of resin - Regular or Fine Mesh?
- How much of the media tank did the resin fill? There should be empty space above the resin for the resin to expand into.
- What is your water pressure?
- How did you initially fill the tank with water after installation? Water should be restricted to a slow stream with the control valve in the backwash position, thereby pushing trapped air out of the tank to the drain and allowing the slow moving water to saturate the resin.
- What is the Drain Line Flow Control (DLFC) rating? There should be a label on the valve, close to where the drain line connects. The DLFC is a flow restriction button which restricts the backwash from lifting the resin too much to cause it to be flushed to drain but allows enough flow to expand the resin to wash debris out from the resin. The DLFC rating can vary depending on factors including the resin tank diameter and water temperature.

Edited to add: If you have a non-jacketed tank, depending on the tank colour, you maybe able to see the level of resin remaining in the tank by shining a light from behind the tank.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LLigetfa]

Is this a municipal supply or well? Is there any air spitting at the taps?

If you have an airmaker system and the AVC is not removing the surplus air, it can move forward during a backwash. The combined air and water creates a violent boiling action like boiling over a pot on the stove.

 

[ditttohead]

Resin exiting during regeneration should not occur if the system is properly set up and installed. Water pressure should have no affect unless the water pressure is in excess of 100 PSI since the flow control regulates based on pressure. Does the system have a top screen? This should not matter but if your water temperature varies a lot, a top screen is important since water temperature greatly affects bed expansion during regeneration. As you can see in the chart below,.
Water temperature plays a critical role in properly installing a water treatment system. Water temperature affects flow rates, backwash rates, and even systems capacities. The most critical of these is the backwash rate. Colder water is more dense and requires considerably less water to properly backwash a system. Hot water requires much more. The chart below shows standard cation water softening resin backwash expansion at varying temperatures. A 50% bed expansion is achieved with only 2.5 gpm/ft² at 40°F. At 86°F, it requires 7 gpm/ft² or nearly three times more water to achieve the same bed expansion. Common backwash rate charts assume a water temperature of 68°F.

This should give you a couple of ideas of how to fix your system. Check the DLFC rate and confirm that it is correct for your tank size and water temperature. if your temperature varies during the seasons, a high quality top screen may be a solution. The standard cheap top screens that most companies hip with their systems is only intended to protect the valve during shipping and to offer better distribution in the top of the tank. Large commercial systems rarely have a top screen, instead they have a diffuser.

 

[Greyredstar]

As you mentioned 'resin' and 'regenerates', I expect that this is a water softener as opposed to another type of water treatment device. WS-1 is a Clack control valve model which maybe used on various back washing water treatment devices containing different medias.

When did you install the unit and how do you know media continues to be discharged?

Although I would expect you would have mentioned it, is there any resin in your house plumbing or plugging your faucet aerators? This will occur with a broken bottom distributor (screen device at the bottom of the center tube) or a broken center tube. It can also occur if the softener is plumbed backwards and there is an occasion of high water flow.

Gravel is highly recommended as it sits below the resin, keeping the resin raised above the bottom distributor and aids in distributing water flow throughout the resin tank. Some online distributors do not include gravel as this adds to shipping costs, allowing them to undercut other online distributors by a few dollars.

Check your plumbing connections to ensure the softener inlet and outlet are connected as intended. I believe on the WS-1, the inlet is on the right when you are standing in front of the valve, facing it.

A few questions:
- Well or municipal water supply?
- Softener capacity?
- Tank size?
- Type of resin - Regular or Fine Mesh?
- How much of the media tank did the resin fill? There should be empty space above the resin for the resin to expand into.
- What is your water pressure?
- How did you initially fill the tank with water after installation? Water should be restricted to a slow stream with the control valve in the backwash position, thereby pushing trapped air out of the tank to the drain and allowing the slow moving water to saturate the resin.
- What is the Drain Line Flow Control (DLFC) rating? There should be a label on the valve, close to where the drain line connects. The DLFC is a flow restriction button which restricts the backwash from lifting the resin too much to cause it to be flushed to drain but allows enough flow to expand the resin to wash debris out from the resin. The DLFC rating can vary depending on factors including the resin tank diameter and water temperature.

Edited to add: If you have a non-jacketed tank, depending on the tank colour, you maybe able to see the level of resin remaining in the tank by shining a light from behind the tank.

I have the discharge plumbed to a utility tub, and can see the media left in it after regeneration. I have checked the inlet and outlet andthey are correct. There are conical shaped screens at the bottom of the down tube, and attached to the bottom of the valve.

Well or municipal water supply? - Municipal
- Softener capacity? - Have to check
- Tank size? - Have to check
- Type of resin - Regular or Fine Mesh? - I am not well educated regarding the different types of resin, but it appears to be fine.
- How much of the media tank did the resin fill? There should be empty space above the resin for the resin to expand into. - Originally the tank was about 80% full.
- What is your water pressure? I have no idea

 

[LLigetfa]

OK so municipal water and a top basket. Then I believe what you are seeing is resin that has deteriorated from chlorine.

 

[Reach4]

- Type of resin - Regular or Fine Mesh? - I am not well educated regarding the different types of resin, but it appears to be fine.
- How much of the media tank did the resin fill? There should be empty space above the resin for the resin to expand into. - Originally the tank was about 80% full.

Have you shone a bright light through the tank (in the otherwise-dark) to try to see the level yet?

 

[LLigetfa]

I think the resin level has gotten so low it is on the verge of not working.

If the level has really dropped that much then it cannot possibly still be a freeboard problem.

 

[LLigetfa]

I notice the OP did not answer the questions about the DLFC. Maybe he doesn't have the right one.

 

[Bannerman]

Greyredstar:

When you purchased the softener, you would have needed to specify the amount of capacity you needed. The capacity then determines the tank size required. I would expect your sales invoice would state the tank size and the softener capacity in grains or cubic feet.

Filling the tank too high (80% is too much) without an upper distributor will cause resin to be discharged. You now say you have an upper distributor as you said:

and attached to the bottom of the valve

which should prevent resin discharge even if overfilled.

The resin should fill at the most, 2/3 of the resin tank. Without gravel, I would have expected the resin to be closer to 1/2 the tank height. The space above the resin is called 'free board' which is required for the resin to expand into during the backwash stage of the regen cycle. The amount of expansion is controlled by the DLFC button (flow control).

When you assembled the softener, was the center tube sticking up above the resin tank before you installed the control valve or was the tube flush with the top of the tank? Just wondering if it was too high and the bottom distributor or riser tube became damaged when tightening down the control valve.


LLigetfa said:

I notice the OP did not answer the questions about the DLFC. Maybe he doesn't have the right one.

I had wondered if there is one installed.

 

[Greyredstar]

Greyredstar:

When you purchased the softener, you would have needed to specify the amount of capacity you needed. The capacity then determines the tank size required. I would expect your sales invoice would state the tank size and the softener capacity in grains or cubic feet.

Filling the tank too high (80% is too much) without an upper distributor will cause resin to be discharged. You now say you have an upper distributor as you said: which should prevent resin discharge even if overfilled.

The resin should fill at the most, 2/3 of the resin tank. Without gravel, I would have expected the resin to be closer to 1/2 the tank height. The space above the resin is called 'free board' which is required for the resin to expand into during the backwash stage of the regen cycle. The amount of expansion is controlled by the DLFC button (flow control).

When you assembled the softener, was the center tube sticking up above the resin tank before you installed the control valve or was the tube flush with the top of the tank? Just wondering if it was too high and the bottom distributor or riser tube became damaged when tightening down the control valve.


LLigetfa said:

I had wondered if there is one installed.

I'll have to check the DLFC information as you described previously. This working for a living is really getting the way of all this....

 

[ditttohead]

If you remove the red clip that holds the drain adapter onto the valve, the drain piece can be removed and when you look inside you should see a black rubber button with some numbers on it. This is the flow control.

 

[Greyredstar]

If you remove the red clip that holds the drain adapter onto the valve, the drain piece can be removed and when you look inside you should see a black rubber button with some numbers on it. This is the flow control.

I am attaching some images. I looked for the DLFC info by removing the drain fitting, but there was nothing underneath. So I don't know if I did the right thing. The pictures ar of the drain fitting removed, the tank info, and the overall valve.

 

[Reach4]

2.2 GPM is one of the common DLFC button sizes. The fact that the installer wrote 2.2 on the drain plumbing would make me expect that a 2.2 GPM DLFC was once in place. I wonder what Ditttohead will be able to tell from the picture.

Your resin tank is unpainted. You should be able to shine that bright light through to check the resin level.

 

[Bannerman]

Your resin tank appears by the model number to be 9" X 35".

A 32,000 grain (1 cu/ft of resin) softener requires at least a 10" X 35" or 9" X 48" tank. Please review your sales invoice to determine what softener capacity you purchased.

While 24,000 grain (3/4 cu/ft) units are available, there is little cost saving obtaining a 3/4 over a 1 cu/ft while the 1 cu/ft units will be more efficient in salt use and thereby require substantially less salt over a 20 year+ lifespan.

Regardless of price, a softener should always be sized based upon water conditions and the quantity of water required. You may wish to post your water test results (maybe available online from your municipality) as well as describe your family water requirements (# of people) and your house setup (ie: # of washrooms, multi-head showers, soaker tub or hot tub?, any high usage requirements).

It is difficult to tell from the photos if the flow control is missing as the drain port appears to contain water which can distort the view of components inside. Look also within the grey drain elbow in-case anything was dislodged then you removed the elbow. Here is a link to a WS-1 service manual in which page 15 shows the DLFC button location and orientation.

 

[ditttohead]

2.2 gpm on a 9" tank would be 5 gpm per square foot, according to the bed expansion chart this would give you a bed expansion of 50% of the bed depth (1/3) at 68 degrees F.

9x35, wow, who sells that small of a tank for a residential application? Can you take a flashlight to the back of the tank and see how high the resin is inside? You can also easily remove the valve and look inside to determine this.