Sep
24
Replacing Your Water Softener/Filter Control Valve
September 24, 2007 |
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.
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