Fleck 9500 water softener issues

[Greg Pack]

Buckeye hydro here has a softener company and is nice enough to give us a little tech support, you may want to give him a chance to quote.

 

[mjwalsh]

Buckeye hydro here has a softener company and is nice enough to give us a little tech support, you may want to give him a chance to quote.

Since the 9000, 9100, and the 7000 Fleck valves are mentioned ... I am curious to know if the Clack valves run over $500 not including labor.

Last spring we finally solved that same problem of leaking into the brine tank continuously. We opted +$$$ to replace any part that could cause the problem on two Fleck softeners. So far so good but this thread has us thinking about the Clack .... if it happens again. Leaving it not corrected for too long caused us to spend hundreds of dollars on wasted salt pellets ... our bad!

 

[water guy]

U need to find another business.

 

[Detbjr]

Welcome to the unpleasant world of Fleck valve maintenance. Flecks work fine when they are new, but maintenance is like working on an engineering dinosaur.

Did you replace all three seals/spacer assemblies?
Did you replace all the pistons?
When you replaced the seals/spacers and pistons did you have the valve off the tank and have the stack oriented vertically?

Are you up for replacing that valve instead of struggling with the maintenance? We try to replace these when customer allow - there is a much better, American-made valve option available (Clack).

Russ

What does a clack that is equivalent to the 9500 run?

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Making assumptions about a bunch of variables, here's some comparative info with ballpark $.

The old Fleck 9500 is a 1.5" brass body, metered, twin valve. The cost of that valve and associated parts (not including tanks, media, etc) is about $3200.

An assembly of Clack parts (two brass 1.5" valves, a MAV, and a stainless meter) is about $2850. Lower costs are available if we substitute a composite, rather than brass valve body and meter.

Russ

 

[The Waterboy]

The plastic spacers are exactly the same dimensions as the brass spacers. The difference is the brass spacers are made for hot water applications. They do have the added advantage of not being susceptible to chlorine degradation like the plastic ones, but if not service regularly they will fuse to the inside of the brass valve body and turn your control valve into a paper weight. If you're leaking to drain during standby it's definitely caused by something in the upper bore. Either you didn't seat a seal/spacer correctly or there is some debris (probably from an old seal) still inside the bore on one of the valve seats. If you're leaking to brine tank, that's caused by a bad brine valve and has nothing to do with seals/spacers. I have been working with Fleck valves for many years and they don't bother me to work on, but Buckeye is right, Clack valves are much more reliable and cheaper to maintain. That being said, they still make all the Fleck parts, even for really old control valves. If you're not ready to upgrade to Clack, you just need to find a qualified Fleck tech (which won't be easy).

 

[Detbjr]

The plastic spacers are exactly the same dimensions as the brass spacers. The difference is the brass spacers are made for hot water applications. They do have the added advantage of not being susceptible to chlorine degradation like the plastic ones, but if not service regularly they will fuse to the inside of the brass valve body and turn your control valve into a paper weight. If you're leaking to drain during standby it's definitely caused by something in the upper bore. Either you didn't seat a seal/spacer correctly or there is some debris (probably from an old seal) still inside the bore on one of the valve seats. If you're leaking to brine tank, that's caused by a bad brine valve and has nothing to do with seals/spacers. I have been working with Fleck valves for many years and they don't bother me to work on, but Buckeye is right, Clack valves are much more reliable and cheaper to maintain. That being said, they still make all the Fleck parts, even for really old control valves. If you're not ready to upgrade to Clack, you just need to find a qualified Fleck tech (which won't be easy).

Thank you. One theory I am exploring is that the upper piston might not have the correct plunger length causing an incorrect position. I am hoping that might be it. A out of spec piston seems plausible since it’s hard to believe 2 valve bodies would be bad. One of them is essentially nos.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

The plastic spacers are exactly the same dimensions as the brass spacers. The difference is the brass spacers are made for hot water applications. They do have the added advantage of not being susceptible to chlorine degradation like the plastic ones, but if not service regularly they will fuse to the inside of the brass valve body and turn your control valve into a paper weight. If you're leaking to drain during standby it's definitely caused by something in the upper bore. Either you didn't seat a seal/spacer correctly or there is some debris (probably from an old seal) still inside the bore on one of the valve seats. If you're leaking to brine tank, that's caused by a bad brine valve and has nothing to do with seals/spacers. I have been working with Fleck valves for many years and they don't bother me to work on, but Buckeye is right, Clack valves are much more reliable and cheaper to maintain. That being said, they still make all the Fleck parts, even for really old control valves. If you're not ready to upgrade to Clack, you just need to find a qualified Fleck tech (which won't be easy).

As of about 3 weeks ago, Fleck sent out a message to their distributors identifying a large number of parts they will no longer be making. I can get more info/specifics on this if people are interested.

Russ

 

[water guy]

Does anyone have a stuffer tool they could lend or rent me?

Really

 

[The Waterboy]

Thank you. One theory I am exploring is that the upper piston might not have the correct plunger length causing an incorrect position. I am hoping that might be it. A out of spec piston seems plausible since it’s hard to believe 2 valve bodies would be bad. One of them is essentially nos.

If you have the right part number piston I would say it is highly unlikely that there is anything wrong with it (unless the teflon coating is damaged).

 

[Detbjr]

Finally I figured this riddle out!!! I was sold the wrong upper piston. The commercial 9500 has a shorter shaft than the residential model. Shout out to Clearwater in Clearlake Michigan for giving me this idea and I was able to troubleshoot it. About 8mm difference in shaft length made the difference. The 2 shafts are pictured below.

IT WORKS!!! Cue the 2001 theme song…

 

[The Waterboy]

Finally I figured this riddle out!!! I was sold the wrong upper piston. The commercial 9500 has a shorter shaft than the residential model. Shout out to Clearwater in Clearlake Michigan for giving me this idea and I was able to troubleshoot it. About 8mm difference in shaft length made the difference. The 2 shafts are pictured below.

IT WORKS!!! Cue the 2001 theme song…

View attachment 12837View attachment 12836

Which part numbers are you dealing with? The Fleck 9500 is an 1-1/2" control valve and does not have a residential model. You might have a 9000 or a 9100 which are both 1" models. If you do have a 9500 the part you need is 60108-02