I've got a 3 year old Fleck 7000 SXT that has been working well until suddenly it stopped producing soft water. After a quick inspection, I noticed that the water level in the brine tank was very low. I added water to the tank, waited for the salt to dissolve and started a manual regeneration which I watched. Everything was normal (including the brine draw) until the end when it was time to refill the brine tank. The timer counted down the 10 minute fill time, but no water flowed into the brine tank.
I searched thru this forum, but didn't find anything about a complete failure of brine fill. I did find some info on slow brine fill and following the suggestions, I cleaned the injector, the injector screen, and the BLFC. None of that helped. I looked at some repair videos on YouTube and there was a suggestion to try depressing the brine valve a few times to "clear any debris". That didn't help either.
For my next test, I put the softener into brine fill mode and then I used a screwdriver to slightly depress the brine valve. It didn't take much movement before water started flowing into the brine tank. Of course, as soon as I released the pressure, the flow stopped. It's almost as if the brine cam isn't sufficiently depressing the brine valve.
I examined the brine cam and the stem of the brine valve and there doesn't seem to be any damage or excessive wear. The valve stem has left a few white marks on the cam, but that's about it.
At this point, the only idea that I have is to try replacing the brine valve and the brine cam, but before I start just throwing new parts at the problem, I'd like to find out if anyone else has had this type of problem or has some ideas about anything else that I should check.
I guess that the one good thing is that as long as I remember to pour a bucket of water into the brine tank after each regeneration, the softener continues to produce soft water.
I searched thru this forum, but didn't find anything about a complete failure of brine fill. I did find some info on slow brine fill and following the suggestions, I cleaned the injector, the injector screen, and the BLFC. None of that helped. I looked at some repair videos on YouTube and there was a suggestion to try depressing the brine valve a few times to "clear any debris". That didn't help either.
For my next test, I put the softener into brine fill mode and then I used a screwdriver to slightly depress the brine valve. It didn't take much movement before water started flowing into the brine tank. Of course, as soon as I released the pressure, the flow stopped. It's almost as if the brine cam isn't sufficiently depressing the brine valve.
I examined the brine cam and the stem of the brine valve and there doesn't seem to be any damage or excessive wear. The valve stem has left a few white marks on the cam, but that's about it.
At this point, the only idea that I have is to try replacing the brine valve and the brine cam, but before I start just throwing new parts at the problem, I'd like to find out if anyone else has had this type of problem or has some ideas about anything else that I should check.
I guess that the one good thing is that as long as I remember to pour a bucket of water into the brine tank after each regeneration, the softener continues to produce soft water.