Need help with water problem

[wendy's wash]

Having problems with my one main water line. Owned wash for 37 years. Last year I had been having problems with the copper pipe coming out of the ground leaking through pin holes. Finally decided to replace the entire line from the meter all the way to the store room. Bold pipe Was in the ground. Got a quote from two plumbers. First plumber wanted to tear up my crossover drive run the pipe up the wall to the roof and set it on top of the roof and then bring it down to the store room roof. Did not like that idea. Second plumber would dig under the concrete crossover drive and bring the pipe up the wall and run the pipe attaching it to the steel beam all the way to the store room punch a hole in the brick and bring the water in. I like that idea as I wouldn't have a water leak from roof. Both plumbers were going to use heavy-duty 2 inch PVC type style pipe. Current pressure at my float tanks is 60 psi. Can't figure out why but when six customers are using the bays the water supply tank drains dry the two one-inch float valves can not fill them back up fast enough. Causing air to go down the line to the pumps and then we get pulsation. Saw both float valve balls all the way down but not putting out enough water. New backflow valve and water line, and new one inch BoB FVR400 valves, two of them Any suggestions on where to go from here.

 

[OurTown]

Restriction in the water softener maybe?

 

[KleanRide]

Restriction in the water softener maybe?

Just went through that at my wash. Pressure from the meter to the softener was good, but wash tank wouldn't refill fast enough. Had my softener rebuilt and recharged and problem solved. Resin and media were all compacted.

 

[Randy]

Just went through that at my wash. Pressure from the meter to the softener was good, but wash tank wouldn't refill fast enough. Had my softener rebuilt and recharged and problem solved. Resin and media were all compacted.

What did t cost you to have that done? or did you do it yourself? We don't have water softeners up here in God's country

 

[KleanRide]

Had to hire it out since I know nothing about water softeners. All done it was $3,200 to empty and clean out the resin and sand from the two tanks, empty and flush the salt tank, then reload and re-seat all tanks, dismantle and rebuild the head, and re-plumb back into the system. Took the guy a full day to get it done.

Wish I'd had time to get competitive bids but my wash was completely shut down without the softener, so it didn't make much sense trying to save a few bucks when I was losing a shitload every day.

 

[MEP001]

All done it was $3,200 to empty and clean out the resin and sand from the two tanks, empty and flush the salt tank, then reload and re-seat all tanks, dismantle and rebuild the head, and re-plumb back into the system. Took the guy a full day to get it done.

Call River City Water if you need more softener work done. They're very good and affordable. Or I would have helped you, it takes me about 5 hours to do a twin 120k system by myself. I'll bet you called Bob Johnson or Culligan for what you were charged, you probably could have replaced the softener for that price.

 

[Twodose]

Its fairly easy to do all that yourself, and a whole lot cheaper. I have done it more than a couple times, use ohiopurwater.com to buy the media and resin or any other parts you may need.

 

[MEP001]

Home - OhioPureWaterCo.com

www.ohiopurewater.com

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Wendys, there should be a bypass valve on your softener. Use it - bypass the softener & see if the problem goes away. If so, fwiw, I replaced my softener a couple years ago for less than $1500 diy. Granted its a smaller unit, but it is dual reciprocating and exceeds the capacity I need.

I also replaced my water main due to pinholes about 10 years ago (acidic soil and copper pipes dont play well together). After which my RO carbon prefilter "clogged up", sediment filter got dirty, etc... There shouldnt be any dirt problems caused by new pipe so I suppose it must have been something else, but it sure was coincidental timing.
There is also a mesh filter on the backflow preventer, perhaps that needs to be cleaned - that sure would restrict flow.

 

[Greg Pack]

If you have a back flow preventer in the equipment room you can put a pressure gauge on the test port to ensure you are getting adequate pressure from the service

 

[OurTown]

Home - OhioPureWaterCo.com

www.ohiopurewater.com

It looks like according to their website just the materials to rebed our twin resin tanks (24" by 72") would be over $3K. Does that sound right?

 

[KleanRide]

All advice duly noted, but like I said: time was not on my side. The softener quit on a Wednesday and my wash was dead. Didn't seem to make much sense shopping mail-order parts and DIY options to save $1,500 when I was about to lose $4k in weekend revenue. I went with the local guy that could get on it quickly and get it done right, which he did. Wash was back open Thursday night and we had a busy weekend. Plus now I know how to rebuild a softener. I'll call all that a win.

 

[MEP001]

It looks like according to their website just the materials to rebed our twin resin tanks (24" by 72") would be over $3K. Does that sound right?

No, but only because the last time I bought resin locally it was $55 per cubic foot. That would be around $1500 including the filter gravels.

 

[water guy]

Wow $55 a bag what kind and brand?

 

[OurTown]

Wow $55 a bag what kind and brand?

Are you surprised it's that expensive or that cheap?

 

[MEP001]

Are you surprised it's that expensive or that cheap?

Probably cheap. It's Watts brand A4000 resin.

 

[water guy]

Are you surprised it's that expensive or that. What percent and brands and how chlorine c

Probably cheap. It's Watts brand A4000 resin.

Thats Good

 

[mac]

Something is strange here. I've rebedded a fair number of softeners and never had one cost me over $500 for resin and gravel.Many of you also use soft water for the entire wash. That's just dumb. I use the soft water just for mixing chemicals and the RO. And I only use a single tank unit that has a metered head. That way it regenerates at night when the place is dead. And you will save literally save a ton of salt. And Wendy Wash, instead of cutting the concrete find a plumber who can drill a line under it. Will be cheaper and not disrupt traffic. Have been doing this for over 20 years and never an issue.

 

[MEP001]

If you need 100% soft water 100% of the time, you need a twin alternating softener. It does not use more salt than a single, in fact with a single you either need to let it run hard until it regenerates at 2 am or you have to regenerate short of its capacity and waste salt and water.

I suppose it's fine to soften only the water for chemicals and RO if your water quality is good enough, but most of us aren't that lucky.

 

[mac]

Well mep is off again on his theories. Look, softeners are sized by their capacities. You can get them from 10 gpm to whatever you want. A single tank does not use or waste salt compared to a twin tank. Period. In fact with a twin tank you HAVE to oversize it. That is because when a twin tank switches over to the other one it uses softened water to regen. It gets that from the tank in use. So if you need a 60 gpm flow, you need around a 80 gpm tank to supply the wash and regen the other tank. Twin tanks cost more and take up precious floor space. Don’t know what is so hard to figure about that. And the vast majorities of city water supplies do just fine for rinsing.