Need help figuring out manual regeneration

[Sergei]

Hello,

My girlfriend has an old Great Lakes Water Soft Company water softener, and for a few weeks now it has not been using up the salt that’s in the tank. Sadly the business is no longer running, and there’s no user manual to be found, or a model number.

I figured out that there seems to be a manual regeneration knob and settings, but it’s hard to know where it should be set to. I thought it would be really great if I could try and fix this on my own rather than spending money on someone coming out into the country.

This image above shows a similar design to mine, but it has various settings around the red knob that mine does not.

Mine seems to have a red M on the Day of Regeneration, which I assume is Manual. I don’t know what the black arrow means though or what the numbers represent. On the larger circle, it seems to show times of the day, and there’s one spot where there’s a black dot, which I assume represents something. And then there’s a silver button/bolt three black lines before the black dot, which I assume means something as well.

I hope someone might be able to help. I believe if I can regenerate it, it might be able to at least help solve the solution to the salt staying in the tank. Thank you in advance for your help and your time.

 

[Reach4]

Not familiar. However I think that the white pegs determine which days you regen. For you, it is day 8 of 12.
The lower right is peg storage.

I would try holding in the red button for manual. I don't know, but that is the only candidate for immediate regen that I see. It's not the time of day mark, because that is off to the right of the big disk.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sergei]

Not familiar. However I think that the white pegs determine which days you regen. For you, it is day 8 of 12.
The lower right is peg storage.

I would try holding in the red button for manual. I don't know, but that is the only candidate for immediate regen that I see. It's not the time of day mark, because that is off to the right of the big disk.

What do the white pegs do exactly? Should the one in the 8 slot be moved to the red M slot?

 

[Reach4]

Which white pegs are you referring to? How can you tell it’s 8 of 12? What do the 12 numbers mean exactly? That a complete cycle takes 12 days?

I want to be clear that I have not seen this control before. Yet I can answer these two questions.

The small wheel is a day wheel that moves 1/12 of a turn each day. Outside of each of the 12 holes is a place for a peg. The place outside the 8 is the only only one with a peg currently.

That big wheel turns once per day. The big arm will swing by the peg area each night, and will either detect a peg (then regen) or not.

Incidentally, I have re-thought the red button. That is on the gear that drives the big wheel. I suspect that pressing that disengages the gearing to allow you to set the current time of day by rotating the big wheel.

It may be that holding the knob in the center of the big wheel CCW for a while will trigger an immediate regen. Or maybe just turn CCW a fraction of a turn, until there is a click or you hear backwash start. It instead may be that you would need to turn the long arm CCW rather than the knob. The knob could be the way to move the arm to a different time of day for the regen. The Autotrol softener you showed always regens at 2am, and if you wanted a different time, you would offset the time setting.

 

[Sergei]

Not familiar. However I think that the white pegs determine which days you regen. For you, it is day 8 of 12.
The lower right is peg storage.

I would try holding in the red button for manual. I don't know, but that is the only candidate for immediate regen that I see. It's not the time of day mark, because that is off to the right of the big disk.

Also, let’s assume that the manual regeneration did work. What would happen exactly with the water softener? Would it make noise?

 

[Reach4]

Yes. First sound would be water running during the backwash. The backwash is the the loudest usually. Expect the whole thing to be done in about 1.5 hours. The brine fill is usually last, and makes very little sound.

The sound is not loud. Quieter than a toilet flushing, but louder than an average toilet filling. Expect about 2 to 2.4 gpm flow to the drain during backwash.

 

[Sergei]

Yes. First sound would be water running during the backwash. The backwash is the the loudest usually. Expect the whole thing to be done in about 1.5 hours. The brine fill is usually last, and makes very little sound.

The sound is not loud. Quieter than a toilet flushing, but louder than an average toilet filling. Expect about 2 to 2.4 gpm flow to the drain during backwash.

Okay, and then, through the weekend, is there something I could check to see if it’s functioning correctly? Like, would I see one of the dials change positions each day?

 

[Reach4]

Like, would I see one of the dials change positions each day?

Yes. The 1..12 wheel should move one number in 24 hours, and the single peg would have rotated CCW by 30 degrees.

One thing that can happen with these units is stripped gears, and another is motor fail. If that wheel is not rotating, I would buy a new softener. Yes, you could just replace the valve, but a whole softener gets you new resin, and it will be demand-driven. That saves salt when you use less water, and gives you better water when you are using more water than average. It adjusts to your usage.

 

[ditttohead]

You have to do me a favor and open the timer door and let me know the manufacture date. it is usually on a small white sticker behind the door. Also we need a picture of the valve from above and behind. it is probably a 1500, 2500 valve.

https://www.impactwaterproducts.com/fleck-valve-list Check out the 3600 valve and the 2800 valve. These both have that timer. These are very old poorly done copies on my website so I apologize for the crudity. I am scanning some other old manuals that will also have this timer but this probably wont happen for a couple months.