Fleck 9100 SE issues - dual tank

[JoeHomeOwner]

For those reading, U1 means using tank 1, and U2 means using tank 2.

It takes a while for the softer water to make its way thru the WH tank. At this point everything may be working, but I am not sure.

One day last week there was enough laundry and showers that we had no hot water. (The outlet pipe was cool to the touch.) At this point I am pretty sure we have completly flushed out the water heater. But I could turn off the water and drain the water heater tank if that will help us be sure.

 

[Reach4]

Flushing the WH annually is a good idea to be rid of sediment.

See https://terrylove.com/forums/index....o-flush-a-hot-water-heater.79444/#post-576623 post #7.

While the water was hard, there were hardness deposits added to the WH and pipes. Eventually the soft water will dissolve those old deposits, but until then, they will add some hardness to the water.

 

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[JoeHomeOwner]

I have not had a chance to flush the hot water heater yet. We finished a cycle of unit 2 and are at 139 gallons remaining on unit 1. I have tested and hot and cold several time and they have been soft each time. I have noticed the gear mechanism groan during regeneration and I am wondering if I incorrectly lubricated (or not enough) the pistons and seals when I replaced them.
Still planning to do a flush (water heater was installed Jan 2021. ) I'm considering pulling the valves and re-lubricating them and the seals at the same time.
Is there a right way or wrong way to lub them?

 

[Reach4]

I have not had a chance to flush the hot water heater yet. We finished a cycle of unit 2 and are at 139 gallons remaining on unit 1. I have tested and hot and cold several time and they have been soft each time. I have noticed the gear mechanism groan during regeneration and I am wondering if I incorrectly lubricated (or not enough) the pistons and seals when I replaced them.
Still planning to do a flush (water heater was installed Jan 2021. ) I'm considering pulling the valves and re-lubricating them and the seals at the same time.
Is there a right way or wrong way to lub them?

Use Dow Corning 7 Release Compound or Chemplex 862 to lightly lube the piston and seal contact surface.

For the gears, nobody does it, but you you consider lightly lubing gears. I bought some
(not for food) Molykote EM-30L Grease NLGI, used on clock gears. That old Autotrol I bought that for had a failure, and is out of service now. I bought it re-packaged via Ebay. I am not actually recommending it, but it is what I bought when I was trying to help plastic gears.

MOLYKOTE® EM-30L Grease - Molykote Lubricants by DuPont

NLGI Grade 1 – (PAO) Polyalphaolefin-based grease with lithium thickener and solid PTFE and white solids and a base oil viscosity

lubricantspecialty.com

 

[JoeHomeOwner]

It's been a couple months since flushing the hot water tank and relubing the valves. We still get calcium deposits in our cat water bowls and showers seldom feel 'soft'. I'm not sure what to look at next and am considering replacing the whole unit, but getting something similar and me not setting it up correctly may put me right where I am now. Also when looking at similar models, It seems they may be "knock offs" and not the same quality? Also there is the questions of 8% or 10% crosslink resin an the sites say things like "10% Crosslink resin (imported) upgrade" should I be concerened about 'imported' resin?

Your input will be greatly appreciated.

 

[JoeHomeOwner]

After rereading the thread it seems I never really validated the resin currently in the system. So next i plan to disassemble the system (looking for possible issues) and empty the tanks one at a time measuring the actual resin and making sure the flow tube is not damaged.

 

[Reach4]

10% crosslinked resin is important for people who get treated water piped to them. You are not one of them. 8% should do fine. I don't know how low resin quality can get.

 

[JoeHomeOwner]

Another detail, Over the past few weeks I sometimes get comments the water tastes salty.

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I thought I could use a kitchen strainer and bowls/buckets to measure out how much resin I had. The 'beads' are more like "molecules" ( or fine sand really.)

I resorted to measuring "in the tank" and it's roughly 21inches from the top of the resin to the bottom of the 'neck' so about half a tank. And 10x44 tank is about 2 ft3. It seems I have 'about' 1 ft3. So while draining the hot water tank (along with all the pipes by opening the faucets), I lubed it all up again with the #7 release compound and put it all back together. I decreased the galllons to 700, and regenerated both tanks. Disappointed the next morning not having soft water, especially since I had drained the hot water tank and both tanks had been cycled. Now 2 days later our water still feel hard/sticky compared to the slippery soft feel we have had in the past and the 5B test takes 1-3 drops sometimes. :- (

I have started rereading Bannermanns calculations from back in January and my head hurts. I am currently thinking having less resin is throwing off all the calculations. (My mistake, garbage in garbage out. I should have provided accurate #s the first time.)
I am also not sure everything is 'actually' working correctly since the water isn't 'soft'. I have resin, but am unsure if my guestimated 20ish years with iron I've ruined the resin beyound repair... (i've only been using iron out last few months after the concentrated IO bath/flush procedure.)
Seems like waste of $ to buy a whole new unit.
If I replace the resin, and its not the issue, then buying anther head unit I'll be appraching the cost if a new setup.

I don't mind doing whatever it takes to fix this correctly this time. (But crindge at hiring someone in. We looked into having 'the top of the line name brand' system installed at the end of last year but the contract was just that. A con, that would have service fees and me pay all parts $ after 1st month. Other venders in the area weren't much better.)

Any suggestions/opinions/guidance or even antidotes would be great. (My apologies for the loooong ramble...)

 

[JoeHomeOwner]

Let see if I have converted the calculations Bannerman provided for 1.25 ft3 correctly to 1.0 ft3 @ 20,000 grains capacity.

20,000 grains / 32 gpg = 625 gallons capacity per tank - enter as Treated Water Capacity

To regenerate 20,000 grains in 1.0 ft3 resin per tank will require 7 lbs salt each cycle. To dissolve 7 lbs salt will require 2.333 gallons of water to enter the brine tank. With a 0.5 GPM BLFC flow restrictor, the Brine Fill setting (Step #4 below) will need to be 5-minutes (2.333 / 0.5 GPM = 4.667 rounded up).

Settings to change:
Treated Water Capacity: 625 = Regenerate when 625 gals have been softened.
Regeneration Cycle Step #1: 1-10 = Leave the Backwash duration to 10-minutes.
Regeneration Cycle Step #2: 2-60 = Leave 60-minute Brine Draw/Slow Rinse setting
Regeneration Cycle Step #3: 3-10 = 10-minutes duration for Rapid Rinse
Regeneration Cycle Step #4: 4-5 = Set to 5-minutes Brine Fill

Is this correct?

 

[JoeHomeOwner]

It's been a bit and I haven't heard back and was wondering; have I been violating poor forum etiquette (if that's a thing) or if I've been posting/asking dumb things, maybe everyone is busy and haven't had time, or that you have already told me what I need to know. So I went with the last option. (btw, I am grateful for the info and time you have put in this and other threads and appreciate the value you provide here. )

I still didn't have actual 'facts' about my resin, so last night I replaced it with 2.5 ft3 of 8%. (thanks for the comment @Reach4) 1.25 ft3 in each tank and reapplied the settings Bannerman provided. (@Bannerman Thanks again.)

I was concerned it would be a difficult messy job but it ended up fairly simple. I grabbed a kitchen chair and an empty garbage can of similar height with a bag in it. Putting my hand in the mouth of the tank I dumped it over into the garbage can. (The tank was too heavy for me to lift full.) As the can was filling up, I used my other hand to lift the bottom as vertical as I could. Once the can was almost full I set the tank bottom on the chair and stood the tank up. Since the resin settles quickly, I used a pot to "ladle" the water back into the tank (conveniently enough I had a large 'resin funnel' on hand.) Once the water was all back in the tank, I swished it around and I turned it upside down in the garbage can/bag. I could hear and feel the resin fall to the opening and the glugging of air back into tank seems to mix things up nicely. I only had to put the water back in 5 times! When a bag was mostly full of resin, I ladled the water back into the tank, tied off the bag, carried the can to the garbage and dumped out the bag. I attached a pic of the tank without resin. (I didn't say 'clean tank' as it has rust stains....)

While I had the water off, I drained my hot water tank again and checked over the head unit. This time I found a chunk of plastic obstructing the hole in the drain flow washer. It was oddly shaped and big enough it didn't fit into the hole. I am thinking this is what has been causing the seemingly random results I have been having.

For reference, Bannerman posted this video in another thread and it was a great help to work on the head unit:

Hopefully our hard water issues have been resolved.

Thanks again!