Water Softener Not Working

[bsilva86]

So I got this water softener a little over a year ago. After installing I kept noticing hard water stains but never tested my water. So I finally bought a test kit to see if there was something wrong with the water softener and it turns out something is up. The water coming out of the softener is the same hardness as my house water outside pre water softener.

I did a bunch of googling, which led me to removing all of the salt from the brine tank, cleaning it, running some iron out through my system, regenerating the system 2 more times after that and nothing...I'm at a loss as to why this system isn't working, it's practically brand new. Here are some of the system settings:

Fleck 5600 SXT controller
48,000 Grain unit (1.5 cu.ft of resin)
Set it up for 6 pounds of salt / cu.ft.
Set to 30k grains and 6 min brine fill at .5 gpm

At this point, I have a feeling there is physically something wrong with it. The brine tank drains, so I know there are no clogs and the brine is getting into the resin tank. What could possibly be going on here and what types of tests should I do to eliminate certain issues?

 

[Bannerman]

There is an O-ring that seals the riser tube to the control valve, inside of the resin tank. Brine drawn in during the Brine Draw cycle will normally enter at the top of the resin tank where it will flow down through the resin to regenerate capacity and then flow up the riser tube to be discharged to drain. If the O-ring surrounding the top of the riser tube is missing or damaged, brine will leak past and flow directly to drain without flowing through the resin.

A simple preliminary method to determine if leakage is occurring arround the riser tube without removing the control valve is, disconnect the drain tube from the control valve, with a bucket ready to catch drain flow, advance the controller to Brine Draw and taste the water flowing from the drain port to determine how quickly it becomes salty. If there is an internal leak around the riser, the drain water will become salty very rapidly whereas if there is no leak, it will take some time before the drain flow eventually becomes salty.

To inspect or replace the O-ring will require removal of the control valve. The O-ring should be located within the riser tube socket of the control valve.

A previous poster had experienced a similar issue. Upon identifying there was an internal leak, he found the O-ring was present but the softener supplier had installed a riser with an outer diameter that was too small. He was able to obtain an adapter to increase the riser diameter where it fit into the control valve.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[bsilva86]

There is an O-ring that seals the riser tube to the control valve, inside of the resin tank. Brine drawn in during the Brine Draw cycle will normally enter at the top of the resin tank where it will flow down through the resin to regenerate capacity and then flow up the riser tube to be discharged to drain. If the O-ring surrounding the top of the riser tube is missing or damaged, brine will leak past and flow directly to drain without flowing through the resin.

A simple preliminary method to determine if leakage is occurring arround the riser tube without removing the control valve is, disconnect the drain tube from the control valve, with a bucket ready to catch drain flow, advance the controller to Brine Draw and taste the water flowing from the drain port to determine how quickly it becomes salty. If there is an internal leak around the riser, the drain water will become salty very rapidly whereas if there is no leak, it will take some time before the drain flow eventually becomes salty.

To inspect or replace the O-ring will require removal of the control valve. The O-ring should be located within the riser tube socket of the control valve.

A previous poster had experienced a similar issue. Upon identifying there was an internal leak, he found the O-ring was present but the softener supplier had installed a riser with an outer diameter that was too small. He was able to obtain an adapter to increase the riser diameter where it fit into the control valve.

So I just ran this test. It took 5 and a half minutes for the water coming out to start tasting salty. Would this indicate a good or bad O-ring?

 

[DetRack]

https://www.flecksystems.com/pdf/5600SXT-Downflow-Service-Manual.pdf

 

[bsilva86]

https://www.flecksystems.com/pdf/5600SXT-Downflow-Service-Manual.pdf

View attachment 57706

The bypass valve is definitely closed. If it was open, my water softener would be receiving no water and my brine tank wouldn't be emptying and refilling during the recharge. I just ran the salt water test on the brine draw cycle...followed up with stopping the cycle and turning the system on bypass to keep the brine in the resin tank. Not sure if this will help or not but I have the feeling the resin got fouled somehow.

 

[Reach4]

I think you are saying that you suspect it did not work right after the first couple regens.

You could be missing o-ring part 16, or the o-ring could be displaced.

The distributor tube should be 1.05 inch OD and come up even with the top of the tank.

A test for this would be to monitor the salt in the drain line during a BD cycle. It should normally take several minutes for the salt to work its way thru to the drain line -- maybe 10 minutes. A leak at the top of the distributor tube would bypass the tank, and let much of the brine go right to the drain.

Taste or a TDS meter will let you check for salt in the drainage. Initially the TDS would be a just little higher than your raw water. Then when the brine hits, there will be a dramatic increase.

City water? Not that it matters much for this purpose, except chlorine/chloromine shorten resin life. But not this short.

 

[Bannerman]

It took 5 and a half minutes for the water coming out to start tasting salty.

Suggest removing the control valve to inspect the condition or presence of the O-ring.

Replacing the O-ring and inserting the riser tube when reinstalling the valve head onto the resin tank, will require a food-grade silicone grease type lubricant.

 

[Reach4]

So I just ran this test. It took 5 and a half minutes for the water coming out to start tasting salty. Would this indicate a good or bad O-ring?

I had missed that. I would tend to think that 5 and a half minutes indicates away from a bad o-ring seal.

If you have an unpainted tank, you could shine a light thru using a bright light in the dark. Expect the tank to be about 2/3 full of resin.

So I got this water softener a little over a year ago. After installing I kept noticing hard water stains but never tested my water. So I finally bought a test kit to see if there was something wrong with the water softener and it turns out something is up. The water coming out of the softener is the same hardness as my house water outside pre water softener.

Is that a Hach 5-b kit? Mainly checking to make sure you are not using a TDS meter as an indication of softness. What hardness do you measure?

Softened water leaves a residue, but that washes off. Silica leaves a residue that does not wash off. A softener does not remove that.

 

[bsilva86]

Ok so the mystery is solved...I think it was 2 problems. One was the resin just needed a few flushes and it was good to go again. I noticed the hot water felt better when I showered. So I tested the water again in the kitchen faucet (closest to the water softener) and it tested hard while the hot tested soft. Looks like when the house was originally piped for soft water, they removed the soft water from the kitchen sink. Strange, but at least I am back in business. Still tested at 1 - 1.5 grains, so on the next regen I will run some resin cleaner through the system. Thanks for the help!

 

[Reach4]

Looks like when the house was originally piped for soft water, they removed the soft water from the kitchen sink. Strange, but at least I am back in business.

Not that strange. That was for drinking water.

 

[ditttohead]

Completely unnecessary to bypass the kitchen sink, but not uncommon. Here is s short article on the topic. https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/154-155