We recently put in a water softner.  Our water was tested and everything came out good with the exception of the Alkalinity, which is 0, causing us to now have dry skin.  How do you fix this problem?  Thanks for the help.

Answer:  Very odd analysis – unless you have a commercial water softener that is completely removing all hardness (not a residential design) it is very unlikely that your alkalinity is actually zero – low maybe – but not zero.  What is your pH level?  Dry skin may be due to a reduced pH.

Thank you for the response! I appreciate your advice! Before I order your suggested resin & gravel do you know where I can get a schematic for the kenetico model 30.  I’ve tried there web site but have been unable to locate or download any detailed drawings of the system.  Aside from the information you provided me earlier are there any other special considerations I should know about before disassembling & reassembling the water softener components? Thanks again for your advice.

Michael 

Answer:  Sorry, we don’t know where you might get one – and we don’t have one available – possibly try calling a kinetico dealer?

Hello, I’m requesting information on how I can fix my Kinetico model 30 twin tank water softener. Several months ago I bypassed it because I believe it became completely plugged/glugged from my sisters attempt to change the carbon/charcoal filters that we use in conjunction with the water softener to help remove the rotten egg odor of the water. We purchased this property with an existing well and pump house that from my building experience could have been designed and installed with better care and forethought.

Unfortunately the system has two filter cartridges installed before the water softener that accommodates both a sediment filter and charcoal filter for which I’ll be removing the charcoal filter and repositioning it after the water softener. My sister unfortunately installed two low quality point of use charcoal filters in both and they both broke down in a couple days from the volume of water that runs thru our system daily and deposited charcoal sediment in all the lines from the pump house to the house and it’s my belief that it also has overwhelmed the softeners ability to clean/purge hence rendering it inoperable. I would like to know how I can repair the water softener myself to get it working again. If you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated. If you have a service/repair manual that could be purchased that would be helpful as well. I see that you sell a lot of the materials required to repair water softeners. I’m very interested in purchasing the required materials if you have the ability to send them to me and inform me how install them.

Thank you for your time! Respectfully submitted, Michael

Answer: If your water softener’s resin bed is fouled, you should be easily able to replace the resin and return the softener to normal operation. The Kinetico model 30 contains two 15,000 grain (1/2 ft3) resin tanks, resin is available for $130.00 per ft3 on our site, and you will need 1/2 bag for each tank.  You’ll also need distributor gravel, around 10 pounds of gravel per tank.  Take a look at the post just below called “Loss of water pressure due to water softener filter”. This will give you an overview on how to replace the resin and gravel.  You can use a wet/dry shop vacuum to remove the spent resin, and the gravel goes on the bottom, with resin placed on the top of the gravel. Please note that the instructions below are not specific for your Kinetico system, but should be similar.  Just be cautious when performing this procedure to ensure that all water pressure is relieved from the system before you begin.

I have an ECO Water System 2000 that will not stop its regeneration process. I have unplugged the DC transformer for the unit, bypassed the unit and it continues to run the back wash cycle. I have a well system and the constant back wash cycle cause my well pump to continue to run. I have turned off the main water line from my well hoping that this would stop the cycle from the water softener it did sort of. I thought that if I left the main water valve off for a 1/2 hour or so that it would stop the water softeners process but it has not, every time I turn the main water back on the water softener start drawing water. Without main water I cannot flush toilet, take showers etc. Is there any way to stop the (Satan–the water softener) from drawing water?

Answer: Your softener seems to have failed during the regeneration process at a stage when water is running to drain.  This probably means the motor drive has failed, or another mechanism has become jammed, and the water softener will not advance back into service position. Normally, the way to stop water from running to drain in this situation is to simply by-pass the unit.  You mention that you already have done this, and it may be that your by-pass valve is also defective.  Make sure that you are by-passing the unit correctly.  If we recall properly, your unit uses a “slider” type by-pass, and with the slider pushed “IN” the unit is by-passed, and pulled “OUT” it would be in normal service.  If you have the unit plumbed in with three ball valves instead of a the Eco Water by-pass, be sure that both the inlet and outlet valves are fully closed, and the valve between these is in the open position.

If you have already done as described above, then the by-pass system is defective.  As this unit does not have any way for manual regeneration control, to put it back into service position, you would need to take it apart to gain access to the internal mechanism and force rotor/disc back into service position.  We are not familiar with the procedure to do this, and we would recommend that you consult an ECO Water dealer for instructions or assistance.  Doing this may stop the flow of water to drain, but do not reconnect the electrical supply, as you want to be sure that the unit does not again advance into regeneration, and cause the same problem to reoccur.

The only other way to reestablish the water supply to the house in the short-term is to turn off the water supply, and either repair/replace the by-pass system, or physically remove the water softener and re-plumb.  It may or may not be cost effective to repair the unit, and if you decide to purchase a new softener, you might take a look at some of the units we offer at our site on the metered water softener page.

I’m new here, please help.

I ran across this website when searching for helps with my water pressure problem. The problem was noted 2 days ago and confirmed yesterday with my 5.2 yrs old Advanced Water Products water softener system model 6700. Yesterday, I closed off the bypass valve on the system and found that the water pressure going back up. I called the company and they told me that the filter is clogged due to high chlorine water in our area, San Ramon CA, and should have the whole tank replaced. They will give me a discount and replace the whole tank (just the tank) for $700 + 10yrs warranty on parts & labor. $700 is a lot for us, but, what should I do? Is there a way to do-it-myself?

Thank you in advance for any helps, Steve

Answer: Steve, if you are reasonably familiar with basic plumbing techniques, this is an easy do-it-yourself job that only requires replacement of the resin.  First you need to determine how much resin you need.  Cation exchange resin is available from our site in 1 cubic foot bags for $130.00 delivered. Depending on the design of your softener, you may or may not have gravel located in the bottom of the tank to function as a distributor bed.  If your unit contains a turbulator, there will not be any gravel in the tank.  All other designs using standard risers will use gravel.  Gravel is available in 50 pound bags for $60.00 delivered. Although there are other resin tank sizes used in water softener applications, the common sizes are:

24,000 grain (7 or 8 inch dia x 44” height tank) = 3/4 ft3, 10 pounds gravel
32,000 grain (8 or 9 inch dia tank x 44” height) = 1.0 ft3, 12 pounds gravel
48,000 grain (10 inch dia x 54” height tank) = 1.5 ft3, 15 pounds gravel
64,000 grain (12 inch dia x 52” height tank) = 2.0 ft3, 20 pounds gravel

First remove any water pressure from the softener.  This is normally accomplished by manually placing the valve into backwash to relieve the water pressure after the softener has been by-passed (with the 6700 down-flow valve, after by-passing the water softener, just initiate an automatic regeneration – the first stage is backwash). Once the pressure has been removed, the valve can be removed.  Disconnect it from the by-pass valve or yoke by removing the two stainless clips securing this to the control.  Now the control can be unscrewed from the tank.  Once the control is removed, use a wet/dry shop vacuum to remove the spent resin and gravel from the tank.  Clean the tank well, and place the required amount of gravel (if necessary) in the bottom as outlined above, and the correct amount of resin on top of it.  DO NOT OVERFILL! There will be empty space in the tank after refilling with fresh media – this space is called “freeboard” and required for proper operation.  Reattach the control and by-pass, and slowly allow water to reenter the tank.  Once the tank is filled, again place the control into backwash, and allow it to go through a complete cycle.  When it returns to service position, you should again be “ready-to-go”.

I have a technetic 1000 water softener that has gone into programming mode by pressing two buttons on accident during normal programming. Now the unit doesn’t track water usage and I have to manually regenerate. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this brand softener and can help walk me through the program mode in order to put the unit back into normal operation. The clock display shows a split colon between the hours and minutes where before it went into this mode, the clock mode showed a normal colon between the hours and minutes.

Thanks, Steve.

Answer: The Technetic 1000 was discontinued years ago – we never sold this product, and may not be much help with this one – if we recall correctly, pressing the “Enter” and “Time Set” button simultaneously for 5 seconds gets you into a master programming mode.  This may allow you to reset the control, but you will then have to reprogram. The manufacturer of your control (Autotrol) joined with Pentair Corporation recently, and you might try to find a local dealer that is more familiar with these controls at http://www.pentairwaterdealer.com.