Help! Rainsoft no longer working! :(

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I have a rainsoft Q2 that was previously working and now it's not. I've read pretty much every rainsoft thread and tried all suggestions.

I believe that in my case, the motor is broken. After resetting the rainsoft, removing power and battery for 10 min, I power back up and then put in all the settings. Everything seemed good, so I hit the start cycle button and nothing happens. I noticed that it seems like the cycle is trying to start, I can hear the motor try to turn but the motor isn't working. Lifting up the cover of the motor, there is a lot of debris that looks like metal shavings.

What to do?! I'd like to fix this myself and not have to buy a new system.

Thanks for the help.

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It sounds like your piston is frozen and/or a sheared pin.
Either way, it can be repaired.

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Great news!

How would I go about repairing this?

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harrorainsoft wrote:

Great news!

How would I go about repairing this?

If you could get the parts and the piston tool it could be a do it yourself fix.
Unfortunately, the Q is obsolete and parts are hard to find.
Do you have a local RainSoft dealer?

What part of the country are you located in?

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Yes, I believe there is a local dealer about 15 miles or so away from me.

Would they have the tool and the parts that I need?

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harrorainsoft wrote:

Yes, I believe there is a local dealer about 15 miles or so away from me.

Would they have the tool and the parts that I need?

They should have what you need, but they are instructed by the factory not to repair any brass control valve.
They are supposed to offer you a valve upgrade - do not accept this offer.
Press them to repair your valve.

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Ok, sounds like a plan. I'll give it a shot!

Thanks a lot for your help. I'll post and update on what happens.

Thanks again!

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My pleasure Cool

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H2O_MAN to the rescue!! I'm lovin' it even though I don't have a water softener.

I'm imagining a blue costume (blue for water) with maybe water droplets (?) on the chest, or maybe just a big "H2O" in white letters.
And a white cape.

and boots and a mask

oh yeah, definitely a mask.
Cool

oooh, and a big ..... wrench.... in his hand.

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happycat wrote:

H2O_MAN to the rescue!! I'm lovin' it even though I don't have a water softener.

I'm imagining a blue costume (blue for water) with maybe water droplets (?) on the chest, or maybe just a big "H2O" in white letters.
And a white cape.

and boots and a mask

oh yeah, definitely a mask.

oooh, and a big ..... wrench.... in his hand.

LOL

you are pretty close ....

http://www.athenswater.com/images/H2OMAN_HERO.jpg

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whoooooeeee! :wink:

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...............
So the service guy came over, no charge. But, he didn't do anything because he didn't know anything. The company is a new rainsoft distributor and the employees are just getting familiar with the products.

That was 1 week ago. They said they would reply after getting in touch with someone more experienced and give me a quote, but that didn't happen. So, I'm just sitting here waiting. I will be e-mailing him today to get some answers.

sigh....

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I don't have a blue cape or anything like that, but i do have the parts you need. I too have a Q2 valve and knew Rainsoft went to the PLASTIC valve head. I did not realize they were instructed not to repair the old brass head. I imagine a few service tech are making a nice side wage scrapping these SOLID BRASS heads. That is insane. I have had service calls on these units (not the q valve, the standard brass head) that the couple bought in 1964 and claim that I was the first major service they had (bad timer). I will never part with my unit. If the Q board eventually goes out, I have a spare mechanical head ready to go.

If it is indeed a froze piston, I have both the piston as well as the o-rings needed to rebuild it. Feel free to email me for details. I don't really service anymore, but maybe it is time to start again - LOL. we can work something out.

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cspurg wrote:

I don't really service anymore, but maybe it is time to start again - LOL. we can work something out.

pm sent ~

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So, the repair guy replied, "When I talked to the top tech for rainsoft he seemed confident we could trouble shoot the problem and sounded like we just needed a part to fix." He said that for him to come and take a look it would cost $70. I asked what the charge was for and he said "for response fee and troubleshooting". I really do not want to pay just for some troubleshooting.

By the way, I live in the San Francisco, CA region.

Any advice?

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In 2007, $70 is a very fair price, a bargain actually, to have anyone show up to do service at your house.

You can't expect anyone to come out to your house in a vehicle stocked with parts and all the tools they need and to donate their time and knowledge AND pay to get there and then back, for nothing.

That costs them a fair amount of money if you think about it. Insurance, wear'n tear on the vehicle, the time it takes on'n on. There's worker's comp etc. if they have employees. If they are self employed, they pay both the employer and employee parts of Soc. Security; or most of both parts. They must have commercial auto insurance on the vehicle. Etc. etc.. If you were them, would you do it for nothing? If not, would you do it only at your cost or cost plus some income (profit after taxes)? In the cost, would you include the cost of a replacement vehicle a few years into the future?

Make sure that the next softener you buy does not a have a proprietary control valve on it that you can't get parts for from at least a few local and/or online dealers and that it is easily fixed by you in a short period of time without having to take time off work for someone to show up to fix it for you. You might want to look at one with a Clack WS-1 control valve on it.

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I wonder who would win in a fight between Gary Slusser and H2OMan?

I would love to see such a battle between these two water softener behemoths.

A cage match, preferably. Can you imagine these two guys going at it? Wow!

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Quote:

In 2007, $70 is a very fair price, a bargain actually, to have anyone show up to do service at your house.

You can't expect anyone to come out to your house in a vehicle stocked with parts and all the tools they need and to donate their time and knowledge AND pay to get there and then back, for nothing.

True, and I wouldn't mind if I actually got something out of it. If you look at one of my earlier posts, this guy came out and looked at it, didn't know what was wrong, and didn't do anything at all. But that was no charge.

Quote:

That costs them a fair amount of money if you think about it. Insurance, wear'n tear on the vehicle, the time it takes on'n on. There's worker's comp etc. if they have employees. If they are self employed, they pay both the employer and employee parts of Soc. Security; or most of both parts. They must have commercial auto insurance on the vehicle. Etc. etc.. If you were them, would you do it for nothing? If not, would you do it only at your cost or cost plus some income (profit after taxes)? In the cost, would you include the cost of a replacement vehicle a few years into the future?

All service providers I have dealt with only charge AFTER repair is completed (A/C and alarm system). Some did include a troubleshooting fee (A/C broke last year), but the charge was only about $20+tax. But, they actually knew what was broken, how to fix it, and how much it would cost to fix. The repair man for the water softener doesn't. If he said, "Brass valve broken, so... repair, parts, labor, and troubleshooting... $300". Fine. But, I'm in a position where he's coming back to take another look and charging me $70 to probably tell me nothing and do nothing. I'm not made of money and definitely not going to give it away for nothing.

This guy works for a company and is not self-employed. It's a pretty large company. They are setting up an entire filtration system for a very large corporation in the area, so he was telling me.

And this water softener came with the house when we purchased it.

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gustavratzenhofer wrote:

I wonder who would win in a fight between Gary Slusser and H2OMan?

I would love to see such a battle between these two water softener behemoths.

A cage match, preferably. Can you imagine these two guys going at it? Wow!

Sell it as a Pay-per-View event, donate a % to charity, use a % to bury Mary ~ you and I can split the rest Cool

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Harro, I didn't realize it was the same tech but, I take what you said that someone has told him what to look for now. If you don't go with that dealer, there probably isn't another in your area. So you're locked into him or nothing. Then replacing the control valve with another brand or the entire softener is the only choice other than to do without a softener.

Replacing just the control valve can be done but, by the time you're done you'll have 2/3 to 3/4 the price of a new softener bought online. Either way I suggest looking at a Clack WS-1.

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Help! Rainsoft no longer working! :(

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