How much water softener resin do I need?

April 30, 2013 by Lindab · Leave a Comment

I have to replace the resin in my water softener. The tank label indicates that it is 12×52 which I am guessing means 12″ diameter x 52″ height, correct? If that is true, can you tell me how much resin I will need to refill it? Thanks!

Answer: You are correct, it is a 12 inch diameter x 52 inch tall tank. This is the tank size typically used for a 64,000 grain capacity water softener. 1 ft3 of resin has an exchange capacity of ~32,000 grains, so 2 ft3 = 64K. You will require 2 cubic feet of resin, and about 18 pounds of gravel.

You will need to cover the screen found on the bottom of your riser tube by about 3 inches with gravel. Gravel placed on the bottom – resin on top of the gravel. You can use a wet/dry shop vacuum to remove the spent resin easily. Both resin and gravel can be purchased online at our main site. Please let us know if you have any questions!

CAI Technologies Answering Service Messages – Best of 2012 & 2013

April 26, 2013 by bcordonna · Leave a Comment

This is the third time we collected humorous messages sent to us by our after-hours answering service. If you would like to read the messages from earlier years, just search “messages”. Some are truly unbelievable!

1. P/C TARA XXX-XXX-5833 RE:WILL ICEMAKER STILL MAKE HARD ICE WITH SOFT WATER?
Maybe you can’t make ice with soft water…only snow…

2. P/C MR. GUXXXXX XXX-XXX-4633 RE:CALL ASAP/FLUSHED PIPES OUT WITH ACID/NOW LEAKING BAD/HOW TO FIX?
SHUT OFF THE WATER & CALL A PLUMBER! The poor guy used concentrated nitric acid to clean his copper pipes…talk about a disaster…almost every pipe in the house was leaking! Very lucky the fumes didn’t get to him!

3. P/C PATRICIA XXX-XXX-2320 RE:IRON IN BRINE TANK WATER/HOW TO GET IT OUT SAFELY.
On the face of IT, this message did not seem unusual. But after speaking with the caller, it turns out they were ironing clothes near a water softener brine tank, and accidently knocked the iron into the brine tank…Yikes!!

4. P/C SAMMI XXX-XXX-9992 RE:HAVE OLD WATER SOFTENER TANK/USE IT FOR PIGGY BANK/DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH CHANGE CAN IT HOLD?
REALLY? This is like guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar??

5. P/C CARISSA XXX-XXX-4566 RE:CAN WE USE DRAIN WATER FROM SEDIMENT FILTER FOR OUTSIDE SHOWER?
The caller lived by the ocean, and wanted to build an outside shower for rinsing off after a trip to the beach. Asked if they could use the drain water from their backwashing sediment filter to supply the shower. We talked about how the filter removes dirt, and then sends the dirt to drain. You would sure need a bath after using this shower…gives new meaning to “rinse & repeat”

6. P/C JONATHAN XXX-XXX-1317 RE:CAN I USE WATER SOFTENER SALT FOR HOUSHOLD FOOD?
Geeze, it comes in 40 pound bags…how much salt does this guy need??

7. P/C KALA XXX-XXX-3477 RE:REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM TALKING TO US/PROBABLY BROKEN
Didn’t know what to expect when calling this one…but the RO actually was talking to them! A bizarre leak in the storage tank caused it to make a noise every time water was dispensed. They put the phone next to the to the sink for us, and it sounded like a very clear “Helloooooooo”…funniest thing I ever heard! Customer just wanted to know if it would cause a water quality problem. They decided that the trouble of occasionally pumping the tank back up with air was well worth all of the laughs they got…

8. P/C KEITH XXX-XXX-2020 RE:NEW WATER COOLER DOES NOT WORK/NEED WARRANTY REPLACEMENT
Turns out you have to plug in a water cooler to an electrical outlet before it will cool water…

9. P/C MINH XXX-XXX-1148 RE:NEED MORE CHEW TOYS FOR DOG
Thought this was a wrong number, but this customer bought a case of string wound sediment filter cartridges. Said he uses them for his dog toys! Just for kicks, I gave one to my dog – she loves them! FDA food grade, just the right weight for throwing, and cheap too!

AND THE MILLION DOLLAR WINNER THIS YEAR IS:
10. P/C PROCUREMENT XXX-XXX-XXXX RE:NEED A REPLACEMENT WATER SOFTENER TANK
Some years ago we sold a water softener system to a government agency for use in a forward operations area laundry. It gets delivered to the site, and before they can install it, the local insurgency blows it up on the runway. Fifteen million dollar Black Hawk helicopter sitting next to it, and they blow up a $400 tank! I suppose the tank does resemble a very big bomb from a distance…two tanks blown up so far… I guess this is what they call “war bonus”!

Technetic 1000

April 22, 2013 by frank Scott · Leave a Comment

Need the manual for the resin tank below the control unit.

Answer: There is really not a manual for a resin tank – there are product brochures and specifications available though. Your Technetic 1000 control was made by GE/Osmonics (Autotrol), but the tank was made by others. You should be able to find a label on the bottom side of the tank that indicates the manufacturer, but a common one is Structural Corporation and you can download the brochure here.

Changing filter media

April 13, 2013 by swetlandm · Leave a Comment

Where do I get the media and how do you change it? A plumber billed me 500 bucks last time.

Answer: Depends on what type of filter media you need. We offer a range of different types of filter media at our main site on the “Chemicals, Resin, & Filter Media” page. One other thing to keep in mind is that backwashing filters (which we assume you are referring to here) need to have gravel placed on the bottom of the tank, underneath the filter media. This acts as a distribution bed and helps maintain a uniform water flow throughout the filter media. Generally, you would cover the basket found on the end of the riser tube with about three inches of gravel. Gravel can also be found on the page referenced above.

Water spotting on bathroom fixtures.

March 24, 2013 by btonne · Leave a Comment

We have very hard water, 122 GPG (about 2000 ppm), so we recently had a water softener installed.  My wife wants to know why she is still getting white spots on the chrome bathroom fixtures if the water is now so soft.  I checked the hardness of the water with a Hach test kit and it shows less than zero grains per gallon.  Why the spots?  Thank you in advance for your answer.

Answer: Do the spots just wipe off the fixture with a damp towel when dry? If they do, it’s not hardness (scale) – it’s sodium donated from the regeneration salt. Although you would never see this at typical hardness levels, with such an extremely high inlet water hardness, sodium deposits may become apparent. Just wipe the fixtures dry after use to eliminate the spotting.

How to best disinfect water

February 26, 2013 by DBarrymoore · Leave a Comment

We just found out that our well is contaminated with fecal coliform.  The only things we currently have installed is a water filter and water softener. We have had two different companies make different suggestions as to how to resolve this problem.  One want’s to install a chlorine injection system, and the other suggested a ultraviolet sterilization system.  Which is right?

Answer: Both companies are suggesting different, but correct, technologies for resolving this problem. The first design that you mention is chlorine injection. Injecting chlorine disinfects the water, as long as you have the correct equipment design. A good package includes a static mixer, which aids in mixing the chlorine and well water, a quality pump, and sufficient retention time so that the chlorinated water is in contact long enough to ensure that disinfection is accomplished. You need a minimum of 20 minutes retention time, and this is normally accomplished with a 120 gallon retention tank. Chlorine injection will also typically include a backwashing carbon filter to remove any chlorine from the household water. This would be an important consideration in your case, as very high levels of chlorine can be damaging to the cation exchange resin found in a water softener – and you will want to remove it first. The specific design may vary depending on household flow rate & water quality, but you can look at a design that we offer for this purpose on our site.

The second solution may be a better one for your application. Ultraviolet sterilization will resolve this problem by passing a high energy light wave through the water, thereby sterilizing any harmful organisms. For UV to operate properly you need to incorporate a 5-micron filter into the design, to first remove any sediment from the water. This is because a harmful organism may be able to “hide” in the pores of a sediment particle, and if not removed, might receive an incomplete exposure to the UV light. In addition (and depending on your water quality) a water softener may be required upstream of the UV, so that scale and iron deposits don’t build up over time in the reactor. You already have a sediment filter and water softener, so it would appear that you are a very good candidate for a UV system. And there is no concern here with the possibility of chlorine damage to the softener.

Normal salt usage for model 9000 econominder

January 1, 2013 by dsoft · Leave a Comment

How much salt should the model 9000 Econominder go through per month for a 3 person house hold on well water ? I’m currently using about 80 lbs. per month.

Answer: The answer depends on a number of variables. The amount of salt you use during regeneration correlates to the capacity of the water softener, hardness of your water, and water consumption.

15 pounds of salt per ft3 would get almost the full capacity of the resin (approximately 30,000 grains per cubic foot, depending on the specific resin used). Water hardness can be reported in “grains per gallon” (gpg), “parts per million” (ppm) or “milligrams per liter” (mg/l). The most common way to report water hardness is using gpg. You can divide ppm and mg/l by 17.1 to obtain your hardness value in grains per gallon. Lower salt dosage leads to less consumption per regeneration, but also reduced capacity. However the relationship of salt dosage and resin bed capacity is not linear – it’s logarithmic. In other words, you have to use a lot of salt per regeneration to get full exchange capacity (again, about 15 pounds per ft3), but using only a portion of this will still yield a substantial capacity. So using less salt provides the necessary performance along with reduces salt usage. It’s common to use between 8 and 12 pounds of salt per ft3 during regeneration.

With all of this (probably unnecessary) information explained, the actual amount of salt used in a specific application varies. It depends on the salt dosage programmed (described above), the hardness of your water, and the number of residents. We can make a very general estimate, but it may not reflect your specific application.

In the example below we will use 3 people in the home and a hardness value of 20 grains per gallon, a salt dosage of 10 pounds per ft3 in a 32,000 grain water softener (1 ft3) and a daily water usage of 75 gallons per person. Multiply 3 people in the home x 75 gallons water usage per person per day x 20 grains hardness = 4,500 grains of hardness to be removed per day. So with a 32,000 grain system at 10 pounds salt per regeneration, capacity would be about 28,000 grains (about 20% lower than actual), and a metered unit would regenerate approximately every 6 days, which would translate into about 60 pounds of salt consumed per month.

Suggestion for Replacing Water Treatment System?

December 4, 2012 by Brasstax · Leave a Comment

Good day,

We have a single family, private well that is 85 ft. deep and was dug in early 2007.  Our current water treatment system is 5 1/2 years old and has enough issues that we are looking to replace it.  The entire home is piped in copper piping.  The unfiltered water will turn red (sitting in the toilets for example) in a matter of hours.  The treatment system was installed in late May of 2007.  The system consists of two tanks, the first brings the water in contact with chlorine, injected via pump (brand: Walchem metering pump).  Then second tank is filled with carbon media (tank brand: Pentair) to filter out the chlorine and whatever else it can.  There is a timer that sits atop the carbon media tank.   The system is piped with pvc piping, which we (homeowner) covered with insulation to keep it from getting brittle due to sunlight/cold exposure.   Since day one, we have black and grey bits of debris (with occasional touches of green-perhaps from rolling around in the copper pipes) that come out of every faucet.  If the faucet has a filter, it has to be cleaned regularly.  The debris is slightly larger than sand and not uniform in size.  The installer thought it was media from the carbon filter, so he installed a cone-shaped filter in the carbon tank.  This did not resolve the issue.  The plumber suggested it might be coming from the well pump pulling up sediment, so he installed a standard blue full house filter before any of the water filtration system.  It did not catch even one piece of debris, so that clearly wasn’t the problem.  The company that tests our water every year suggested it might be magnesium.  We have had system tested twice in the last 3 months.  Both tests showed magnesium wasn’t really high.  The test on 6/26/12 showed only a .15 ppm.  The test also showed 8 gpg hardness, 7.3 ph, .7 ppm ferrous iron, .7 ppm ferric iron.  The water was tested 8/13/12 for bacteria, <1/100 ml. total coliform and <1/100 ml. fecal coliform.  In 2010 it was tested for Nitrite, Nitrate, Nitrate+ Nitrite, Copper and in 2009 it was tested for Arsenic, Flouride, Nitrite, Nitrate and Nitrate+Nitrite and in no case did the tests exceed the safe limit. While the system works well as far as the safety of the water is concerned, we have the following issues with it:

1) While the volume of the debris has gone down some in the last 5 years, it still continues to plug the faucets.  It has already blocked one of the dual shower faucets in the master in the piping enough to slow water pressure significantly.  The plumber has cleared it once already and it is so bad again that we no longer use it.

2) The chlorine injector is incredibly noisy, you can hear it throughout the house every time the water is running.   The installer installed a dampener (brand: Blaoch fluid control), it has done little to solve the problem.   Also, the flushing system, which is set for every 3 days, goes off during the night (as we programmed it to do) and is also very noisy.  We were asked when we had the water last tested why we needed the chlorine tank since we had no bacteria issues.  Our answer was that the installer decided that is what we needed and put it in, no other reason.  We are not sure we need it, but are concerned that we could have a problem if we take it out.  We have heard about UV systems that would take the place of the chlorine and know they are expensive, but would eliminate the noise.

3)  Although the water consistently tests as only slightly hard (40 mg/l-in 2010), the buildup of deposits on the appliances, sink and shower, requires diligent wiping down, yet is still damaging the finishes and has us wondering what may be building up in the pipes. All the faucets have deposits inside making them hard to work on and they all leak.  We have had to change the cartridges in the faucets and showers 3 times in 5 1/2 years.

4)  There are green deposits streaked in the toilets, on the lavs (from the constant dripping) and built up on the faucet openings that are difficult to impossible to remove.

Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer: We’ll try and address all of your questions here. First of all, there are many ways to treat water for the same problem, but using different treatment techniques and equipment. You currently have a chlorine injection system, which can be used to combat a range of problems:

1) You can oxidize and remove contaminants like iron. Chlorine is a strong oxidizer, and when present in water with iron, manganese, or sulfur, can oxidize dissolved contaminants into particulate, allowing capture & removal by filtration downstream.
2) Chlorine injection can also be used to disinfect the water when bacterial contamination is present.
3) The system can also be used to destroy iron bacteria (or sulfur & manganese bacteria), which is a harmless bacteria that lives on the outside of an iron particle. Iron bacteria is “sticky” and traditional iron filtration cannot be used, as the material will buildup in a filter bed and eventually cause fouling. You need to first “kill” the iron bacteria with the injected chlorine, and then remove it with downstream filtration.
4) Soda ash can also be mixed with the chlorine. This allows the chlorine to perform its function, and the addition of soda ash to the injection solution will correct a low pH.

We assume that the first tank you mention is a retention tank – normally 80 or 120 gallons in size – that provides the required contact time that will allow the chlorine to do its job. You need at least 20 minutes of contact time (chlorine and water) to allow proper function. If your retention tank is undersized, the system may not function properly.

It is likely that the sediment that you are noticing is coming off the household piping and/or sediment that has accumulated in the bottom of your retention tank, that has built up to a level that it is now passing through the carbon filter into your household piping. Black is the color of oxidized manganese, and green is the color of oxidized copper.

You mention you do not have a pH issue (normal pH range is 7.0 to 7.8 units), but the green streaking you find in the toilets is due to low pH or aggressive action on the copper piping. With a hardness of 8 GPG it is unlikely that you have aggressive water (low Langelier saturation index), but this is possible if you hardness is only as reported in your 2010 analysis or 40 mg/l (~2.5 GPG). To determine this we would need to know the TDS (total dissolved solids) and alkalinity of your water.

Also, your June of 2012 test showed 0.15 ppm magnesium, but 8 GPG (grains per gallon) hardness. Magnesium is a component of hardness along with calcium, and you would have a much higher magnesium level a 8 GPG. We think you probably mean “manganese” at 0.15 ppm. If so, this is actually a fairly high level of manganese.

You mention the UV is expensive – actually it’s not – fairly inexpensive. You can take a look at some of the system we offer online. However, a UV system may require a water softener to be installed upstream – but depending on your water hardness – you may need one anyway. Scale and iron buildup is what is harming your fixtures, and a water softener may resolve this problem.

The best way to proceed is probably with a confirmation of your water quality – visit our site for the sampling instruction and mailing address for our laboratory to receive a free water analysis and equipment recommendation. If you decide to do this, be sure to enclose a description of the equipment that you currently have installed and your current problem.

Programming Autotrol 268/460i

November 12, 2012 by Jerry · Leave a Comment

I recently purchased a water softener with a Autotrol 268/460i valve and control in 48,000 grain size. I know to program it with my hardness in grains per gallon, but I’m not sure what number to enter for capacity. It allows me to enter a number between 1 and 100. Should I enter 48 for 48,000 grain capacity?

Answer: You should set the capacity to a value less than your actual capacity, and this value depends on the level of salt dosage you have selected. If you left the salt dial (found on the right side of the control) setting at the factory default value of 12 pounds per ft3, then you should set the capacity for your sized softener to about “38″. This is because in order to get the full capacity of your resin bed, you would have to brine at 15 pounds per ft3 – but reducing the salt setting still gets you most of the exchange capacity of the resin – but allows a more efficient consumption of salt over time.

The other thing this setting will take into account is reserve capacity – although the 460i control has an automatically calculated reserve – this lower setting will give you a better margin of safety. To understand reserve capacity; this softener is factory set to normally regenerate at 2:00 AM (although you can change this). So, if there is some water usage at (for example) 2:15 AM, and the softener determines that a re-generation is necessary, the unit will not regenerate until the following night at 2:00 AM. You need to make sure that in this case you have the extra capacity (reserve capacity) to carry you through the next day, and also have a little extra capacity for when the softener resin loses some of its fresh activity years down the road.

For these reasons the industry standard is to recommend that you program a single tank water softener using a value that is about 20% less than its actual capacity. Let us know if you have any questions.

Beads in water line

October 17, 2012 by dblair · Leave a Comment

I have a water softener using an Autotrol Brand 255 Valve/400 Series water conditioning control system with  a Pentair 10×35 Polyglass tank.  Within about five months following installation, we began to see fine red particles coming through the filter screens in the interior faucets of our home.  In addition, they began to back up at the filtering screens in the shower heads, washing machine,and appear in the toilet tanks etc., throughout the house and cause a decrease of water pressure.  I have unplugged and bypassed the water softener, and have the water coming directly into the house now without passing through the softener.  The particles no longer come through the facuets.  Would you help me understand what it is about the water softener that could be causing this problem? I would like to validate my assumptions and have a better understanding of what might be causing the problem before I contact the company which I purchased the unit from.  Thank you for any response you might provide.

Answer: The material you are referring to is probably cation exchange resin. The only material typically contained within a water softener is the resin (a very small plastic bead, normally reddish-brown to black in color), and possibly a larger gravel (normally 1/4 x 1/8 in size).

If resin is what is in your household piping, then it is possible that there is a break in the screen found on the end of your riser tube (the tube that passes through the bed inside the resin tank), and resin is passing through this break into your piping. It is also possible that the inlet and outlet connections to your softener are reversed. These are only two of the most common reasons that would cause this problem – there are other possibilities. Our advice is to contact the supplier of your system. They will probably be glad to work with you to identify the cause of the problem, and repair it as needed.

Please let us know if you need any clarification, and best regards!

Hydro Quad Leak

September 13, 2012 by bwomack · Leave a Comment

I just purchased a home that is equipped with the hydro quad hq1054fe. It started leaking the other day under the bottom of the service/bypass leaver. Where can I find a parts for this model as well as the manual.

Answer: To our knowledge, the Hydro Quad is currently configured with a Clack Corporation WS1 control – although there are various microprocessor boards available for this unit (and we are not aware of which one is used for this softener) – the valve body should be the same. Although we do not currently offer this valve, we have in the past, and a manual for this valve/control can be downloaded from our site at http://www.caitechnologies.com/images/PDFs/WS1&1.25.pdf.

Water softener discharge line

August 18, 2012 by dutch · Leave a Comment

Can I run the discharge/rinse line from my Amtrol water softener directly into my main ABS waste line if I have a septic system? In other words, is running it into the main waste up to code and will it impact my septic system negatively? What type of tubing should I use for the discharge line? Thanks.

Answer: Normally this is not a problem – a traditional septic system is not normally effected by water softener discharge. However, if your septic is of the newer ‘aerobic’ designs, then we would recommend against it. The effect of softener discharge on this design is as of yet unknown – we can’t say that it would be damaging to the system – it is only that we are not aware of any investigation into this area. You can read more about this at http://www.caitechnologies.com/water-softeners/effects-of-water-softener-discharge-on-septic-systems.htm.

Drain line material can be flexible poly (HDPE) or PVC. Just be sure that the drain line is not a soft plastic material that may crimp and restrict the backwash/drain flow.

Water softener placed before UV system

August 16, 2012 by dutch · Leave a Comment

I currently have an Amtrol water softener already installed. I am having a UV system ordered to be installed. Is it best to place the UV system after the water softener if there is hardness in the water? Will the water softener harm the UV system? Should I use salt or potassium in the softener to make it compatible with the UV system?

Answer: Always place the UV after the water softener – ultraviolet sterilization systems perform much better when the hardness is removed from your water. In fact, in applications where hardness is above 7 GPG (~120 mg/l) a water softener is required when using UV. No harm to the UV from a water softener – and you can use either potassium of sodium chloride – either is acceptable. On thing to note, you always need to have a 5-micron cartridge pre-filter installed in advance of the UV. In your application, we would recommend that you place the cartridge filter in front of the existing water softener to protect it from sediment as well. You can look at our UV systems and cartridge filter systems on our site. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Water in salt tank

August 14, 2012 by cbear · Leave a Comment

We installed a water softener a few months ago, and we notice that we never see any water in the salt tank after the water softener regenerates.  We have to add water using a bucket – shouldn’t the softener be adding the water automatically?  Thanks in advance!

Answer: Hi! Exactly the same question another person had recently (see “Putting water into the water softener brine tank”, below). You should never have to add any water to the brine tank – the softener will automatically add the correct amount based on it’s programming. Sometimes you will not be able to see the water at all, as the upper water level is below the top of the salt bed. If you have a substantial amount of salt in the brine tank, dig down into the salt bed to see if there is water “hiding” underneath. If not, please let us know, and we can help you further.

Removing red coloring from water

July 2, 2012 by ssimpson · Leave a Comment

My well water goes through an Econominder 5600 water treatment, then an Econominder 9000 water conditioner, then through a Pura particulate filter/carbon filter/UV filter.

I’m trying to get water for my fish aquarium. The water conditioner kills the fish (probably) due to high levels of sodium. I can bypass the Econominder 9000 and draw water from the tap, which is fine, but the water comes out very red. I’ve tested the water that bypassed the Econominder for free and chelated iron and the tests come out negative (tests range 0-1 ppm). What is it that’s causing the coloration, and is there a way to remove it with another device? I’m on the edge of a forest, lots of pine, so I’m thinking its tannins or similar causing the coloration. Since its already going through a Pura particulate and carbon filter after the Econominder, I’m skeptical that adding other filtration will do the trick.

Are there any solutions, either to have the Econominder do its work to remove the coloring without doing the softening, or adding something else in upstream or downstream to fix it, even if it’s just the faucet. I need to draw about 30 gallons a week for my aquarium of un-softened water.

Answer: Unless you have a VERY high level of hardness, harm to the fish is not likely due to the softened water – although with aquarium water, treatment by reverse osmosis is generally recommended – the very low level of sodium or potassium donated by a softener (7 ppm per grain of hardness) is not normally an issue for fish or human consumption. It’s probably something else in your water that is affecting the fish – possibly pH or elevated levels of ammonia?

Tannins are not really harmful to fish, but can cause a reduction in pH (tannins are tannic acid). If you fill a glass with water, and let it stand overnight, and in the morning there is a layer of red on the bottom of the glass – this is ferric iron (particulate). However, in the morning if the water is still a uniform clear amber to red color, with no detectible sediment on the glass bottom – this is probably tannin.

You resolve a tannin problem with an anion exchange system following your water softener – but if this is not a bother to you – consider a reverse osmosis system instead to provide water for your tank. The low level of iron you mention should be removed by your existing water softener. Let us know if you have any questions.

Putting water into the water softener brine tank

June 23, 2012 by dosacrazy · Leave a Comment

I have a new softener that I’ve been using a couple of months and I typically have to add water to the brine tank after the system completes its cycle. I have been adding enough to bring the level to about 6″ beneath the overflow fitting, but the system does not seem to automatically replenish properly after completing its flush cycle. Is there a setting I can make to automatically add more water than it is currently? There seems to be cycles where almost all of the water is being removed form the brine tank, and the resulting brine level is very low. How do i correct this? Thanks…Indira

Answer: Hi Indira. Assuming that your control was initally programmed correctly, you will find that if you leave it alone, it will behave normally. You should never have to add or adjust the amount of refill water as you are doing – the softener is automatically adding the correct amount of water to the brine tank based on your initial programming. Why are you filling the unit to the 6″ beneath the overflow fitting level? This is an unusually large volume, and a more typical amount would be more like 3-6 gallons of water, which is ~ a few inches above the salt platform.

Please let us know if this answers your questions, and best regards!

How to reset my ultraviolet sterilization system?

May 30, 2012 by nukemd · Leave a Comment

Hi. I have a ultraviolet sterilization system manufactured by R-CAN called an S12Q-PA. There is a digital display on the control that tells you how many days are left before you need to replace the bulb. When it reached “0″ it alarms periodically. I have replaced the bulb with a new one, but i can’t get it to stop buzzing. Do you know how to do this?

Answer: Sure. Just unplug the unit from the electrical source. While pressing the alarm silence button, and keeping it held down, plug it back into the electrical outlet. You will hear a long beep, the display will show some dashes, and then reset to display 365 days remaining.

Commercial water softener flow rate during operation?

May 24, 2012 by jhinlee · Leave a Comment

Hello – we have a 8 ft3 water softener using a Fleck 2900 control with a 3200NT control. I need to determine the flow rates during each of the rinse cycles and flow rate during the regeneration draw. Can you tell me how to determine this?

Answer: Flow rates during each of the rinse cycles
1) Backwash: Flow determined by external flow control (labeled on unit) for this sized unit it would normally be 15 GPM, 10 minutes cycle time = 150 gallons total volume. You can change the length of backwash stage time using instructions in 3200NT manual. You can change the external flow control to vary backwash rate, but this would not normally be advised (see chart, 2900 manual, page 29).

2) Brine draw/slow rinse: Flow controlled by installed injector (with 8 ft3 resin we woukld use a 4C injector, see 2900 manual, page 30). Actual flow depends on line pressure, but using 40 psig, brine draw is about 1.8 GPM, and slow rinse is about 2 GPM (brine draw & slow rinse occur simultaneously) To calculate the actual total flow, we would need to know the brine setting used when the units were setup, but assuming 9 lbs/ft3, a brine volume of about 24 gallons (9 lbs x 8 ft3 = 72 pounds @ 3/lbs per gallon = ~24 gallons total volume). So you would have a slow rinse/brine draw discharge of 1.8 GPM (brine draw) + 2.0 GPM (slow rinse) = a total of 3.8 GPM for 13.3 minutes, and a total flow of 2 GPM for the remaining 46.7 minutes = total cycle flow of ~144 gallons.

3) Rapid rinse – same as backwash (1) above.

Let us know if this does not answer your questions, and best regards!

Backwashing pH neutralizer problem

May 9, 2012 by John McNeil · Leave a Comment

I’m having problems with a backwashing pH neutralizer that I hope you can help me with. It has run fine for many years, but this week we started to notice a drop in water pressure. After I by-passed the neutralizer, the water pressure returned to normal. I noticed that during backwash the flow to drain starts out fast and then quickly is reduced to a very slow rate. Could you share any ideas you have regarding this?

Answer: Sounds like the bed is fouled with iron &/or sediment. How many days between automatic backwashing? It should be two times per week at a minimum – your water conditions and available flow rate may require more frequent backwashing to maintain the bed condition. For now, try placing the unit into backwash, and leaving in that position (by un-plugging the unit so it will not advance) for at least 30 minutes. See if that improves the situation. If this does not help, it may be necessary to remove the valve, and re-bed the unit – instructions for doing this can be dowloaded from our site.

Defective chemical injection system?

April 17, 2012 by bobwilson1958 · Leave a Comment

Hi, I recently installed a chemical injection system to control pH. I am injecting a soda ash solution into the pipe between the well pump and the pressure tank. The chemical injector seems to be  non-functional.  It has a toggle switch on top. When I push it to “on”, it pumps even when my well pump is not running. When I push it to off, it does not run even when my well pump is operating. My understanding was that the system is designed to inject solution only when the well pump is running.  Do I have a defective system?

Answer:The switch on the pump is simply an on/off electrical switch – works just like a light switch – turn it on and the pump runs, turn it off and the pump stops. It is running normally.

However, the pump has no intelligence – it only knows to run when there is electrical power supplied, and not to run when there is no electrical power. The switch has nothing to do with operation of the system – you normally leave it in the on position at all times. The off position is only used when you are servicing the pump or refilling the solution tank, and don’t want the pump to operate.

It looks like you may have the injection pump wired into an electrical source that is always powered – and this is not correct. You should have the pump wired into the “hot leg” of the electrical circuit that provides power to your existing well pump. In other words, when the pressure switch tells the well pump to come on and start pumping water into the bladder tank, the injection pump will also come on and start injecting. When the pressure switch finds that there is sufficient pressure in the bladder tank, it cuts power to the well pump – the well pump stops pumping water – and the chemical injection pump also stops injection solution.

You will need to rewire the pump to tap into this circuit. Let us know if this resolves your problem, and best regards!

New Dual Tank System; still have same metallic smell problem

March 22, 2012 by j3710 · Leave a Comment

We had a single tank system and were getting a metallic smell and taste from our water; both hot and cold. Sometimes we would get discolored water as well. We had a dual tank system put in (Clack) and now have a new digital filter media. We also had our well serviced. Prior to the installation our turbidity in raw water was 17 and after the softener was 2.4. the iron was 6.73 from raw water and after softener was .24. NOW after this so called new system our turbidity from the raw water is 3.5 and after the conditioner is 3.2! And the iron from the raw water is 6.4 and after the softener is .6! And we still have the metallic smell. How could a new system have worse numbers?

Answer: Turbidity (without getting into too technical of a description), is commonly referred to as a measurement of how clear the water is, and normally expressed in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). The greater the amount of total suspended solids in the water, the higher the measured turbidity value, and the cloudier it will appear. Allowed limits for turbidity vary by state, but in general , the limit for turbidity in drinking water is ≤ 5 NTU.

One thing to highlight here is that a water softener is not designed to remove turbidity from water. It’s job is to remove hardness, and to a lesser extent, some levels of dissolved iron and manganese. The softener may reduce turbidity by trapping suspended solids within the resin bed, but this would shorten the lifetime of the softener, as the self-cleaning (backwashing) stage of the regeneration cycle may not be sufficient to remove the captured sediment. A typical way to reduce turbidity is through mechanical filtration, like a cartridge filter or backwashing sediment filter, that would be installed prior to the water softener.

You report a raw water iron level of 6.7 and 6.4 mg/l – this is a very similar value. However, you do not mention what part of the iron present is particulate (ferric ) or dissolved (ferrous). Ferric iron would contribute to an elevated level of turbidity, but ferrous iron (being dissolved/clear water iron) would not. The ferrous iron can be treated by the water softener, ferric iron cannot.

Regarding the treated water analysis, the two significant figures reported in your initial analysis of 0.24 mg/l suggest a laboratory analysis. The 0.6 mg/l measurement is more indicative of a field analysis. If these measurements were not made using the same equipment, and at approximately the same time after sampling, making an assumption in comparing these measurements to each other may not be reasonable.

All of this stated, your comment that you still have a metallic smell in the treated water means that something is not right. Sounds like a combination of insufficient pre-filtration to remove sediment that may be present in the raw water, and possibly modification of the water softener programming to increase the salt dosage. You may also want to to install a Res-Up drip feeder into your water softener brine tank. This is an automatic drip feed system that adds a phosphoric acid solution to your brine (salt) tank, which aids in iron removal from the water softener resin bed during the regeneration process. If you are not familiar with how to adjust your water softener programming, you can contact your water softener installer, and ask him for additional information on how to do this.

Could Autotrol softener cause air in house water lines?

March 15, 2012 by lnisly · Leave a Comment

Answer: It is very possible that air could be drawn into you water by any softener – or any other water appliance – the best way to start to trouble shoot this problem is to by-pass the water softener, and see if the problem goes away. If it does, then you can investigate the specific cause of the water softener failure further. If not, you will need to look elsewhere. One note, if you are using an on-site well, a common cause of this problem is a leaky bladder in your pressure tank.

Sterilight Silver S12Q-PA

March 13, 2012 by lbenoit · 1 Comment

We have a Sterilight Silver S12Q-PA model.  We just changed the bulb about 2 months ago.  The ballast has started beeping intermittently and the display shows “8888″.  Sometimes its stops and the display is normal for a few minutes and then it starts again.  While it is beeping and the display reads “8888″, the lamp still seems to function.

We have had this issue before and had to change the ballast.  Note that we connected the ballast to a surge protector.  I disconnected the system and reconnected it and it sill does this?  I also unplugged everything else that was on the same circuit and that has not helped either..

 Any idea what may be causing this?

Answer: When the ballast displays “8888″ this is normally indicative of a bad ballast. We realize that you just replaced it, but it seems as though this one is defective as well. Depending on the age of the ballast, it may still be covered under warranty. If so, you can contact the company that sold the ballast to you, and retrun it to them for warranty evaluation. The replacement balast for this unit is a part # BA-ICE-S and avalable for $142.00 delivered within the continantal US. Email us at info@caitechnologies.com if you are interested in purchasing this ballast, and we will provide ordering instructions.

Kinetico Questions

March 13, 2012 by Nailpounder · Leave a Comment

I have a Kinetico 60. Probably about 20-25 yrs. old. My problem is: it will not regenerate on its own. I can force a regen. The gears all seem to rotate ,but the little black bar (the one you force to regen) never moves again after the regen.I had my water tested by a friend of mine who works for the local city water dept. even though I have a well. He said my hardness =70 mg./litre and my Iron = .8mg/litre. I’m not sure if this is right. These numbers don’t seem to look like what other people were posting. Anyway, I’ve been messin’ with this thing for about 2 months now. I have taken the first level off a couple of times now. Everything there seems good. Gears all turn easily. I suspect one of the balls has slipped out of its seat when I took it apart. Would this cause it not to regen.? I started to take it apart into the 2nd & 3rd level the last time, but I chickened out when the plates didn’t seem to want to come apart. I do have a pre filter. Also, one side seems to give softened water while the other side gives me iron laden hard water. I need some guidance as to where the little blue balls go, and do I just need to be a little more assertive in removing the 2nd 3rd & 4th tiers of the head. Also, if I rebed this thing (new resin) how do I know if I’m getting quality beads & how full should the tanks be when I’m done? They are 8” dia. by 40” tall. I hope you don’t mind me contacting you through your email. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks, John D.

Answer: First, your water analysis seems reasonable – 70 mg/l is equivalent to about 4 GPG (grains per gallon = mg/l divided by 17.1) and the iron is not unusual at 0.8 mg/l.

With regard to your Kinetico water softener, we are not very familiar with the repair of these valves, and are not acquainted with this internal valve design. This is a valve made by Kinetico, and sold & serviced only through their dealerships. We would advise you to be cautious when taking this valve apart – it contains many small parts – these valves are more difficult to work on than an industry standard valve. If you feel that you need to dissemble the valve to any large degree, it may be better to have an authorized Kinetico distributor perform the work. If you need replacement valve parts, they may not sell them outside of their network anyway.

However, you can replace the resin contained within the tanks fairly easily. A model 60 uses 0.7 ft3 cation exchange resin per tank, and we have 1 cubic foot bags available on our site.

Kinetico model 30

March 11, 2012 by deb · Leave a Comment

The softner was working fine until basement flooded and softner salt container fell over and was filled with water…found it set it up filled it with salt and is there a way to manually regenerate the softner also I would like to get an owner’s manual. Can you answer these questions for me? Thank you.

Answer: Sounds like you have an air leak that occurred when your brine tank fell over in the flood. This happens when the brine line that connects the brine (salt) tank with the control valve becomes loosened, and the unit cannot draw salt solution during the regeneration process. We have prepared a document that addresses this problem that you can download by clicking here. To obtain a manual for the model 30 you will have to contact Kinetico directly. Hope this helps!

Choose Water Softener

February 25, 2012 by swang@7584 · Leave a Comment

I have installed this GNSH45E (45,000 Grain) GE Water Softener System about 7 years ago, but it only worked OK for about 2-3 years. Since then this water softener has been down due to control PCB went bad last 6 months. However, I am NOT interested to use GE Water Softener any more. I will appreciate if you can recommend the better water softener to me. We live in San Jose area, California, and the house living area is about 1200 sf, and 3 people in the house. So far, I have seen those Aqua-Pure and Fleck water softener seems better, but I would like know the basic idea about the difference between those many kind of wafer softener as below and your recommendation.

Aqua-Pure 5564007-NWS150M Metered Water Softener
Aqua-Pure CS2001-CS2001 Water Softener
Aqua-Pure AWS 100M – 150M Advanced Water Softener
Aqua-Pure CWS Series Water Softener w/bypass valve (Range 13-1/2, 14.3, 18-1/2GPM)
Aqua-Pure Chrome CWS Series Water Softener w/bypass valve (Range 13-1/2, 14.3, 18-1/2GPM)
Fleck 5600SXT Digital Control (64,000 grains of hardness) from Pentair CO.
Fleck 7000SXT Digital Control (70,000 grains of hardness) from Pentair CO.

Thank you so much.

Answer: Just saw this as a draft – published it for you. Anyway, to answer your question, you actually list some standard water softener controls here, incorporated into systems marketed with private label brand names. All of the controls used in the these systems are pretty good ones – all have 5-year warranties, and Fleck and Autotrol are different operating divisions of the same parent company – Pentair. The Aqua-Pure brand is market by Cuno. Here is a list of the controls we believe are used in the systems you mention, and our brief comments regarding each:

Aqua-Pure NWS150M – uses the Fleck 5600 Econominder control, and is 48,000 grain in capacity. This control is used in our WS4C system. Good control for ¾ inch piping – however, we would recommend the 5600SXT microprocessor based control – more features similar price.

Aqua-Pure CS2001 – uses the Fleck 2750 brass body Econominder valve/control, and is 64,000 grain in capacity. Good valve, brass body is mostly used in commercial applications due to expense. Again, we would recommend this unit configured with the SXT control. This is a 1 inch control – use in 1” piping applications. This unit is not available from us online, and we use it for light duty commercial application. You can always call us for a quote if interested.

Aqua-Pure AWS – uses the Autotrol 268 Logix control. Not sure if it uses the limited 760 control, or the fully adjustable 762 control. Good 1 inch valve/control. The model 100 is 32,000 grain, and the 150 is 48,000 grain capacity. We use the 762 version in our WS3LM-HC.

Aqua-Pure CWS – uses the Clack 1 inch WS1 control. Good control. We would caution you against purchasing the CWS series online, as they are configured using Clack WS1 valves, and the manufacturer of this valve has barred sale of softeners equipped with this control on the internet. Only consider purchasing this system from a local distributor, as parts, service and warranty support may be an issue. The “chrome” simply means that it is the same softener, but with a plastic jacket to give it a chrome appearance. We do not offer this system any longer online.

Fleck 5600SXT – as we discussed above, good valve and control. We use the same control in our WS4M system. Be sure it is supplied with good quality resin, by-pass valve, a round brine tank with backup safety float and brine tank grid.

Fleck 7000 SXT – there are two “flavors” of this valve. One configured for 1 inch piping applications, and another one configured for 1.25 inch piping. We use this configured for 1.25 inch in our WS5M-HS system.

You can see some of our systems that use these controls on our site.

Hope this helps!

Resin in water

February 10, 2012 by pryan · Leave a Comment

We recently went away and we shut off the water. We came back and turned the water back on and we’re getting grit that someone told me is resin from the water softener. It’s a Kenmore UltraSoft 100. Any suggestions?

We recently went away and we shut off the water. We came back and turned the water back on and we’re getting grit that someone told me is resin from the water softener. It’s a Kenmore UltraSoft 100. Any suggestions?

Answer: Look closely at the “grit”. If it is ion exchange resin coming from the water softener, then it will look like small plastic-like dark brown to yellow beads that are mostly spherical in shape. Assuming that this is resin, then its most likely due to a broken riser basket. This is the basket/screen found at the bottom of a tube that passes through the resin bed. During normal operation, incoming water travels down through the resin bed, through the basket, and up through the riser tube in to your home. If the basket is broken, it will allow resin to pass into your piping. If the basket is broken, it may not be cost effective to have the part replaced. These softeners normally have only a 1 or 2 year warranty, and if not covered under an active warranty, the cost to service the unit may be close to cost of a new softener.