Iron still in water after troubleshooting GE/autotrol 255

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rustywater

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We have had an autotrol 255 valve with 440 control for 14 years now. We have iron in our well water but the softener has successfully removed it until now. Our water recently went both hard and full of iron. After troubleshooting the whole system, flushing everything, replacing the plastic tubing and fittings connecting the check valve housing to the brine tank, and renewing the resin and the activated carbon we still have iron in the water. The water is now soft and clear but takes on a slightly different hue after heating and the iron taste and slight iron smell is detectible.

After doing all of this I was started to wonder if I was supplied with the wrong resin but on rechecking everything one symptom that persists is that the filter surrounding the injector remains clean as a whistle. In normal operation this filter fills up with iron residue requiring regular cleaning. The iron residue is now evident in the brine tank - something that did not happen before.

If anyone knows what our problem might be from these symptoms your help would be most appreciated
 

Akpsdvan

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Is there water going to the drain when there should not be water going to the drain?

It is also possible with the age of the unit and the iron in the water that it is time for a rebuild kit of new flappers for that valve.
 

rustywater

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Thanks for the reply.

I watched through a whole regen cycle and water is draining when it should.

So it might be that the flappers or at least one of them is/are not seating properly. That would be a fairly inexpensive fix which would be helpful since we are in the middle of building a home and need to keep our expenses under control.
 

Akpsdvan

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If one or more of the flappers are not closing correctly then there could be untreated water crossing into the treated water flow inside the valve.

There is what looks to be a total rebuild kit for the autotrol 255 for just under 50.00 on a bid site...
 

Gary Slusser

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We have had an autotrol 255 valve with 440 control for 14 years now. We have iron in our well water but the softener has successfully removed it until now. Our water recently went both hard and full of iron. After troubleshooting the whole system, flushing everything, replacing the plastic tubing and fittings connecting the check valve housing to the brine tank, and renewing the resin and the activated carbon we still have iron in the water. The water is now soft and clear but takes on a slightly different hue after heating and the iron taste and slight iron smell is detectible.

If anyone knows what our problem might be from these symptoms your help would be most appreciated
It sounds as if you may have more iron now than in the past. So get a test for iron and hardness and manganese if possible.

You can test the raw and softened water each day at roughly the same time from the morning of a regeneration until the next regeneration to see if there is any iron in the softened water. That will tell you if the flapper valves have any internal leakage.

Once you have the raw water test results you may find you need to reprogram the softener for your family size (amount of water used) and your K of capacity.
 
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