Category Archives: Shipping

Logix Manuals on Backorder

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It appears that the service manuals for all of our Autotrol LOGIX controlled softeners/auto-filters were out of stock. We were not informed of this until now (2 weeks later). So to everyone that ordered a LOGIX controlled system; your service manuals are on the way.

These manuals are normally very well stocked, but even the manufacturer can run out from time to time. After all, I’m certain they do not print these publications themselves, rather they have a printing company do it. While it is rare that any of the water treatment systems listed on this web site ever run out of stock, it can happen. We are normally notified of the shortage and pass that information on to you via your email address. In this case, because the manufacturer also includes a quick reference sheet for setup, they correctly assumed that the customer would be able to get up and running without the entire 84 page manual. We have informed them that if there is an outage of service manuals in the future, they should let us know.

Even though there were no complaints or phone calls from customers informing us of the missing manuals, we sincerely hope there were no difficulties or delays caused by this temporary shortage.

Your Secure Online Purchase

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The subject of online payment does not pertain to water treatment, but it does have much to do with this web site and our business. There have been numerous comments about our current credit card processing service, Paypal. If we assume that no comment at all indicates satisfaction, then the vast majority of customers are happy with this service, but there are a few that run into problems. These are not security problems at all. We have found that Paypal provides the most secure online purchasing system available, which is why Water Value Company has been using them since early 2003. But there are a couple of common issues that a few customers run into and we can address that here to help prevent frustration or mistakes.

The first and most common issue people have with Paypal is their annoying insistence that you create an account with them. If you do not have an account with Paypal, you can still purchase online without setting one up. When you select “Checkout” on our site, your browser is directed to the secure Paypal server. This secure page prompts the user to sign in to their Paypal account or set an account up. If you already have a Paypal account, your browser might fill in the Username (which is your email address) automatically on the form. Important: If you do not want to use your Paypal account to make an online purchase, you must manually remove your email address from this form, or Paypal’s server will continue to try and get you to sign in. This annoying little problem has caused many people to give up. Remember, if you simply remove your email address from that form and click on “Continue”, you’ll be able to make your purchase without having to use your Paypal account.

If you do not have a Paypal account, this form will not contain your email address and you can proceed without any trouble by clicking on the “Continue” link on the left side of the form.

Another problem that people with Paypal accounts run into while making a purchase without signing in is their registered credit card. If you have a Paypal account and you have registered a credit card with them, you will be unable to use that card unless you sign into your Paypal account. This can be very frustrating indeed and we really wish they would not have this requirement, but they do. In that case, you can either sign into your account or give up and call our special phone order line at 616-897-0352. Please avoid using a cell phone when calling this secure line. Cell phones are not secure and they are prone to cutting out at the worst times during a transaction conversation.

If you do find that you need to phone in your order, please note that we will require the following information. The product(s) and quantity you are ordering along with part number and description. The part number and description will be on the same page you would use to order online. We will also need to know where to send your order. We will need your shipping address which can be different from your billing address. Your billing address is where your credit card statement is sent to. It can be a post office box or alternate location. Your shipping address cannot be a post office box number. UPS Ground will not deliver to a post office box number without considerable delay. We will also need your credit card information which includes your name – as it appears on the card – and address, credit card brand (VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American Express), expiration date of the card and the security code. The security code is a 3-digit number on the back of the card next to where your signature goes. If it is an American Express, it will be a 4-digit number on the front of the card. We will also need your phone number for shipping purposes. Your phone number is given to UPS Ground in case they run into delivery difficulties or delay.

Water Value Company does not keep your credit card information as a rule. Please do not ask us to. We will also discard your phone number. What we do keep is your name and delivery address along with your email address and what you purchased. We do not share or sell your email address. We use your email address to send shipment tracking numbers to you.

Finally, Paypal unintentionally makes it difficult to change your delivery address. If you want your purchase shipped to a location other than your billing address, you will need to click on a small “radio button” on the left side of the checkout form. It will then open up a second form for your delivery address on the same page. While this requires some fancy programming on Paypal’s part and it looks “cool” and all that, it confuses some straightforward people who are simply trying to make an online purchase.

Again, the vast majority of our customers do not run into any problems with Paypal, but if you do encounter problems like the ones listed here, it can become very frustrating and we here at Water Value understand that. But the experiences we’ve had with other credit card online payment providers, along with Paypal’s second-to-none security, keeps us coming back to them.

Clack WS-1

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There were several very good questions asked last week. Here are a few that should interest everybody.

Question: need to know of a store in the Edmond, OK. area that i can go into and see your Clack WS1 water softener.
thanks

Answer: This may seem like a complicated answer, but when you keep in mind that the Clack WS-1 is a Professional Grade piece of equipment and they are not available in retail stores, it starts to make sense. See, we’re really not even supposed to be using the name Clack to describe these water treatment systems. Yes, they are made by Clack Corp. and they are without a doubt the finest, highest quality water softener/auto-filter controller out there, but they have been, and always will be, designed for the water treatment professional. Clack allows us to market their equipment but under our name only. While these systems are arguably the most popular controller available, you will not find them in the local hardware store; at least not under the name Clack. Note: Now that this has been posted, the pressure is on to come up with our own name for these systems. Look here to see what we come up with.

Question: I have an Autotrol 255 with logic controller. It is a relatively new unit. It regenerates every 3 days. The salt is set at 14 minutes. The total regeneration time is 30 minutes. The problem is that it is not softening the water at all. When I observed the regeneration process I noticed that the Brine draw stage of the process only last for less than 30 secs.(For this 30 secs. it does start to draw up the Brine) It then moves onto the next stage of the regeneration. It is literally using no salt. What is the cause of this? Is there some setting wrong that I can change. Any help would be very much appreciated appreciated.

Answer: The Autotrol Logix controller is very versatile and can be used to control automatic backwashing filter systems as well as water softeners. The 760 Logix controller can mistakenly be set to Filter control mode. Automatic filters do not require a brine cycle, so chances are your softener’s media bed is not getting the brine water needed to exchange hardness ions and regenerate properly. See the Logix service manual for details on how to program the Logix controller.

Question: I need a PURA L-20 #20 UV Replacement Lamp, how long would it take to get to La Quinta CA?

Answer: We are constantly striving to answer common questions and this one is quite common. The best answer to this question is right here on the Water Value blog.

Question: Where are your r o water filters (Aqua Classic or Aqua Elite) made? And where are the filter elements made? As you know water filters are very much a health issue. Thank you for your response.

Answer: This is a very popular question of late, and for good reason. Over the years, Water Value Company has been contacted by countless overseas manufacturers wanting us to distribute their product(s). Because Water Value Company honors the manufacturer’s warranties – and for some other obvious reasons – we will not sell or distribute overseas products. One of the jobs in this office is to browse the World Wide Web and check out the competition’s web sites, sales strategy and products. When comparing prices, one thing that stands out are the systems (Reverse osmosis, softeners, UV filters, etc.) that seem priced at a level that’s too good to be true. That’s because it is too good to be true. We are not allowed to provide links or examples here, but if you find a water treatment system or device online with a highly attractive price, be sure to find out where all of its components are manufactured before buying. We do not have anything online that is not US or Canadian made with one exception: The HM Digital TDS-4 meter. Those are made in Korea.

Question: I have a Model 5600 water softener.  I’ve been using water softener pellets since it was installed but occasionally have problems with what I call salt bridging in the brine tank — the pellets fuse into one big solid, hard mass.  I break the mass up with a broom handle, drain the hot water tank, and things get back to normal for a while.  I had the same problem with my old water softener.  Question:  Can I use rock salt or brine block salt instead to prevent this problem?

Answer: Yes, a salt block would prevent this salt bridging. Actually, the pellet-style salt is the best and if your brine tank has a salt grid in it to help prevent salt bridging, then it is best to stick with those pellets, but a salt block will work just fine. I have heard from someone in Ecuador that the rock salt is more popular there. Something about the heat and humidity that causes the pellets to fuse together too easily.

Water Treatment Questions & Answers

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The following are quotes from our Contact form with answers to real questions. All personal information has been omitted and some spelling and grammar mistakes were corrected.

Question: Do you ship to Canada?  Ontario specifically?  I have tried and tried to source a system like your 56MR400 or a 70MR400 locally but despite living in a “hard water” area, choices are few and “wholesale” is non-existent.
I appreciate your feedback

Answer: There certainly are water treatment dealerships in Ontario. Their prices are higher than ours because of the import duty applied to US made products when they cross the border. Also, local “hands on” water treatment has more of a cost over-head but it’s usually worth it. Your system is installed and set up for you and if there are any problems, all you need to do is call the dealer. If you are handy and can install and setup one of our systems, then you’ll be very happy with our service, but be sure to add the cost of the import fee to the cost of your order. And yes, we are now shipping to most parts of Canada.

Question – Regarding the size of the by-pass valve tube connectors. The diameter of the pvc pipe connecting the component parts of our water system (from bladder tank to inline filter and house)is 1 9/32″. Should I be ordering the 1 1/4″ connectors? Thank you

Answer: Choose the tube connector that is equal to or larger than your water pipes. It is better to end up with a larger connector than a smaller one. If you choose a smaller one, then you could possibly restrict the flow of your water system. And it’s important to keep in mind that with most of our water softener/filter systems, the connector is either brass/copper sweat or standard pipe thread. In either case, you will be required to obtain some sort of fitting/adapter from a plumbing supply store to complete the connection. The manufacturers of the equipment we carry provide a wide range of tube connectors, but with rare exceptions, you will need an adapter.

Question: I’m building a new home (7 months out) before I need a system. We have very hard water here. I was going to go with a Water Softener unit. Will the FLECK carbon system remove or reduce the hard water deposits a well as a water softener(salt) system. Also if so do I need to install a pre filter for a whole house system? Since it’s a carbon based system I don’t have to consider a RO unit, Right?

Answer: A whole-house carbon filter is a great idea. It enhances even well water and improves the taste, but it does not remove the contaminants that a reverse osmosis system will, and it certainly will not do anything to remove hardness. A carbon filter system is best used to remove chlorine and reduce fluoride. Chlorine is great for keeping municipal water supplies free of bacteria and algae, but it makes water taste bad. The activated carbon media will greatly improve the taste of the water. A reverse osmosis system will remove all contaminants and usually requires a softener as pre-treatment to remove hardness.

Question: I have a customer who bought 2 Fleck 5600 tanks instead of a dual 9000 unit and wants me to connect them together, parallel should work I think, any suggestions?

Answer: No, two softeners in parallel will not work like a Fleck model 9000, but they will work. The Fleck 9000 automatically alternates between its two media tanks so that one is always in use and available while the other is in standby mode. One media tank can be regenerated while the other is in use. With a two softener parallel system, you are using both softeners at the same time. If they were to both backwash at the same time, you would be out of treated water. The Fleck 5600 is designed to schedule its regeneration at 2am. You would need to offset the time on one of them to prevent this from happening.

Question:  Any recomendations for a well water system with 5 family members?  Will the Clack system work?  Regardless of which system I purchase, can I get replacement parts from you?

Answer: The Clack system will certainly work, but you would first need to know how much hardness is in your water before you can properly size the system. Once you know your water’s hardness content, the number of people using water in the home and iron content (if any), then you can use our softener sizing chart to determine the size you’ll need. Beyond that, check for flow rates. The Fleck 5600 has lower flow rates than the Clack WS-1. If you need higher flow rates, go with the Clack. Because the Clack systems are relatively new (to us), we do not have repair parts listed for them at this time. Rest assured that we fully support any product we have listed on the web site.

Question: Info: Autotrol 55-MR-320
-Total height I will need to install/maintain unit (understairs) of my home
-there is a toilet right behind the wall, can I just drain the brine line into the tank or toilet?
-also if I have to go up high and over a hallway to drain the brine line, I need to go up ten feet or so.  Is there enough pressure to do that?

Answer: All of the dimensions for all of our softener/filter systems are listed right next to the item. There are also plenty of links to the owner’s manual, specifications and for most products, installation instructions. Please be sure to read those. They do not recommend draining the system to a toilet. The drain line (not the brine line) is under pressure. The pressure comes from your water system. Only you can determine your water pressure. While is is always more desirable to run a drain line down, in certain cases these drain lines can actually run up hill, but 10 feet sounds like quite a run, so it would be best to try and find some other solution first.

Question: Fleck, Clack, Autotrol: how do I pick which brand?  And are they all made in the USA?  I don’t want any made in China products in my house.  Finally, who honors the five/ten year warrentees?  How do you get a hold of the right people?

Answer: None of our products are made in China. Some components may be manufactured in Canada, but everything else is made in the US. These products – Fleck, Clack and Autotrol – are professional grade and the absolute best you can buy. There is nothing better. To help you choose which one of these brands, go to our “What’s The Best Water Softener” section. Warranty is simple, we support the manufacturer’s warranty. You can go through Water Value Company if you have a problem, or the manufacturer. An important point to make here is that this equipment is designed for the water treatment professional and quite simply does not break down. We have been contacted for what were perceived as warranty issues, but after evaluation – either by return or troubleshooting – were not found to be manufacturing defects.

Examples of perceived warranty issues include, a leak that developed due to impact with an automobile mirror frame. Sorry, that’s not a defect. Another interesting issue involved a radically low pH feed water problem. After about 2 years, a Fleck 5600 was returned because of a leaking piston. The pH level of the supply water was well below the specifications for that controller. Fleck covered the piston and seal kit replacement anyway, but the customer was warned that unless he treated the water for low pH, the controller would probably start leaking in another 2 years. Finally, no Autotrol warranty issues have occurred since the introduction of the Logix controllers. The older 460i models did tend to burn out in electrical storms (which is actually not a defect, but it was covered anyway).

Fleck, Clack, Autotrol, Microline, Nimbus, HM Digital, GE Water & Process Technologies, Structural and Nelsen Corp. all maintain very solid warranties against defects. When you purchase from us, you can rest assured that there is no better equipment available.

Shipping To Canada?

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This is by far the most often asked question this past weekend. Now that the Canadian dollar is equal to or stronger than the US dollar, it makes more and more sense for Canadians to purchase from US web sites.

It should be noted here that the manufacturers of our water treatment products are all based in the US. This means that any Canadian water treatment dealers will also be enjoying the better pricing now available to them and if you are in Canada, you should probably contact them first for updated pricing before ordering from the states. When water treatment equipment is sent from here to Canada, there is a duty fee charged at the border which you will be responsible for. This fee is based on the value of the product(s). Depending on what you order, it can amount to hundreds of dollars. If your local Canadian water treatment dealer is charging hundreds of dollars more than us, this is probably why.

In order to accurately quote shipping to Canada, we will need to know what product(s) you are considering and your postal code. Many of our water treatment systems ship in multiple boxes with varying dimensions which UPS will need to know. Also, the shipping distance makes a big difference so your postal code is important. Simply contact us with your request and we can usually have an answer to you inside of a day.

“How Long Will It Take To Get My Order?”

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A frequently asked question if there ever was one. The best answer we can give is “as little time as possible”. That is our goal. Most orders ship within 24 hours. Some larger equipment orders may take an hour or two to test and assemble. If that is the case and your order is placed in the afternoon or even after hours, your equipment will probably not ship until the following business day.

Water Value Co. also handles orders for those hard to find replacement parts for water treatment controllers, tanks and internals along with a selection of media. The parts of a control valve for example, are not a very popular item and we may or may not have them in stock. A good example would be drive gears for a Fleck 5600 control valve. While we do try to maintain an inventory of those parts, sometimes they need to be ordered from Fleck which generally takes up to two weeks (or 10 business days) to arrive. Then they need to be shipped out to you. So as a trade off for the availability of these often non-popular components, you might have to wait a little while to get them. Pieces and parts that we know are not normally in stock will display a statement when you click to order them as to their backorder status.

But any of the components or systems that we display on the web site are normally maintained in stock. At this time we have two shipping locations available for our equipment. The closest shipping location to your zip code is the location we will ship from. For example, our two shipping locations are Phoenix, Arizona and Norton, Ohio. Should you place your order from Chicago, Illinois, your equipment will ship from Ohio. Should you place your order from Los Angeles, California, your order will ship from Arizona.Shipping UPS from Arizona
Because two pick-up times for the Ohio location are scheduled, you can expect a simple order to ship after 3:00PM EST the following business day. Simple orders include reverse osmosis systems, boxes of filter or softener media, certain tanks, UV filters and filter cartridges. Anything that is already packaged by the manufacturer can usually ship immediately. Systems such as water softeners, conditioners and automatic filters will take a bit longer to assemble, setup and package.

Control valves on water softeners and automatic backwashing filters require pre-configuration. The proper injector and drain controls must be installed based on the size of the media tank it will be mounted on. Tank jackets require measuring, cutting and installation along with packaging. These are the types of activities that might slow down the processing and shipping of an order.

The GE Merlin reverse osmosis system comes from GE pre-packaged in a box that does not contain a supply valve. We add the supply valve before the RO ships out, so a brief delay occurs when the box is opened and the valve is added. The box is then resealed and a sticker is placed to indicate that the valve is inside. That’s not much of a delay, but when you add up all of the GE Merlin’s that go out of the shipping docks in one day… You get the picture.Shipping UPS from Ohio

So what happens when an order is placed over the weekend or a holiday? On weekends and holidays, the OEMs are closed and so too are our offices. However, we do assign someone to monitor e-mail messages and orders from their home over the weekend and holidays. If enough orders come in, or large orders are placed, those will often times be processed over the weekend or holiday. We never really shut down. That way the OEMs can have the orders compiled and waiting for them when they return on Monday morning or the day after a holiday and we are not buried in order processing either.

It does not matter if your order is for a $1.25 o-ring or $5,500 worth of softening and filtering equipment. All orders are processed accurately and with speed of shipment in mind. Our years of experience in this business ensures that your order placement makes it from our door to yours accurately and in as little time as possible.

After your order ships, you will receive a tracking number sent to the email address that you entered when you used our secure checkout form. This tracking number can be used to view your package(s) progress as it makes its way to your door. While the UPS web site will not normally associate a time of day with your delivery, you can at least know the day that your shipment will arrive. Because this tracking number is sent via e-mail, it may sometimes be considered junk mail or “spam” by some e-mail servers, so be sure and check your “spam mail” before calling us for a tracking number. If you do need to call us for your tracking number, be sure and have your 6-digit Water Value order number handy so that we may look you up right away. While we can locate order information by way of name and date, the order number system is much faster.

Updates

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It appears that it has been quite a while since this was last updated, so I’ll list some of the things that have been going on.

Busy? You bet! We are still updating the filter section of the web site and I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but the filter cartridge sales have more than doubled in the last couple of weeks. It could very well have to do with the new lower prices too.

Water Value is now adding an extra component to all of the water softener and automatic backwashing filter systems we carry. This item is called an upper distributor basket and comes in handy when high water flow rates are in effect and when the water flow is connected backwards (which happens now and then). There is no extra cost for this added value to our systems.

Requests for shipping quotes to Alaska and Hawaii have increased quite a bit as well. When requesting shipping rates to AK or HI, be sure to allow us up to one full day to get back with you. Water Value does not mark up shipping costs so an accurate “to the penny” quote from UPS is required by us. Your order items will need to be measured and weighed for each item.

There was a technical problem with the Dealer Listings subscription section. It seems our shopping cart software was adding a shipping fee to the basic subscription. That error has been corrected, so if you know of a local water equipment dealer that would benefit from listing on our site, be sure and let them know.

Updating Filtration Section

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Currently we are updating the filter cartridge section of our web site. We are attempting to include digital photos of every cartridge we carry so that there are fewer unknowns for people attempting to purchase these types of water filtration. While the look of the filter section might change, the filters and prices will not, so if you do not see what you are looking for, please feel free to contact us with your specific requirements.

It sure was a busy week last week! We had more multiple and quantity sales than I can remember in recent history. Don’t forget, if you are ordering 3 or more systems such as water softeners, automatic filters, chlorinators, UV filters and such, be sure to contact us for a written quote. Often times we can save you even more money over the posted price.

Last week, a customer contacted us about the status of his order. Apparently, he ordered a case of chlorine pellets and UPS sent them to the wrong address. He placed this order nearly a month ago. If you order anything from our web site and there is no “special order” statement on the order detail page, you should receive your product within 5 business days. If you do not, please contact us with your Water Value order number, and we can easily track it down. If there is a circumstance beyond your control involved with the delay of your order, Water Value will make it right immediately as we did with the above mentioned chlorine pellets. UPS made the mistake and all of our shipments are insured, so we’ll get our pellets back. In the mean time, we want to make sure you get your order in a timely manner, so do not wait a month to check with us. We will ship out a replacement right away. Fortunately, this type of thing does not happen very often with UPS.

FedEx Shipments

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We have had a few incidents with FedEx Home shipping recently and we are probably going to cease to use their service. What was exciting about FedEx was the fact that we could count on Saturday deliveries and they were also a full day faster getting product to our farthest destinations such as Florida and Texas. But this last incident and the damage to product as a result of it, are unacceptable.

It is perfectly understandable for a delivery driver have a bad day or even some bad luck. And during the Christmas season, with huge increases in shipping volume, damage from seasonal package handlers can be overlooked to a point, but inconsistent shipping charges and rough package handling on a more or less regular basis is not understandable. So while a decision has not been officially made as yet, we will most likely be using UPS Ground and USPS only beginning tomorrow. We will continue using R&L Carriers for our larger and multiple systems.