Help with Fleck Softener Head not Counting

[slash007]

I have a twin tank Fleck system and the head on one tank counts down and then regenerates when it should, but on the other, the gallons stay put and it does not count down. I'm positive the softener company did something to cause it as the issue started right after their visit, but they claim to have not done anything and have no idea why it's not counting. They are telling me to purchase a new head. Anything I can look for or check? Here is what I have:

 

[water guy]

Why wouldn't you?

 

[Greg Pack]

If it has the old NXT electronics on it they have been obsoleted I think. The new NXT2 has different voltage in the controls I think.

Maybe buckeye hydro can comment

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Ugh... Fleck.

If you'd like us to do some digging on this give us a call. 513-312-2343

But geez... if a significant repair or replacement is necessary it would be an ideal time to replace it with a valve from this century (Clack)

 

[slash007]

Why wouldn't you?

Because it might be a simple repair.

 

[slash007]

Ugh... Fleck.

If you'd like us to do some digging on this give us a call. 513-312-2343

But geez... if a significant repair or replacement is necessary it would be an ideal time to replace it with a valve from this century (Clack)

Appreciate that, will let you know.

 

[2Biz]

I'll throw this out there Slash...Where I worked in manufacturing, they had the same size twin alternating Fleck 9000 that I have at my carwash....They had got Dayton Water to rebed both of the tanks a few years back...About a month later I was looking closely at the main valve and noticed they had forgot to put the metering cable back into the socket! Could it be this easy for yours? Does it even have a metering cable?

The softener at work fed the entire underground coolant system with soft water, guessing more than 100K gallon capacity. They had wondered why the chemistry was out of whack! But knowbody in maintenance knew the first thing about the softener....It would probably still be like that if I hadn't noticed..

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Thought about that... but that would affect both tanks, not just one.

 

[cantbreak80]

There are (2) RJ45 sockets on the NXT controller boards. Maybe the Cat5 cable connecting the controllers has been disconnected?
Or, the cable is broken and needs replacement?

 

[slash007]

I'll throw this out there Slash...Where I worked in manufacturing, they had the same size twin alternating Fleck 9000 that I have at my carwash....They had got Dayton Water to rebed both of the tanks a few years back...About a month later I was looking closely at the main valve and noticed they had forgot to put the metering cable back into the socket! Could it be this easy for yours? Does it even have a metering cable?

The softener at work fed the entire underground coolant system with soft water, guessing more than 100K gallon capacity. They had wondered why the chemistry was out of whack! But knowbody in maintenance knew the first thing about the softener....It would probably still be like that if I hadn't noticed..

Good thought, but it is plugged in. Also as Buckeye mentioned, it would affect both tanks. We think it's probably the meter cap, but have been dealing with the crazy weather this week and have not had time to mess with it.

 

[Greg Pack]

Why the meter cap? I thought the wire went to just one head?

Definately not a softener guy, so I'm just spitballing here. In the past I have fiddled with those things for various problems and got them working again. Make sure your system is still programmed correctly, and even try going through a programming sequence. Try swapping the meter cable to the other head. You could also in a pinch change to clock regenerate but as you know you are going to lose a lot of efficiency. I think I threw away my NXT control board but you might could find one on ebay cheap. I did have to rep[lace the guts on a flowmeter once.

I know about three years ago when I had a problem with a 2900 NXT head I made the call to update to the Nxt2. Between updating the electronics to the new voltages and rebuilding the head (and the possibility of a future problem with a 15 year old head), I just opted for a new one. Jim at Buckeye recommended clack as well as a couple of other guys I have talked to.

 

[slash007]

Quick update. Using a magnet I was able to verify that metering cable and head were fine. I then took the coupling apart and found a broken o-ring stuck in the impeller. I took it out and impeller now moves. Have not tested yet, but I assume that will fix my metering issue. I still think that it's not making soft water, but now if it counts down, I can test and prove at what capacity I'm testing.

 

[2Biz]

You probably depleted the tank that it was stuck on....Try manually switching tanks...

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

in other words, run a manual regen

 

[slash007]

What I meant is the tank with the issue was offline when I fixed it. The good tank is online and still has lots of soft gallons left. I'm just waiting for the good tank to deplete, then it will switch to the tank I just fixed. At that point I can see if the tank I fixed is actually counting down. I would have done a manual regen to force it to the fixed tank, but online tank still had 8k gallons left, so didn't want to waste the salt.

What I had been doing the past month is watching the tanks and when the non-counting tank went online, I would let it run for a couple days then do a manual regen to switch back to the tank that counts. That way I don't end up using hard water without knowing it since meter was not counting down.

Issue I am talking about is that the tank not counting down has been showing hard water every time I test it. Last week I caught it right when it went online. Tested and water was hard. Waited for a few cars and tested, still hard. Tested again after an hour, still hard. I do believe the messed something up with the resin when they rebed this tank. Issue is that since it was not counting down, it was hard to prove since head always showed max gallons left. Not that it should count, I can say that "it's only used 100 gallons and the water is hard" and they can't say well you probably ran it too long and the soft water was used up. Hope this all makes sense.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Is the water level in the brine tank normal/typical? Or is it high/overflowing?
Is the system using salt (do you see the salt level go down with normal use)? If not - have you checked for a salt bridge?

Do you see a constant flow to drain while the softener is in service?
What is the condition of the brine pick up @ the bottom of the brine well?

 

[slash007]

Yes to all of those. Remember, tank #2 works great and has soft water. Only issue with hard water is tank #1. Story is that both tanks were rebed. Tank #1 had a leak, so we purchased a new tank. Softener company had just rebed, so they took resin from old tank they had just rebed and put it into the new tank. Something there didnt' work out I'm guessing and we are not getting soft water from only that tank.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

But isn't it the case the tank 1 was not regenerating?

 

[slash007]

But isn't it the case the tank 1 was not regenerating?

It wasn't auto regenerating since it wasn't counting down, but I have been doing a manual regen a couple days after it goes online.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

This is getting down in the weeds pretty good. Give us a call if you'd like