Water Softner- Sears model 625.348591 leak

[Pitterpat]

Anybody know anything about a water softner leak? It's the Sears model referenced above. It leaks between the bypass valve and the valve body on the inlet side of the bypass valve. When the bypass valve is turned off it does not leak but when it is turned on it leaks at the inlet valve side of the bypass valve that is connected to the valve body of the water softner.

Hope you understand what I asked. Thanks, Pat

 

[Gary Slusser]

Yes, they have an oring on the outlet and inlet and there is a clip pin to hold the by-pass onto the back of the control valve. The O ring may have a piece of dirt in the seal area or a gouge or other damage. Or, there may be plumbing strain on the by-pass causing the leak. That happens when the plumbing isn't lined up just right. Or chlorine etc. could be deteriorating the orings.

You can buy new orings.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

leak

When it happened to mine, replacing the "O" ring did not help. I had to replace the bypass valve.

 

[Pitterpat]

Yes, they have an oring on the outlet and inlet and there is a clip pin to hold the by-pass onto the back of the control valve. The O ring may have a piece of dirt in the seal area or a gouge or other damage. Or, there may be plumbing strain on the by-pass causing the leak. That happens when the plumbing isn't lined up just right. Or chlorine etc. could be deteriorating the orings.

You can buy new orings.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

The O ring looked good, I looked for nicks and specks of dirt around the O ring didn't find any.
Could be plumbing strain but it has been hooked up like this for 5 yrs, could it take this long to strain the system to cause this leak?

 

[Gary Slusser]

Yes it could, especially since excessive striain cause deformation of an O ring. Is the retainer clip pin broken and allowing misalignment of the by-pass? If not and the O ring is good, then what else is there to cause a leak? And how do you tell if an O ring is bad? I'd change them both and see if there's any strain or misalignment.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

 

[hj]

leak

Mine was not a "strain" and it was also five years old.