Kenmore water softener 625.388150

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Bena8837

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I have replaced resin in softener and now have little plastic impeller which I do not know where and how it goes. I believe it goes on distributor but how? This part is not shown in parts schematic.
 

Noyzee1

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Hi!
The only "impeller" that I'm aware of is a tubine that goes in the water input line to the valve (see page 21, section 5 of the manual). This is what measures the water used so the system "knows" when to regenerate. I think that all demand softeners use these turbines and Hall Effect sensors to measure water usage, BTW.
Cheers,
JIM
 

Mialynette2003

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Hi!
The only "impeller" that I'm aware of is a tubine that goes in the water input line to the valve (see page 21, section 5 of the manual). This is what measures the water used so the system "knows" when to regenerate. I think that all demand softeners use these turbines and Hall Effect sensors to measure water usage, BTW.
Cheers,
JIM

You are correct as to the usage of the turbine, but the location is on the out bound side of the valve.
 

Noyzee1

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You are correct as to the usage of the turbine, but the location is on the out bound side of the valve.
Yes, thank you for correcting me. The "OUT" side of the valve is where the Hall Effect sensor/turbine is located.
 

Mikey

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Yeah, that was my first thought as well. Maybe they subscribe to the Gillette Razor business model. Sell the new unit fairly cheaply, but charge an arm & a leg for replacement parts. I wonder how the OP came to have the impeller in his hand -- do they give you one when you replace the resin?
 

Noyzee1

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Yeah, that was my first thought as well. Maybe they subscribe to the Gillette Razor business model. Sell the new unit fairly cheaply, but charge an arm & a leg for replacement parts. I wonder how the OP came to have the impeller in his hand -- do they give you one when you replace the resin?
Good point. The modern equivalent would be the ink jet printer business model. They sell those at a loss to get you committed to buy their overpriced cartridges.

I don't see why you'd ever need to replace that turbine. I would think it'd never wear out.
 

DonL

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I don't see why you'd ever need to replace that turbine. I would think it'd never wear out.


They know people will buy that part as a fix all. They will charge as much as they can get.

It may just need to be cleaned. They could fail because water can be abrasive.


That part rotates a few times in its life.
 

Mikey

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That part rotates a few times in its life.
Yeah, which makes me wonder what kind of bearings are in there. If high-quality bearings come as a part of the impeller, it could be worth a few bucks. If the OP would post a good picture and description of it, it would be informative.
 

Noyzee1

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Mikey

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Looks like the 3/4" flow gets constricted substantially as it flows through the turbine, too, but I can't really tell from the illustrations.
 

Bena8837

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I sure want to thank everyone for the imput. I simply had not seen the part on the schematic, I looked in the wrong one. I also want to point out that the turbine did NOT wear out. There is iron in my city water supply so it was brown. In trying to clean it I put it in water and vinegar and that caused the blades to come apart. Expensive mistake! Please let this be a lesson to everyone.
 

Reach4

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Find a used one on e*** or c********* and pull the parts you need.
 

Mikey

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Took the *s right out of my mouth. If I had known of this 2 weeks ago, I could have given you one. A friend was having troubles with a very old Kenmore unit, and decided it was less hassle to toss it and buy another than to fix it. He didn't even consider putting it on e* or c*, though, but it's worth a look.
 

Noyzee1

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Is anyone aware of a place that sells used kenmore softener parts?

That's a bummer that the turbine broke. I've never heard of vinegar causing such damage! Next time try soaking in Super Iron Out or something like that...
Like the others said, what I did was buy another whole Sears Kenmore softener off of CL for $50 (plus, it was full of salt, probably about $15 worth). Since most people won't bother fixing them when they break, you can get them cheap and harvest the parts off of them. They (Sears/Kenmore/Whirlpool/GE, etc.) all use the same basic parts and they're mostly interchangeable. It's highly unlikely that any commercial vendor will sell used Kenmore parts, BTW, because their value is too low.
Most professionals here, and rightly so, will discourage anyone from buying one of these EcoWater units because they're so cheaply made and more unreliable than the Flecks, Clack, etc. but mine is holding up so far and I got it running for peanuts.

Your mileage may vary, of course.
Good Luck!
 
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Bena8837

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According to the manual my w/softener had .68 cubic ft of resin. Is this a case where more is better? What % of the resin tank should be left empty or full? I have replacedwhat I believe is .68 cu ft and it still leaves about 1/3 of tank empty.
 
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