The Fleck 9000 Dual Tank Water Softener System

I cannot think of a single product out of the dozens that we sell that we have had a better experience with than the Fleck 9000 water conditioner. The application can be residential or heavy commercial and this system performs flawlessly no matter what the circumstance. If we could only sell one water softener, the Fleck 9000 would be the one.

A typical Fleck 9000 (sometimes referred to as K90) is used in the home. It is a twin tank system meaning there are two resin tanks instead of one. While it only allows water to flow through and be treated in one tank, the second is kept in reserve for when the first one needs regenerating. When the metered control valve determines the primary tank needs regeneration, it switches flow over to the secondary tank. The primary tank is then put through its regeneration cycles using treated water from the secondary tank, and held in standby mode until the secondary tank requires regeneration. A sweet and elegant way to handle water conditioning.

There are other manufacturers of twin tank water softeners. Autotrol makes one (sometimes referred to as duplex systems). It works just like the K90 except that it requires a complete control valve (less the electronics or timer) to reside on each of the two resin tanks. This drives the price up a bit too. While I can attest to the flawless operation of the Autotrol 255, Performa and Magnum series of control valves, I have yet to personally install or work on an Autotrol duplex system. So for the purposes of this article, we'll just stick with the Fleck 9000.

The Fleck 9000 comes in tank diameters ranging from 7 to 16 inches. That's quite a versatile range. The last one I installed was a 32,000 grain system. That's 32,000 grains of cation resin for each of the two tanks. We connect to 3/4" copper pipes with a stainless steel bypass valve. The cross-overs which span the distance between the two tanks, are not included with the Fleck 9000 system. They are two, one inch copper pipes that require sweat-soldering into the control valve yoke and secondary tank's head. It is a good idea to cut the cross-overs long enough to provide at least 3 or 4 inches between the two resin tanks. You can run the brine tubing and power chord between them that way if you need to.

After that, it's a simple matter of connecting the water pipes and turning on the water. Make sure there are no leaks and run it through a regeneration cycle. I have never had a K90 installation with problems.

You set the K90 up for your particular water treatment situation by adjusting simple dials. There is a hardness scale and a "People Dial". Simply align the number of people in your household with the number of grains of hardness per gallon in your water. It doesn't get any easier than that. The Fleck 9000 is also available in SE (Simplified Electronics) version. I have no personal experience with the SE version, but I'm told it operates nearly the same way. You need to calculate the amount of reserve gallons of treated water you want for each person in the household and enter that using the SE interface.

I have seen these systems operate in car washes, laundro-mats, churches and restaurants. I now support an electric power company on the East coast that uses a 1" metered Fleck 9000 for treating the water going into their turbines. They own two of these K90's and run one of them 24 hours, 7 days. This system is regenerating several times per day. After 4 years, the control valve needs rebuilding and the second valve is pulled off the shelf and put into service while the first one is refurbished with seals, spacers and pistons. They are the M1 Abrams tank of the water treatment industry!

If you ever find yourself wondering whether to buy a regular single-tank softener or invest a few hundred dollars more in a dual-tank system like the Fleck 9000, then you need to ask yourself this: "Is this the last water softener I want to buy"? If you answer yes, then the Fleck 9000 is the one for you.

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