Rainsoft Silver Series - Missing backwash drain ?

It sounds like your clock motor is dead and I would need to see
a clear picture or two to attempt an answer concerning the leak.

Do you have a local RainSoft dealer that you can count on for service?

I already confirmed the death timer motor. Have it disassembled. P/N. 17493. Found it at: http://www.softenerparts.com for $ 49.95, and am ordering now.

With regards to the picture, I don't know how to publish it on this post. Looking through the parts on the Fleck valves, I found out the hose connection in question could be the dlfc drain. If so, from the name I would suppose it should go to the drain. Now why would it not have been connected in the first place ? Does it flush out water only during the backwash cycle ?

If you need the pictures, please let me know how I could send them to you or contact me privately.

Thanks in advance.

The following link should show all relevant pictures.

Detailed Pictures of Unit.

Note: The Last picture gives the best idea on the missing pipe.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

It looks like your drain line has blown off

Slip it back on and secure it with a clamp.

The missing drain line it the opaque line laying across the open salt tank.

I've never heard of a drain line being blown off its fitting. That is hard to do unless there is a blockage in the line somewhere that allows pressure to build up in the drain line.

The missing drain line is the opaque line laying across the open salt tank.

I've never heard of a drain line being blown off its fitting. That is hard to do unless there is a blockage in the line somewhere that allows pressure to build up in the drain line.


_________________
Gary Slusser
21 yrs in water treatment and well pumps, 12 yrs on the 'net helping people help themselves.

Yeah, check the full length of your drain line and make sure it is free flowing with a trapped air brake.


_________________
My H2O quality improvement career began in 1988 and I have provided free consulting online since 1993.

WHAT CAN H2O MAN DO FOR YOU?

Well from your response I understand that a pipe to the drain should be attached to that fitting.

The pipe has not blown off !! it was never installed!!

Note: I used that gray pipe in the background on the last picture to get the water into the salt tank. As I said. Nothing was ever attached there. I did not know this drain was there until I saw the water pouring out from there. The only line connected to my drain is the salt tank overflow.

I will run a new pipe to the drain (which works fine as I tested it).

The additional conclusion of this would be that the system has never done a Backwash cycle? Or when exactly would water come out through this drain ?

Finally, when I get everything back together (drain line, new clock, Clean salt tank with fresh salt) how would I best go about to restart the system?

Thanks in advance.

There are also some items missing from the controls... you may want to
consider replacing that RainSoft valve with a new 2510SE from Fleck.
You can use your existing yoke, bypass, salt tank and riser pipe.

Thanks for the comment. Fortunately I do have all the missing parts from the controls. I am just waiting for the timer motor to arrive to put everything back together. Don't expect that a replacement of the valve will be necessary, but it is good to know that there is this option.

Coming back to the Startup procedure. Any specific suggestions are appreciated. I think cleaning the resin bed will be one of the steps to repeat, as the system has been without salt most likely for the last 4-6 Months.

Understood.

The resin should be fine and 100% after the first full regeneration.

You should put the control in the first backwash cycle position and then turn on your water to fill the resin tank with water. Then when the tank is full of water, step the control into the brining position and check for no air bubbles going to the valve through the brine line; yours is black and you can't see air bubbles, so make sure it sucks salt water out of the salt tank visibly. Then step into the next position etc. back to service. If it doesn't suck salt water, that means the brine line fittings are sucking air, tighten them until it sucks salt water.

Then do two manual regenerations at the max salt dose for the volume of resin in the softener at 15lbs per cuft of resin. That is the only way to completely regenerate it to full capacity.

Thanks to all [H2O Man, Gary Slusser], for your comments and advice.

I was able to put the system back together, with the new timer motor and start it up successfully. The first cycle [as described by Gary] took quite long. Aproximatly 90 minutes or so, and the system was dumping a lot of water down the drain. For clarity following the procedure I followed:

1. Filled Salt into salt tank
2. Added about 5 Gallon of water to salt tank
3. Opened bypass valves so that all water would go through Softener.
4. Powered up system at the reset position. As per manual this will initiate a full Backwash and Regen cycle at power up.
5. Indeed the system started to run water through the drain line (the one that was not connected initially).
6. After some time I noticed that the water in the salt tank was rising as well. This means that the system was diverting water into the salt tank (I think this is the correct behavior), and water was still flowing from the drain line (maybe less intense then on step 5 and 6)
7. After some more time, the water level in the salt tank started to fall. The system was sucking salt water out of the tank. Water was also still flowing out the drain line.(maybe less intense then on step 5 and 6)
8. As the salt tank got empty, I still could hear the system trying to suck more water out of the salt tank. (maybe less intense then on step 5 and 6)
9. The cycle ended. Water in the drain line stopped to flow.
10. Checking the salt tank, I could not see any water left there. This is a tricky statement, as I use block salt together with salt pebbles, so it is difficult to see to the bottom of the tank, but certainly at the beginning (with 5 Gallons) I could clearly see the water level, which lets me to conclude that now it is empty or almost empty.

I have been checking on the timer, and it is moving correctly. The system seems to be performing normally.

As always I will appreciate your comment / confirmation that the system looks normal at this point.

Thanks in advance ..