18 year old water softener

[Destro]

When you own a home, you are always at the edge of something expensive.

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[Hoosier Carry]

Well, whadayaknowboutthat. I hit the recharge button, and nothing happens. It is scheduled to happen at midnight. I have replaced the plastic gear that the motor drove, then some time latter I had to replace the motor. Or maybe the other way around, it's been a few years. Circuit board is clean. Hmm.

You just had a lot of storms go through over there right? Maybe a surge took out the plug? Can you test to see if you are getting proper voltage at the board?

Just trying to weed out the small things first.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

We've got a Kenetico (on demand style) water softener that my parents had installed in the early 90s and it has never had anything done to it other than an o-ring being replaced about 5 years ago. Our water is very hard and I'm amazed and thankful that it has worked so well all these years.

I bought a Kinetico Model 60 in 1996. It has dual resin tanks and an impeller meter so it uses no electricity and recharges based on the actual gallons used. With the dual resin tanks, you can recharge any time, because it switches to the new tank and recharges the other one, with no interruption in soft water or pressure.

It quit softening a few years ago, so I bought a rebuild kit on Amazon. I also got new resin as well. After the rebuild and resin replacement, it still didn't work automatically, but I found that it manually recharges just fine. I don't know if I did something wrong with the rebuild, or if that was the reason it quit softening in the first place. I found that all I have to do is to do a manual recharge once a week or so and that works, since it's only my wife and I at home now. I've also found that it works best if I only put a couple of bags of salt in at a time. If I load it up with salt, then the salt accumulates in the stilling well where the float is and interferes. I read somewhere that they quit making the Model 60 since they were so simple and trouble free that they never needed any service.

 

[firecadet613]

Now you are scaring me with these short life predictions. I bought this house with a Kinetico softner 12 years ago. The man I bought it from said it came with the house when he bought the place. I have done nothing but add salt. My "new" water heater was installed in 2015, and did need a T&P valve replaced, but is still running. I am probably right at the edge of something expensive.

They don't make them like they used to, so chances are you're good to go for a while still.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Back in the day, all softeners and water heaters were "hard-plumbed" into the system, since they were expected to last 20+ years. I think it says something that now they're mostly connected with flexible "quick-connect" lines.

 

[Lost Californian]

In the 20 years in this house:

3 water heaters
2 ranges
4 washer/dryer combos (one fails, so replaced set)
3 refrigerators
1 main breaker panel (that was not fun!)
1 dishwasher
2 kitchen sinks (kids, I tell ya!)

And now it is looking like the 2nd water softener

I do not like being the landlord.

 

[Lost Californian]

You just had a lot of storms go through over there right? Maybe a surge took out the plug? Can you test to see if you are getting proper voltage at the board?

Just trying to weed out the small things first.

Power appears to be fine. LCD display lights up, clock is correct time, push the button and the tank light comes on. Stepped thru the programing just to make sure nothing got scrambled. I am capable of checking the input power.

 

[Hoosier Carry]

Power appears to be fine. LCD display lights up, clock is correct time, push the button and the tank light comes on. Stepped thru the programing just to make sure nothing got scrambled. I am capable of checking the input power.

The last easy step in my opinion is to unplug it for about 30 seconds and try to see if the electronics will reset. If not then at least you tried before doing parts or a new one.

Also, here is a generic explanation of the simple cleaning process of the venturi. We have very hard water and cleaning it once a year helps get the most out of the brine cleaning cycle.

Water Softener Maintenance | Morton Water Softeners

Breaking a salt bridge and cleaning the nozzle and venturi are common water softener maintenance. Find out more.

www.mortonwatersofteners.com

 

[Lost Californian]

OK, I pulled the power cord. Smoked a cigarette for a timer, then plugged it back in. Clock still had correct time, cycled thru the program, no other visible changes. Pressed the recharge button. Yikes! Oh, it is cycling now.

Dadblasted mystery electronical devices.

 

[dprimm]

At least you don't have to deal with one of these:
View attachment 351816
Allegedly it's supposed to last a lifetime, but we'll see. It should increase the life of my water heater and softener when I get to installing that.

What is that?

 

[ZurokSlayer7X9]

What is that?

An Iron Filter. I've got iron in my water. Bad. Also sulfur, arsenic, and manganese. It also has a layer of ozone that kills bacteria and stuff. That filter gets rid of all that, but they're pretty expensive and typically not worth it unless you got a lot of iron.

 

[dprimm]

An Iron Filter. I've got iron in my water. Bad. Also sulfur, arsenic, and manganese. It also has a layer of ozone that kills bacteria and stuff. That filter gets rid of all that, but they're pretty expensive and typically not worth it unless you got a lot of iron.

Thanks. We have iron but the iron out salt gets most of it. Glad we don’t need something else.