Monthly Archives: September 2007

Mixed Water Softener Media

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Mixed water treatment media in automatic filters is a common practice. Most mixed media beds can solve multiple water issues such as turbidity, sediment and iron removal. The Terminator series of iron removal systems we carry make use of a mixed media bed to filter out oxidized iron and can even balance low pH.

Water softener resin can also be mixed. The standard cation water softener resin beads are designed to remove hardness, but there are also anion resin beads that can remove tannins (rotted vegetation particles) from your water. The cation hardness media and the anion tannin media work together quite well. But mixing filter media with ion exchange media does not work out so well.

It is not as common of a practice lately, but not so long ago, there were water treatment dealers adding activated carbon to their ion exchange softener media. The reasons they would do this include removing chlorine for “city water” softeners, improving the taste of the water and also to claim that their “specialty media blend” justifies a higher asking price for the system as a whole. This mixed media truly does improve the water’s quality a great deal – at first.

The problem with mixing activated carbon with softener media is that it will quit working in a very short time. For example, softener media often lasts 10 years or more before it begins to lose efficiency, whereas activated carbon generally speaking, is good for about 2 years. A whole-house auto-backwashing carbon filter system which is sized properly for a family of four in a 1.5 cu/ft tank, treating 2.0ppm (Parts Per Million) of chlorine will be effective for around 2 years. If you were to put 1.5 cu/ft of carbon media into a water softener along with the water softener media, you would need a very large tank. Because the larger tanks require more flow rate to backwash properly, the softener media nor the carbon media will be properly backwashed. That is why most of these multi-media systems include a very small amount of activated carbon media. If 1.5 cu/ft of activated carbon would have lasted about 2 years for you, you can just imagine how long 20% of that would last. So the water treatment company ends up changing out the media every 6 to 12 months at great expense to the homeowner.

There are also some other problems with adding carbon to softeners. The softener media beads are very small and smooth. Hardness ions adhere to these beads and are released when regenerated with a brine solution (salt saturated water). Activated carbon media is coarse and hard. It will abrade the softener media beads over time, pitting them and making it very difficult for the brine solution to release the calcium from the beads.

Most of us have probably seen pictures of the softener systems out there with chambers inside the media tank which divide the carbon media from the softener media. This is a good idea and will allow for both the carbon and softener media to have a longer effective lifespan. But there is a problem with this method as well. While both media are physically separated, they are both subject to the same regeneration process. They are both exposed to the brine water during regeneration. The brine – while rinsed away at the end of the regeneration cycle – adheres quite well to the carbon media particles making them much less effective.

The best way to treat your water for hardness and chlorine is to use two different systems. While this is initially more expensive, it saves you money in the long run, not to mention that both the softener and carbon media will be much more effective and longer lasting.

Replacing Your Water Softener/Filter Control Valve

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Most water softener and auto-backwashing filter systems are quite simple; they are comprised of a tank which holds the resin or filter media that your water passes through. The resin or media works its “magic” and your water comes out treated.

But softener resin eventually becomes saturated with hardness, so too does filter media with whatever it is designed to remove. These media require backwashing to remove trapped contaminants. Greensand filters and softeners also require regeneration. It is the control valve that performs this backwash and/or regeneration. The control valve determines the time of which day to perform this media maintenance and also channels water during different cycles to achieve a fresh media bed. In the case of a water softener, it also draws up saturated salt water (brine) which is then sent into the media tank to release the hardness ions from the resin beads. The softener control valve then replaces the spent brine water by sending the correct amount back into the brine tank. Softener control valves can also be metered (on demand) so that they only perform their regeneration when needed.

As you can tell, the filter/softener control valve is the most complicated part of a water treatment appliance, and once in a while, they break down due to friction or simply age. While most control valves are of average quality and can be repaired only so many times before becoming too expensive to keep in service, the professional grade control valves we have at Water Value Co. are designed to last indefinitely. If a part wears out on a Fleck, Autotrol or Clack valve, it’s a simple matter to replace that part.

Common control valves on the other hand may not be worth repairing in the long run. If you find that your softener’s control valve needs a repair kit every couple of years, you might want to consider a professional grade controller. In that case, you can pick one up from our Softener Parts section for about the price of having your old one repaired a couple of times. But there are some things to consider before doing so.

First of all, you will need to know what size tank to configure your control valve for. The manufacturer needs to know what size tank this control valve will be working with. You will also need to know if the replacement control valve will work with your tank and equipment. All of the control valves we carry for residential water treatment use standard 2.5 inch bases which screw on to the top of the tank. The treads are 8 count meaning 8 threads per inch (pretty big threads!).

The base of the control valve also has a hole in the center of it to receive the distributor tube. The distributor tube runs up and down the center of the media tank. With one exception, our control valves are configured for the industry standard 1.05-inch distributor – sometimes referred to as 1-inch or 1.050-inch. If you have a 13/16-inch diameter distributor tube, you will require a reducer adapter. Autotrol control valves have this adapter available. Fleck control valves are currently using a PVC bushing glued onto the distributor tube.

The hole in the base of the Fleck model 7000 control valve is by default 32mm which is much larger than the standard 1.05-inch distributor. If you are upgrading your control valve from another model to the 7000, you will need to specify this. That way we can include their 1.05-inch reducing adapter.

Another item to consider is the water’s flow direction on your old system. All of these control valves have the water inlet on the right-hand back side as you face the front of them. Some control valves may have their water inlet on the opposite side, so some re-plumbing may be in order.

Finally, there are some nationally known companies out there that are using non-standard threads on their tanks and valves. They are squared off threads where the industry standard threads are more tapered. These tapered threads will not work on a tank with squared threads.

Regeneration and Backwash Time Of Day

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All of the brands of control valves for water softeners and automatic backwashing filters that we carry have a factory default setting for the time of day that the control valve will schedule a backwash or regeneration. That time of day is 2:00 AM. With the computer controlled electronic valves, the backwash/regenerate time of day is one of the first prompts you will run into when programming your valve. With the mechanical control valves such as the Fleck 2510 and 5600, it’s not so obvious.Fleck 5600 Control Valve.
Note the little red button on the front of the mechanical version of the Fleck 5600 control valve. Press that button in and hold it while you rotate the outer wheel – or gear – on the center front of the valve until the correct time of day appears in the notched window at the bottom of the dial. So once the correct time of day is set on this controller, when a backwash or regeneration is required, this valve will initiate it at 2:00 AM.

Sometimes it is convenient to have the control valve backwash/regenerate at a different time. During backwash/regeneration, treated water is unavailable. So if you are taking a bath or shower while the controller is doing its thing, you will be filling the hot water heater’s tank with untreated water. For some water treatment applications, this could cause scale buildup inside the water heater. So if you regularly wash laundry or bathe between 2:00 and 3:30 AM, you might want to consider changing the time of backwash/regeneration.

As stated above, changing the backwash/regeneration time on the electronic control valves is pretty easy. Simply go into setup mode (accessing setup mode is covered in your service manual) and adjust the backwash/regeneration time. But the mechanical control valves do not have a programmable display, so you must adjust the time of day instead. For example: if you would rather that your control valve backwash/regenerate at 11:00 PM, you have to tell it that the time of day is 3 hours earlier than it truly is. “Seriously? Is that how it’s done?” Yes. If you’re reading this at 5:00 PM and you want your softener/auto-filter to backwash at 11:00 PM, you would set the time of day – as explained above – to 2:00 PM.

For the most part, you will not need to adjust the factory default’s 2:00 AM setting, but if you work 2nd or 3rd shift, 2:00 AM might not be convenient for you and you may want to change the backwash/regeneration time. Also, if you have both a softener and an auto-backwashing filter, or even two auto filters, you will want to offset the backwash/regeneration time on one of them so that they are not both flushing water at the same time, which might overwhelm your drain system. Keep in mind that these controllers do not schedule backwash/regeneration every day of the week, so the odds of two different control valves scheduling the event for the same day are marginal, but it’s common practice to play it safe.

“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.

Fleck Pentair Parts Price Increases

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Effective next week and in the coming months, prices on Fleck/Pentair prices are going up. This means that if you are looking at a Fleck water softener system, now would be a good time to buy it.

Some of the prices will not be increasing until the end of the year, but the parts, components and accessories we carry will be going up very soon, possibly by next week. One item that comes to mind is the Fleck 5600, 2510 and 9000 timer/drive motor. Due to a few years production of a plastic geared version of this motor 10 years back, this has been a very hot seller for us. At the time of this writing, these motors are priced at $48 with free shipping, but it looks as though they will be going up in price to near $55. Now is the time to get one of those if you’ve been thinking about refreshing your softener or auto-filter control valve.Fleck timer/drive motor.

As a result of these price increases, there may be some replacement/repair parts listed on our web site for the past several years that we will not be supplying anymore. These parts will most likely be small timer mechanism springs, gears and such. The more popular brine tank components, mineral tank internals and the control valve repair kits will always remain available.

Because Fleck – Pentair is the leader in this industry, there is no doubt their competitors (Autotrol, Clack) will be raising their prices as well. We’ll keep you informed here.

Automatic Backwashing Filter Gravel Bed Replacement

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Automatic backwashing filter systems require a gravel base so that water may more readily flow through the tank, riser and media bed. In a down flow auto-filter system, the incoming water is fed in through the control valve and down through the tank passing through the media on its way to the bottom of the tank. Tank diameters pretty much determine the flow rate of your water through this course media bed. The larger the diameter of the tank, the easier the water will flow.
Typical automatic backwashing filter system.
It is very important to realize that the increased flow rate of a filter system will not increase your water system’s flow rate. For example, if your residential flow rate is at 5 gallons-per-minute (GPM), purchasing and installing an automatic filter system with a flow rate of 5.5 GPM will not increase your flow rate to 5.5. It will remain at 5.0 GPM. Also, if your water comes from your own private well, the flow rate of your water is not equal to the flow rate of your well pump. You need to find your flow rate at the point after the well pressure/holding tank that the auto-filter system will connect to, or a high flow faucet such as an outdoor spigot.

Replacing worn out media in your automatic filter is not terribly complicated, but you will also need to replace the gravel bed. We currently provide two amounts of filter bed gravel for purchase. One is 16 pounds which will accommodate 10 to 12 inch diameter tanks. The other quantity is 50 pounds which is for larger filters. The basic idea here is to cover the bottom of the riser tube – the basket part – with this washed gravel to aide in the water’s flow through the media tank. Distributor baskets.

Another consideration is the backwashing flow rate requirement of the particular auto-filter you are using. If your water flow rate is 5.0, be sure your filter system does not require 6.0 or larger as your auto-filter will not backwash properly. Backwashing flow rate requirements tend to be less than the auto-filter’s maximum flow rate for the smaller 1.0 cu/ft to 2.0 cu/ft., but once you get up into the larger 13, 14 and 16 inch diameter filter tanks, the backwashing flow rate requirement becomes larger than the filter system maximum flow rate. If your water system is capable of flow rates around 9.5  GPM and you choose an auto-filter capable of that amount of flow (14×65 tank), your backwash flow rate requirement will be 12 GPM which is more than your water system is capable of. Your filter media will not backwash properly. So in order to properly backwash a greensand filter system for example which has a maximum flow rate of 9.5 GPM, your water system must be capable of 12 GPM in order to provide proper backwashing.

An Autotrol 263 Performa automatic backwashing carbon filter with 4 cu/ft of filter media in an 18×65 tank will require a 20 GPM backwashing flow rate. If your water system is capable of this type of flow rate, then this size filter system will work very well for you, but it will drop your overall flow rate down to 15 GPM.