mdwerne wrote:
H2OMan,
I'm going to try and go to a local dealer (the one who has already charged me a few hundred for a new motor and service call) and see if they will sell me
a few O-Rings. All brine lines seem at least finger tight. From the attached PDF, can you tell me which 2 and 3 O-Rings you suspect I should replace?
-Mike
Mike,
You want to replace 3 #72 on #8A and 2 #74B on #23A.
A special socket is needed to remove #6.
I hope that clears things up and thank you for the PDF
mdwerne wrote:Hi Gary,
To answer the only question I can, there is the same amount of water in the brine tank before and after a full cycle. Not sure how far up from the bottom the water level is. If I were to guess, 18". Salt is about an inch and a half below the water level.
Mike, if the softener were not sucking all the brine out of the tank during regeneration, the water level rises to overflow the brine tank onto the floor. Since the water is where it usually is, or at the same level, the unit is sucking all the water out it is supposed to (within the first 10-20 minutes of the brining position/cycle) and then adding it back as it is supposed to UNLESS it has pre brine refill meaning, it adds the water to the brine tank at the beginning of the regeneration rather than at the end of a regeneration.
At the end of a regenerations brine draw/brining cycle position, there should be only 3-4" of water in the bottom of the brine tank; but you have to watch the water go down until it stops.
Was it you I told to do two manual regenerations? Did you, and if so, is the water soft?
Very few people know how the brass RainSoft valve works and fewer have a clue how to keep them running.
When the O rings go bad on a RainSoft brass valve the Tri-guard eventually ceases to move water.
No water goes into or is drawn from the brine tank. The water level remains static.
You currently have a brine draw problem - assuming everything else is in good
working order you should be up and running after you replace the O rings.
OK, then I think his best and most effective solution money wise is to replace the softener with one using a Clack WS-1; he isn't going to get that special socket his Rainsoft valves needs to be able to replace the other o-ring. Since you say the others are bad, in my mind it probably is bad too.
Gary Slusser wrote:OK, then I think his best and most effective solution money wise is to replace the softener with one using a Clack WS-1;
Why fix an otherwise good valve when you can get ripped off buying a Crap WS-1... Brilliant!
Hi H2OMan,
Thanks for the clarification on the O-Rings. Your welcome on the PDF, thanks for looking at it! In fact, if you can use it, I'd be happy to scan and post the whole owners manual, not just the last page. Are the O-ring sizes, 1" and 3/8" from the manual, OD or ID? What the heck kind of material is Buna-N?? Will rubber, plastic O-rings work?
Hi Gary,
Yes I followed your procedure and added water, waited two hours, repeated. The water level stayed roughly the same (after adding respective gallons) with each completed cycle, maybe a bit higher. Yes the water was a bit softer after the second regen cycle. Nothing to write home about. Sorry for not passing this info along. As I age there are, sadly, fewer and fewer synapse going on under my hat.
Also, there is no pre-brine refill cycle.
Again, thanks to both!!
-Mike
mdwerne wrote:Hi H2OMan,
Thanks for the clarification on the O-Rings. Your welcome on the PDF, thanks for looking at it! In fact, if you can use it, I'd be happy to scan and post the whole owners manual, not just the last page.
That would be great Mike. Post a link here and I will save a copy to email out to folks.
mdwerne wrote:Are the O-ring sizes, 1" and 3/8" from the manual, OD or ID? What the heck kind of material is Buna-N?? Will rubber, plastic O-rings work?
Contact
RainSoft and request that information and see if they will send you the O rings... it's worth a shot.
Good luck.
H2OMan,
Here is the complete RainSoft Amazon Owners Manual. Hope someone you help finds it beneficial.
RainSoft Amazon Owners Manual
Thanks again for all the help!!
-Mike
mdwerne wrote:H2OMan,
Here is the complete RainSoft Amazon Owners Manual. Hope someone you help finds it beneficial.
RainSoft Amazon Owners Manual
Thanks again for all the help!!
-Mike
Maybe the mods can make it a sticky or something... I saved it for future use helping others.
Thanks again and let us know how things work out with your system.
-Kevin
He goes to all this trouble to get and then replace a number of o-rings BUT can't replace all of them because of needing that special socket.
Plus the control valve is no longer made. And it is a water and salt wasting day timer. A metered/demand regenerated control valve would save him up to half the water and salt that valve uses.
Gary Slusser wrote:bla bla bla
You are in way over your head here - go away.
H2OMan,
Well, I have acquired a new Brine Injector (with O-rings) and the three piston rings. The tech at the vendor suggested I use a crescent wrench to remove the piston as long as I'm careful to NOT over tighten it upon replacement.
My questions...
1) Is there a chance that just replacing the Brine Injector will fix my problem?
2) If I ONLY replace the Brine Injector, could I somehow re-damage it by not replacing the piston rings at the same time?
3) What do you think about the whole crescent wrench idea? I was thinking of a strap wrench because I was not sure how tight the piston is.
Gary,
Thank you for offering an alternative point of view on all this. I think it's important to know other options based on the experiences others have had. As we all know, not every job goes as planned and sometimes it takes different solutions to get the job resolved.
One thing I know for sure, if the replacement of these rings either goes badly or does not work, some drastic changes will be made regarding my "Water Softener". (rip) ;-)
Thanks again to all!!!
-Mike
mdwerne wrote:H2OMan,
Well, I have acquired a new Brine Injector (with O-rings) and the three piston rings. The tech at the vendor suggested I use a crescent wrench to remove the piston as long as I'm careful to NOT over tighten it upon replacement.
My questions...
1) Is there a chance that just replacing the Brine Injector will fix my problem?
2) If I ONLY replace the Brine Injector, could I somehow re-damage it by not replacing the piston rings at the same time?
3) What do you think about the whole crescent wrench idea? I was thinking of a strap wrench because I was not sure how tight the piston is.
-Mike
1) Replace the brine injector and the piston O rings.
2) No, but see #1
3) A strap wrench will not work. It is a thin plastic cap with little nubs.
I have read reports of people removing them by lightly tapping on
the nubs until it moves. You break a nub or two, but it can be done.
Use the same tapping method to re install the piston.
If your efforts are unsuccessful I can help you with a new valve.
Good luck
