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Mon 8 Jun, 2009 07:50 pm
I've got a GE (GXSF39E) water softener that is about 7yrs old. In the past 6 months, I had to replace the controller (digital), and motor due to corrosion. (I was unaware that in a single tank model, you shouldn't use red out salt.) Now, seemingly out of the blue, the brine tank fills with water even when there is no regeneration going.
The system will cycle through, fill, brine, backwash and rinse - as it's supposed to. But...the next day, there will be 2-3 feet of water in the brine tank again even though it had emptied the brine tank during the brine phase the night before.
Any ideas on what I should look at? Would this be the venturi (yes, I have cleaned it), or a controller issue? Any advice is appreciated!
-eric
@Bho,
Check out the animations troubleshooting at;
www.kenmorewater.com
Been through that, didn't tell me anything....
Thanks for the reply tho!
@Bho,
Hey Gary - I drained the brine tank and vacuumed out the salt and pulled the drain tube too - looks like there is a leak elsewhere - after 2hrs I have half an inch of water in the brine well again. I'm guessing it is probably the resin bed since I can't hear or see any water running anywhere. Think I'm going to have to scrap this thing.
@Bho,
RESIN!, resin is like sand in water, how can resin cause a water leak into the brine tank?
Maybe spend more time in the How it Works and Troubleshooting animations...
You have an internal control valve leak allowing water into the brine tank when it shouldn't be OR, your float valve on the brine pickup tube is leaking allowing water into the brine tank when it shouldn't.
@Bho,
Quote:Think I'm going to have to scrap this thing.
Check and see if a local plumbing supply house carries
North Star
@Gary Slusser,
Not the resin, the resin BED - and I just tore the whole thing out and confirmed my suspicion - big crack in the resin bed along the back side of it that couldn't be seen from the front.
The tube wasn't leaking at all - had that sitting in an empty bucket for 2 days, never a drop - cracked resin bed with a slow leak was the problem.
@Bho,
I think you mean that the resin tank is leaking. That is the tank the control valve is clamped onto and it sits in the salt tank. The control valve has the power cord you plug in. The resin is in the resin tank, the resin tank is in the salt tank. The salt tank is in your house or yard and is called a cabinet model softener.
Water must pass through the resin before exiting the cracked tank...
@Gary Slusser,
Yes sir, sorry for the mixup - the resin tank had a huge crack and was leaking. I always thought that was what they meant by the 'resin bed' - my mistake.
We're going without the softener for now to see how much we really miss it. Our last water test looked really good without it (< 25 on hardness and iron was trace at best). I have noticed my skin being a tad drier than it used to be but aside from that, everything seems good....
Thanks for the posts!
@Bho,
Bho wrote:
We're going without the softener for now to see how much we really miss it. Our last water test looked really good without it (< 25 on hardness and iron was trace at best). I have noticed my skin being a tad drier than it used to be but aside from that, everything seems good....
I predict that you and your family will want a fully functioning softener in less than 6 weeks
@Bho,
With 3-4 or more gpg of hardness, you need a water softener or you will be scaling up the water heater and elements reducing its recovery rate and increasing the cost to heat water. You will be washing clothes with hard water etc. etc. which is all hidden expenses that you can't see evidence of for years. So I suggest a new correctly sized softener with a Clack WS-1 control valve on it. Sizing depends on your peak demand flow rate based on family members, number of bathrooms and the type of fixtures in them. Of course you could buy that from me or anyone else and install it your self or hire a plumber to do it.
@Gary Slusser,
Quote:I suggest a new correctly sized softener with a Clack WS-1 control valve on it
Nice sales pitch
Bho, when you decide to install a new softener, do your self a huge favor and deal with a local company that sells, installs and services the system.
@H2O MAN,
I'm with you H20 MAN - I don't want another big box store special that nobody will touch - lesson learned there. I couldn't get anyone to even talk to me about servicing that stupid GE!
That said, so far, so good without it (knock on Formica). Wife and daughter don't mind not having the softener and we have a tank less water heater, so there's nothing to worry about there.
@Bho,
If you read the manual and/or the warranty papers on the tankless water heater, you should find they don't want hard water in their heater and it may void your warranty. They are much more prone to problems caused by hard water scaling than a tank type heater because it causes them problems quicker than a tank type.
@Gary Slusser,
Thanks Gary - I wasn't aware of that!
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