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Resin has clogged my pipes, should water softener resin tanks be guaranteed?

July 15, 2007 By SithLord52 1 Comment

I have an Autotrol 255-460 system purchased 4 1/2 years ago. Not sure what type of resin tank. The only marking on the tank is “Pentair water treatment”, with a model number.

A few days before the big event we experienced loss of water pressure in faucet and shower when a toilet was flushed. I have never seen that before. Water pressure checks revealed nothing. A day later, one of the toilets (tank and bowl) completely filled with resin. Discovered that all showers, toilets, faucets, water heater, etc. were now similarly clogged. Much time and some expense went into to clearing this up.

Question 1. Is this a common occurrence? I’ve seen nothing on the internet to indicate this ever occurs. What causes such a failure? I don’t buy the chlorine claim I received over the phone. I’ve had several big box softeners before this one that worked 7-8 years without such issues. The installer of this unit (5 year parts warranty scrawled across the paperwork) claims that resin tanks are not covered by this warranty, and wants to charge me $145 and $95 labor for a new resin bed.

Question #2 – should a reputable firm stand behind the entire unit, warranty-wise? That is my belief.

Thanks for any information and advice you can provide.

Answer: Your tank is used widely the industry – good quality – made by Structural Fibers Corporation, a Division of Pentair. However, it’s not likely that your problem is caused by the tank. This problem does occasionally happen, and there are three common possibilities that may be the cause:

1) Break in the riser (also called a distributor) or riser basket assembly. The riser is the tube that is found in the center of the resin bed. Your control valve is an Autotrol (GE) 255/460i, and in normal operation, the water path is in through the control valve, down through the resin bed, into the riser through a “screen” basket affixed to the bottom of the tube, up the riser and out into your home’s piping. If there is a break in this screen, then it is possible for the resin to enter into the home piping. This screen can break simply due to a material defect, or also if there is a water main break in the distribution system. When there is a problem (like a break) in the water main, a vacuum can be caused temporarily that can cause the basket to fail. When you mention that you noted a loss of water pressure, a “vacuum” situation, as mentioned above, may have occurred and damaged your basket.

2) Unit installed too close to a hot water heater. If the unit is too close to a hot water heater, and the hot water backs up into the water softener, it is possible for the riser’s basket to deform and allow resin to pass through. Generally, a water heater should be about 10 feet or more (length of pipe) from the softener.

3) Chlorine effect on cation exchange resin. Even good quality water softener cation resin can be negatively affected by the presence of high levels of chlorine in the water. Because water softener companies do not have any control over the concentration of chlorine in the water, water softener resin is typically not covered under any warranty. Under normal conditions, most good quality water softener resins (like Bayer – Sybron, Purolite, Dow – Dowex, and others) show no significant loss of performance at typical chlorine concentrations of 3 ppm and below. However, at elevated levels, chlorine can have a substantial effect on the structural integrity of the resin bead. High chlorine levels sometime occur when the municipal water supplier has an extensive break in their water main, after a significant flooding event, or when higher levels of bacteria are measured as present in the water source. The chlorine level in your water may be at low levels for many years, but due to an unforeseen situation, the chlorine level spikes for an extended period of time (a few days to a few weeks), and water softener resin degrades. For instance, after the hurricane Katrina damage to Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Florida, many of our softeners required replacement resin, as local cities were forced to increase chlorine levels to combat bacteria in the water supply. Resin that is affected by chlorine is typically soft, and breaks down, and passes through a riser basket into household piping. Take a look at the resin you are finding in your water. If it easily “crumbles” when you press on it with a spoon, then it is likely degraded by chlorine, and needs replacing. If instead, the resin particle seems to be a round “hard” bead, then one of the above suggestions may be the cause of your problem.

There are other things that can cause the problem you are experiencing to occur, but these are the common ones. To sum up, most commercial quality softeners carry a 5-year parts warranty, with the exception of the resin in the unit. If the resin is degraded, then the price you were quoted is not unreasonable to re-bed the unit. If the problem is due to a defective part, then it may be covered under your specific warranty – but labor cost to perform the repair would not normally be included in warranty coverage, and would still be charged. We hope this answers your questions.

Yes is does. Thanks for the useful information on the problem.

Filed Under: Autotrol, Water softener

Water Softener Service Life

July 9, 2007 By Keithbrey Leave a Comment

WATER SOFTER SERVICE LIFE
The are many factors that determine the service life of a water
softener. Some water softeners need to have their resin replaced in as
few as two to three years, and other units can last as much as 25
years or more. It is typical to expect a useable service life of 10 to 15
years from a water softener, but this depends on many variables as
discussed below:

Control Valve: The softener’s control valve and associated mechanical
components should be of good quality. Most better quality water
softener controls (made by companies like Fleck, Autotrol, Clack,
Culligan, Kinetico, etc.) have at least a 5-year warranty. Lower quality
“entry level” softeners found at many of the big box stores can last
only a few years (sometimes you can identify these by their shortened
1 to 2 year warranty). It’s always important to select a good quality
softener control valve when choosing a softener.

Brine tank and components: The brine tank and brine tank internal
components should also be of good quality. Typically a brine tank
should be round rather then rectangular, and should include a salt
platform (grid). The round tank and grid help to prevent “salt
bridging”. Salt Bridging is when salt pellets solidify together after
repeated regenerations, and create a “bridge” over the volume of
water that is placed back into the tank by the valve/control. This can
lead to insufficient brining. If a rectangular brine tank must be used
(for instance in the case of a cabinet style softener or due to floor
space limitations), then always be sure that it contains a brine tank
grid.

Be sure that the brine tank also contains a good quality safety float
check. If the valve that controls the brine tank refill were to fail, it’s
important that the system contains a secondary (back-up) float check
valve that will prevent water from overflowing out of the brine tank.
Most better quality softeners also have a tertiary gravity overflow
fitting, so that in the event that both primary and secondary valves
fail, water can be directed through this fitting to a sump pump or drain
location if available.

Resin Tank: Be sure that the system you purchase has a commercial
quality resin tank. These tanks are available from a number of
manufacturers (Structural/Park, GE, and others), and can typically
carry a 10 year residential warranty.
Water quality:

a) Chlorine concentration – Although most high quality cation
exchange resins used in water softeners are resistant to chlorine or
chloramine attack, they are not impervious. If your water softener is
exposed to higher levels of chlorine or chloramines, then it is possible
to see a shortened water softener resin bed life. This can sometimes
be a factor when you are connected to municipal water supplies.
Normal chlorine/chloramine concentration found in city water does not
effect water softener resin significantly. However, during times when
there is a disruption to the normal water distribution system
(hurricane, flood, pipeline break, etc.), the level of chlorine may need
to be increased to assure proper disinfection. Also, some
municipalities need to inject elevated levels of chlorine because the
water source contains a higher amount of bacteria, or the integrity of
the distribution system is in question. Higher levels of chlorine can
cause premature resin bed failure, and it may be necessary to replace
the water softener bed with new resin periodically. This said, water
softener resin will normally last throughout the life of the softener, and
is not normally replaced.

b) Iron and manganese concentration – Municipal water supplies
typically have very low levels of iron and/or manganese present.
However, on-site wells can contain these materials. When present as
particulate ferric (also called “red water” iron), it can accumulate in a
water softener’s resin bed. If these contaminants remain within the
bed, and build up over time, then resin bed failure can occur, and it is
important to set a frequent regeneration & backwashing to wash this
particulate to drain. The frequency of regeneration required varies
depending on iron & manganese concentration, but can be as much as
every day to 7 days in frequency.

It is also typical to have 5 to 10 micron pre-filtration, to remove any
particulate iron and manganese from your water before it can reach
the water softener. You can also consider using a commercially
available blend of phosphoric acid (available under the brand names of
Res-Up and Pro-Res) that is automatically added via. a drip feeder
installed on the inside of your brine tank. Phosphoric acid aids in
cleaning the bed of accumulated iron and manganese during the
automatic regeneration process. This material is only used during the
regeneration process, and does not enter your household water
supply.
c) Dirt and sand – Like the iron and manganese particulate discussed
above, organic sediment (dirt) and sand can be contained in your
water, and a pre-filter is normally used upstream of the softener to
protect the bed. Larger sand can be removed using a sand specific
filter (like a Spin-Down or SandMaster centrifugal filter), and smaller
sediment is removed using an automatic backwashing filter system or
inline cartridge filter.

d) Iron & sulfur bacteria – Iron and sulfur bacteria live on the outside
of an iron or sulfur particle, and are “slimy”. This material can stick to
water softener resin and ultimately lead to fouling of the bed. While
this bacteria is not a health hazard, if present you need to first remove
it from your water if planning to install any backwashing water
treatment equipment (like a filter or water softener). Chlorine
injection is the preferred method to resolve this problem, but be sure
to install a carbon filter to remove any injected chlorine, protecting a
water softener installed downstream.

There are many other factors that can determine water softener
performance and service life, but the ones discussed here are the
common ones that need to be considered when purchasing a softener.

Filed Under: Water softener

Iron and Ion exchange / Do I need an Iron Filter?

July 3, 2007 By dennis Leave a Comment

I have been using a cation exchange water softener for iron removal. The private well water only has 15 ppm iron, mostly clear water iron. I understand that ion exchange is not supposed to work with this high level of iron, but it has been for me. The house has mostly low usage and I regenerate appox. every 3 days on this 40K grain softener. This winter the unit froze during a power outage and I need to replace it. I am trying to avoid an expensive Iron filter (need PH correction also) but concerned that a new ion exchange softener will not work. What is your opinion? I also need to drain the system, as it is a vacation home and not used very often in the winter.

Answer: A water softener can remove this level of iron, but only within certain constraints. First, the iron should be present in ferrous (dissolved) form. You indicate that this is the case in your application, so you should be fine. Any ferric (particulate/un-dissolved) iron should be removed first with a cartridge filter or automatic backwashing sediment pre-filter.

You also want to make sure that your water softener is set to regenerate on a frequent basis, no more then every 2 to 3 days. This will ensure that your resin bed is frequently cleaned & backwashed.

Additionally, your softener should be equipped with a fine mesh resin. Fine mesh cation exchange resin has more surface area than standard resins, and is better able to remove higher levels of iron. You might want to use a additive like Res-Up solution (also available as Pro-Res) to keep your softener bed free from accumulated iron deposits. We offer an Iron Eliminator package that includes the fine mesh resin, and adds a drip feeder to the brine tank that gravity drips Res-Up solution into the salt. With this feeder, Res-Up slowly drips into the salt solution, and is drawn into the softener during the regeneration process. A case of Res-Up solution (4 one gallon containers) is also available on our site. You will use about a 12 fluid ounces per month (0.4 oz/day), and a case quantity will last you approximately 3 years.

One note, be cautious when neutralizing your pH – your iron may be kept in solution as ferrous iron due to the low pH. Correcting your pH to neutral values may result in some of the iron falling out of solution a ferric iron. This material would need to be removed using a sediment filter before the water softener (as mentioned above). Let us know if you have any questions, and thanks!

Filed Under: Water softener, pH neutralizers & Filters

Water Hardness/Oil-Water Seperator

July 1, 2007 By mct101 Leave a Comment

Hi there,Would water hardness effect the efficiency/operation of a coalescing plate oil-water separator. Any light shed on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Jeremy

Answer: Although we are not very familiar with this product, we placed a quick call to a manufacturer of these separators that we worked with in the past. They indicate that you would have to have a very significant build-up of scale due to hardness to cause any effect at all. Small deposition of scale on the plates would not have any effect, only a large deposition causing blockage of the water flow path would effect performance. It seems unlikely.

Filed Under: Water softener