Water softener causing low pressure

[Jeremy Saddle]

I sure could use some help at this point.

We've got low pressure throughout the house(outside is fine), and when I bypass my WHES44, all pressure returns. I put the thing in Brine cycle yesterday, as the tank was 1/2 full of water.
That successfully got all the water out, and I did a manual recharge, which, when finished, never got the new water out.
So I'm back at it today, cleaned the venturi assembly again, and now I'm lost....
When in brine mode, with the nozzle off the venturi assembly, it sucks air, very weakly for 5 sec(when bypass is pulled out of course), then begins to spit water out of the assembly!! So it's not sucking anything at this point.
I'm not sure what happened inbetween yesterday and today, but now its not sucking anything at all in brine mode, actually the opposite!!
Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Reach4]

If you have a good demand (measures usage) softener, change the resin and rebuild the valve (which you may have started). If it is a cabinet unit or timeclock-only, it is usual to replace the softener. I am not a pro.

What softener is it?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jeremy Saddle]

It is a Whirlpool WHES44

 

[Bannerman]

The most common reason for loss of flow through a softener is softener resin media that requires replacement.

Constant chlorine exposure will cause the resin to oxidize, breakdown and swell more rapidly than it would otherwise. When water contains chlorine as I anticipate is the situation, it is advisable to either use 10% cross link resin to better tolerate chlorine, or install a back washing carbon filtration system to remove chlorine before the softener.

Consider replacing your Whirlpool cabinet softener with a unit with a quality Fleck or Clack control valve and a seperate brine tank to provide some distance between the salt and the unit's electronics.

 

[Jeremy Saddle]

Thanks! However, my unit was drawing water fine yersterday during brine cycle, essentially emptying it in a few hours.
I did a regen and Nnw water is being put back into the tank during brine cycle. Water is coming out of the venturi nozzle during brine cycle, after only a few seconds of lacklaster vaccuum

 

[Bannerman]

When the resin needs to be replaced, there will often be a flow restriction which can effect not only water flow to the fixtures, but also how the unit will regenerate. Your initial sentence of the OP stated a loss of pressure to fixtures while the softener is online which indicates a flow restriction.

Because the injector relies on a small constant stream of rinse water flowing through the injector and through the media to create suction using venturi effect to draw the brine from the brine tank, a flow restriction occurring in the media or the drain can prevent proper brine draw. When flow is restricted after the injector, the pressure within the injector will be too high which can result in positive pressure on the brine line when there should be suction.

FYI, brine draw normally causes the brine tank to empty within 15-20 minutes, not a few hours.

 

[Reach4]

It would normally take about 15 minutes for the brine to be drawn out, but the brine cycle would last maybe an hour (it continues after the brine is gone and becomes a slow rinse)

A small leak in the line to the pickup tube could cause that symptom. Air gets sucked into smaller holes than water comes out of. There are other possibilities.

 

[Jeremy Saddle]

Ok thanks guys. Well, I got all the water and salt out of the tank. The bottom 8" was solid salt. I dissolved it and shopvacc'd it.

What is my next step for troubleshooting? Is there a way to tell if my resin is shot?

 

[Caldezrat]

I had low water flow throughout the house but when my water softener was bypassed, full pressure again. I unscrewed my Clack valve from the resin tank and reached in and got a sample of the resin. Instead of being firm little beads, the beads were mushy and easy to break. I flushed out the old resin, replaced it, and my flow was restored.

 

[ditttohead]

Yup, bad resin. Very common.

 

[cooljm]

Good day, I having same issue, no pressure when NOT in bypass, if i recharge the system it will have a little better pressure, but soon drops off. Done a bunch of cleaning and testing, but appears resin is shot. Whirlpool WHSE3300 - not quiet 7 years old on well water. I was going to replace the resin but when i took it apart looks like the resin tank is a sealed/glued basket and the tube seems to be stuck, though i did not pull too hard on it. when i looked on line didn't see any videos of people replacing resin on a whirlpool, the one i have seen, show the basket and tube come out easily or a un-screwable assembly, anyone replace the resin on a Whirlpool unit?

 

[cooljm]

Well I took it apart again and decided to you a little more force, the basket finally came loose and low an behold, when I pulled the tube out it was collapsed and the bottom basket deformed. There was some fine black that was on the basket.

So question? Has the resin failed? what caused the severe collapse ?

 

[Bannerman]

Big Box store softeners are primarily designed for low cost. Many regular contributors to this forum consider them to be disposable and not worth the time or expense to repair. While some owners will obtain greater than seven years usage, many will not. As you are doing the work yourself, you will need to decide how much time and expense you wish to spend in repairing vs replacing the unit.

There are low quality bottom baskets available that are extremely low cost, which are too easy to break or crush. A better basket may cost $5 more, but will be built stronger and be more durable. As the bottom basket is often the only item to prevent resin from entering the home's plumbing and causing a major cleanup mess, it is an item worth spending more for.

As the original resin was likely also low cost, it will probably require.replacement as you suspect, particularly if your water is chlorinated. Regular resin will have 8% cross-linking whereas 10% cross-link resin will better tolerate constant chlorine exposure. Low cost resin may utilize 6% or 7% cross-linking and so can degrade more rapidly even without chlorine being present.

Resin causing a flow restriction will often result from a cross-linking failure which is usually accelerated by chlorine. A failure if this type is usually evident by observing swelled resin which completely fills or over-fills the tank, or by feeling a sample of resin which will feel mushy when squeezed between two fingers. Resin should rightly feel like firm, solid granules when squeezed.

 

[cooljm]

thanks, was going to see about fixing it this one time, can you recommend a good source for bottom basket and tube and resin (some some 8% on Amazon)? on well with lime stone rock so thankfully no chlorine. thanks again for responding.

 

[LLigetfa]

There was some fine black that was on the basket.

My guess is that came from your well and plugged up the bottom basket. The pressure differential across the filter then crushed it.

 

[cooljm]

My guess is that came from your well and plugged up the bottom basket. The pressure differential across the filter then crushed it.

that is what i am thinking, couldnt hurt to put a filter in between the well and softener, house was built before i moved in,

thanks.

 

[LLigetfa]

I have a large Banjo 100 mesh filter that catches fine black sand.

 

[ditttohead]

Atlas Hydra has become our best product for well water junk catch.

Strangely I can't embed the youtube video right now.;

 

[cooljm]

thanks for all the advise and pointers. i need to get whole house filter yet before the well.
But order lower basket and Resin from Amazon and got heavier PVC pipe from Lowe's. so about ~$140.00 dollars back working.

 

[ditttohead]

Here it is.