Depressurize before BLFC inspection?

[Wally107]

This is one of those 'I-think-I-know-the-answer-but-I-better-ask-just-in-case' questions...

Fleck 7000SXT...I need to check the brine system (BLFC, injector, screen)...

...Do I need to depressurize before I pop the cap?

No, right?????

Thanx! Wally

 

[Reach4]

This is one of those 'I-think-I-know-the-answer-but-I-better-ask-just-in-case' questions...

Fleck 7000SXT...I need to check the brine system (BLFC, injector, screen)...

...Do I need to depressurize before I pop the cap?

No, right?????

No need to depressurize for BLFC. (re-revised)

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Wally107]

Thanx Reach!! I figured as long as it wasn't regen'ing (and just in Service mode), I wouldn't have to depressurize...but started to question myself.

 

[ditttohead]

The 7000 has a safety clip on the brine line so if you had a brine valve failure and the line were pressurized, you would have a very difficult time removing the clip. The drain clip is the same, under pressure it is very difficult to remove.

 

[Wally107]

Ditto: But as long as it’s not regen’ing...I’m good...right? I guess I thought the brine components weren’t pressurized during normal Service mode.

I just wanna peek at the injector (to confirm which one it has), and check the screen and BLFC (to check for obstructions).

 

[Reach4]

I just wanna peek at the injector (to confirm which one it has), and check the screen and BLFC (to check for obstructions).

You will need to depressurize to check the injector or injector screen.

 

[ditttohead]

The injector cap is also held in with a safety clip. You must depressurize the system in order to remove the red (newer valves are blue) clip. Be sure to push the injector cap into the valve about 1/16 of an inch after depressurizing in order to release the clip.

 

[Wally107]

LOL...if I had a nickel for every time I’ve watched that video . I just thought there wasn’t anything ‘going on’ under the cap if the brine valve was closed.

No worries, depressurizing is easy...just wanted to avoid it if at all possible.

My reason for doing this (if anyone cares): measured the brine depth in my brine well the other day (18X33), and there’s only 3.25”...which is I believe around 3.6gal... after BF. I had increased my BF to 44min, so with my 0.125 BLFC, that should have put around 5.5gal into the tank (approx 5” above whatever residual the air check leaves).

Anyhoo, since I’ve done zero maintenance since I put the system in 9 years ago (shame on me ), I thought I’d start by checking out the brining components.

Thanx again... Wally

 

[Reach4]

No worries, depressurizing is easy...just wanted to avoid it if at all possible.

You can also depressurize by leaving the softener in service, turning off the water to the house, and draining pressure, plus reducing the water level in the pipes to below the pipes connecting to the softener.

You could combine this with draining the bottom water from your WH, or changing the cartridge on your whole house water filter.

 

[Wally107]

Too funny...just finished my annual WH maintenance about an hour ago (flushed and new anode)!

Anyway, I’ll use the Fleck method...go into B1, power down, and go into bypass. That way the house still has water while I tinker. I also want to check the raw (town) water hardness...see if it’s varied from the 14 gpg it was 9 years ago.

 

[Reach4]

Anyway, I’ll use the Fleck method...go into B1, power down, and go into bypass. That way the house still has water while I tinker. I also want to check the raw (town) water hardness...see if it’s varied from the 14 gpg it was 9 years ago.

Watch the gallons count-down number on the display. The softener may think you have done a regen, and start over with a big number for the count down.

 

[Wally107]

Will do...thanx!!

 

[Reach4]

see if it’s varied from the 14 gpg it was 9 years ago.

https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departme...-Drinking-Water-Quality-Report-Birch-Hill.pdf says there is an average of 14.7 grains.

With high hardness compensation, you should probably set H=16.

 

[Wally107]

I probably should start a new thread, but here’s the background:

Last week, I noticed a ‘change’ in how the water felt...not sudsing as much, and skin felt more ‘sticky’ than ‘slippery’.

Checked the hardness (Hach 5B)...showing about 1.5-2gpg...and I know from Chubb’s article from years ago, there’s a difference between zero and 2gpg.

Anyway, all I’ve had time to do is increase the H from 14 to 17, increase the BD from 60 to 80min (thinking more slow rinse ‘soak’ time might help), and I bumped the BF up to 44min... then did a regen. Still getting 1.5gpg.

That’s why I decided to peek into the brine well and noticed the low brine level. I’m pretty sure it should have around 6.5” or so. This is leading me to think there may be an obstruction in the brine system somewhere.

 

[Reach4]

increase the BD from 60 to 80min (thinking more slow rinse ‘soak’ time might help)

That just increases the slow rinse time. It does not affect how long the resin is in contact with the salt.

That’s why I decided to peek into the brine well and noticed the low brine level. I’m pretty sure it should have around 6.5” or so. This is leading me to think there may be an obstruction in the brine system somewhere.

Good thinking. Take pictures, which you may or may not decide to post. Also note the color of the injector while you are in there.

 

[Wally107]

I think my immediate (i.e. least intrusive) next step is the ‘BF into a gallon jug’ test. My suspicion is it will take much longer than 8 min...but we’ll see. If it does, then I’ll dig deeper and look for obstructions. I can see water moving in the hose, so I think the cam and brine valve are working OK.

Speaking of that, I can also see some small bubbles in the line. That has me a little concerned. The nuts are tight at each end, but I may replace the little ferules to increase the ‘air-tightness’.

Re: the injector, there is a discrepency between the sticker and the paperwork I got with the system...one says 0 and the other says 00. I guess I’ve never been concerned enough to actually check, but now seems a good time to confirm it (and make sure it’s clean and serviceable).

 

[Reach4]

With a 10x54 tank, I would expect BF to be 3 gallons or more. 3 gallons would be 6 lbs of salt per cubic ft of resin.

Speaking of that, I can also see some small bubbles in the line. That has me a little concerned. The nuts are tight at each end, but I may replace the little ferules to increase the ‘air-tightness’.

If the bubbles appear when there is still brine to suck says one thing-- an air leak in the path to/from the air check valve. Air appearing big time (not just bubbles) when the brine is gone would point to a bad air check valve.

 

[Wally107]

18X33 brine tank (and 12X52 resin tank...2 cuft CG-8 resin).

I was shooting for around 8# per cuft. I know it’s a tad high, but once I get the slippery, I’ll dial it down a bit. Anyway, 16/3X8 = 42.6...I bumped it to 44 min just for the heck of it.

The bubbles are pretty tiny, and not a lot of them, and I saw them mostly during BD.

I need to first figure out the overall flow issue, and get the 0.125 gpm, then I’ll try to eliminate the bubbles.

 

[Wally107]

Good Morning! Today’s events:

1. Did the ‘BF into a gallon jug’ test. As I suspected, after 8 min there was only about 1 3/4”. So that confirms an issue (obstruction?) somewhere at the valve.

2. Inspected the air-check float assy in the brine well. Checks OK.

3. Inspected valve end of brine line (BLFC). Appears unobstructed, but I have a question:

This appears to be a diaphram sorta thing, and I can blow fine one way, but seems much more constricted the other way. Is that normal?

4. Removed screen and injector (which is purple #00). Both were quite dirty. I scrubbed them clean as best I could, and buttoned it back up. Another question:

The injector also seems to move air much better in one direction than the other. Normal?

I added 2 gal water to the brine well, bringing it up to around 6 gal total, and I’m running a regen now.

I’m not really sure if I fixed anything.

 

[Reach4]

3. Inspected valve end of brine line (BLFC). Appears unobstructed, but I have a question:

This appears to be a diaphram sorta thing, and I can blow fine one way, but seems much more constricted the other way. Is that normal?

New to me. Maybe show a photo, although somebody may know what is going on from your description. Inline filter maybe? It would be a bad spot for a check valve, so that would not be it.

If it constricts more going to the tank than coming from the tank, that could explain your low fill.

4. Removed screen and injector (which is purple #00). Both were quite dirty. I scrubbed them clean as best I could, and buttoned it back up. Another question:

With a #00 Injector - Violet, 2 cubic ft of resin, and 8 lb/cuft of salt, I would expect the brine to be sucked out 36 minutes. Because of that, I would set BD to about 127 minutes, or at least 110. The reason is to allow the salt to get rinsed out. If BD is much shorter, such as 60 minutes, it would not hurt the softening, but would be expected to leave some salt in the earliest water after regen.

The violet injector is a small one, but it will help softening a bit compared to say a blue or red one. It is important to use a 0.125 BLFC with a #00 on a 7000.

Let's hope your injector and screen cleaning did it.

You should use a very tiny amount of silicone lube on o-rings when you put them back. Next time, if you did not.