Which Is Better; Fleck or Autotrol?

While this is a very often asked question, the answer is obvious. If we at WaterValue.com felt that one of these brands was better than the other, then we wouldn’t bother with selling the lesser brand.

With that out of the way, this seems like a good opportunity to compare these two fine brands of water treatment equipment controllers. As you will see, we will do this without being able to declare a clear winner.

The Fleck brand of control valves include the models 2510, 5600, 7000 and 9000 to name a few. Fleck actually produces several other models of residential and commercial style control valves but the listed models are the ones we carry on the web site. The main commonality between these models of controllers are the pistons. The Autotrol (GE Osmonics or GE Water And Process Technologies) control valves include the models 255 and 268 (Performa). These control valves do not use pistons. Instead, individual “flapper” valves are used which are controlled by a lobed cam.

A water softener or automatic backwashing filter control valve must maintain the media in its tank by washing it, backwashing it, brining it and settling it. These various actions are all achieved by the channeling of water flow by the control valve. A brining cycle will require the control valve to channel the water in such a way that it draws liquid (brine, potassium permanganate) into the media bed by way of inertial cavitation through the use of water pressure and flow. This water’s flow is directed by channels in the control valve which, in the case of the Fleck brand of controllers, are opened and closed by the movement of a slotted piston through a series of water channeling ducts. These ducts control flow, direction of flow, rate of flow and orifice. For example, if an auto-filter cycle requires draining, the drain line flow control will be made accessible to the water by way of the water channel and that channel will be initiated by the position of the piston.

For the Autotrol control valve, each water channel has its own “flapper” valve which opens or closes based on the position of a rotating cam. These flapper valves are considered self-cleaning meaning that any hard water debris that may adhere to the flapper valve surface will be dislodged and washed away the next time it is opened by the cam.

The above are the main differences in the two brands of water treatment equipment control valves that we carry. The media tanks, brine tanks and internals are generally the same no matter which brand of system you order. The 2310 safety overflow float and brine valve assembly inside of the brine tank on a softener is manufactured by Fleck but works perfectly fine on Autotrol controlled brine tanks. The Turbulator which is used for high iron conditions inside of a softener are made by Autotrol, but also work perfectly inside of a Fleck system. We will use the best and finest components available to us to provide you with the highest quality water conditioner you can buy.

Knowing the basic differences in the two brands of control valves probably does not help you to choose the best one for you. Both companies have a very long and successful track record as well. Some of the extraneous features of the control valves may well help you to decide.

Both brands make a mechanical version of their controllers. This style of valve is quite basic. It uses a mechanical meter to keep track of your water usage and, based on settings you or your installer set into the timer mechanism, regenerates or backwashes at the proper time to refresh the media bed of your auto-filter or softener ensuring that you do not run out of treated water. The mechanical control valves are usually a bit less expensive because they do not require a microprocessor or display and control interface.

Both brands also offer an electronic interface for their control valves. In the case of the Fleck brand, the electronic versions are referred to as SE or Simplified Electronics. This is an excellent electronic control interface which can measure your water usage through a magnetic/electronic meter system and again, based on settings provided by you or your installer, schedule regeneration or backwashing to maintain the media in your conditioner.

The Autotrol brand of electronic control interface is called the Logix. The Logix controller is easy to program and use. It provides the same type of simple 3-button control as the Fleck SE models but uses an LCD display instead of an LED display. The Autotrol Logix controller also allows the end user to set up custom cycle durations as does the Fleck 7000.

Speaking of the Fleck 7000, it is specifically designed to provide higher flow rates for more demanding residential and light commercial applications. While the Autotrol Performa controller is a higher flow rate valve, it does not allow for as much flow as the 7000.

There you have it. Those are the main differences between the two brands of water treatment controllers. Which do you think is best? We think they both are, that’s why we support them both.