How to fix a Water Softener
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2020
- This video is a short introduction to how water softeners work, how to troubleshoot and repair common problems, and how to disassemble and fix a Culligan Medallion water softener that was not working. Basic disassembly and diagnostics are shown.
This is an amateur presentation, offered in good faith for free, but with no guarantees as to safety or accuracy. Never rely on a single source for any important information. Any misadventure you encounter if you decide to accept the risk of DIY repair is your responsibility.
Music at the end is “River Meditation” by Audionautix, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: audionautix.com/ - Авто та транспорт
Wow. "You are a better man than I am, Gunga Din." I think I would have got lost about half way through. You did well getting it all back together - and it worked! Well done. Thanks for sharing.
You remind me of my dad lol. He could fix anything. Your videos are super helpful thank you!
Best most informative video I’ve watched on water softeners! Will really help me to trouble shoot mine! Thank you for showing and explaining it so well!
We're -six- eighteen months out at this point and everything is working normally. When the pile of salt pellets shrank to a low level a few weeks ago, I removed and rinsed out the bottom of the brine tank. I've been adding 'RustOut" powder to the brine tank and it seems to be working fine. To date we haven't had any recurrence of those error messages.
I never knew how those softeners really worked, great explanation, thanks Dave.
Wanted to send my thanks, your video helped me repair my softener this week! 😊
Intriguing, and interesting ithe diagnosis and repair, thank you for the lesson on how the system works, thank you for taking us along with you.
What an excellently explained video!
You have great knowledge and it's a great video.
Nice research and repair method with excellent results!
Thank you!
Great work and explanation Dave!
I love this gs lime this. Good info on this project love learning new things we'd ven though we don't have a water softener I still enjoyed this
Even if I didn't have an interest in everything mechanical, including water softeners, I'd still watch because you make things "Interesting". The separator looked kind of complicated for instance but once you should us the diagram it made sense. Too bad they are so expensive.
This video was a savior. You explained this very thoroughly with clear angles. I just had to take mine apart to clean mine as well...
When I watch spelunkerd I realize that the key to be good in repairing anything is to be a diligent observer.
Thanks for the great video! i have this model and cleaned out the valve easily, but can you tell me why would the water still be running through the drain after the re gen stage has finished? we pay for water per liter so its costing me $$$$
Great Video. Thanks so much for posting this. I'll be tearing my identical Culligan unit apart tonight. Out of curiosity, what kind of seal is there between the stainless steel plunger shaft and the plastic cage of the main spool cage? You point to the region at 7:43 (the wide section). You actually remove the shaft from the spool at 8:25. This stainless shaft is the actuator shaft that slides the shuttle/spool back and forth inside the plastic routing cage. You mentioned the white seals (that seal the shuttle/spool between the flow channels) but you didn't mention anything about a seal between the actuator shaft and the plastic cage.
No seals other than what is shown. Those seven black rubber O rings shown at 7:47 support the whole shaft, so I lubricated those well with silicone paste before putting it back into place.
If you don't want to put any more money into that control valve, you should replace it with a Clack WS-1. They are very easy to work on, if you ever need to. You might also want to change to solar salt crystals instead of the pellets. They are less likely to cause salt bridging and they are cheaper.
You mentioned adding Rust-o between bags. Are you adding to the brine tank between salt bags? Thanks!
When I pour each bag of salt into the brine tank, I sprinkle a small amount of the Rust-o on top of the salt sitting inside the brine tank. Both dissolve in the water as time goes by. It seems to be working fine, I don't notice any difference in the water taste. My son mentioned that once he noticed the water tasted like toothpaste, then that disappeared the next day and he hasn't noticed anything since then.
Thanks!
You can pull those two pins out in the back then there's little u-shaped pin you can pull up then then there is a circle back plate will come off and you can pound it out
That was an interesting video. Do you have any idea why our Culligan water softener keeps missing the rinse cycle? My husband is adept at tackling mechanical issues, but I have yet to find any information on this specific issue online (aside from people saying to call in a repair person).
Sorry, I don't know. I'd start by watching the drum go around, looking for variance with published literature online. Most maintenance problems in these devices are secondary to corrosion, so you might start with a basic cleaning, looking for blocked tubing, plugged screens and filters. Starting at about 6:00 of the video you see me removing some of those screens. If you find a cause, please stop back and describe what you found, I'm sure others would appreciate it.
@@spelunkerd Thanks for the suggestion. If we can find out the problem and a solution, I will update this comment.
What model do you have? How do you know it’s missing rinse?
@@jrm2383 When the unit regenerates, we wake up in the morning to a beeping alarm and an error message that says "missed rinse." I hit the statistics button to stop the beeping, but the error still flashes on the screen. It's a Culligan Gold Series, but I'm not quite sure which model.
@@amandaphilip l think you have a gold aqua sensor. If it doesn’t do a proper regeneration the sensor will alarm. I would recommend a service call from Culligan. A plumber can’t fix it. It might just need a cleaning or a valve rebuild. If it’s 15 years old or more, might be time to replace it.
Why engineers don't prefer to use selonoid valves to contol the water ? for more smooth pass ? or not to stress the tank ? thank you
That's a good question. Looking back at the interface between mechanical timing and the valve body, it looks archaic. Using a motor to power a wheel to get timing correct is old technology, for sure. On the other hand, we expect these devices to work for years, so I guess we should anticipate working on them for years to come. I have little doubt that new strategies will have more complex boards with epoxy and no chance of repair aside from component replacement. Maybe they will be more durable, although lessons from the auto industry show otherwise.
Thank you for the detailed explanation. I started searching YT after seeing a huge water bill and noticing soft hissing noise from my Culligan water softener. Goes away when bypassed. Figured it was the intake valve, but couldn't find ANY video that showed and explained. I'm in Canada too and just got a call back from local Culligan. $150 for the service call plus any parts/service needed. So I'm looking at roughly $400 + tax minimum for this. Highway robbery. Is there any generic size rubber seals I can get from a hardware store or Home Depot as an alternative?
I wasn't able to find one, it seems they keep those quietly off the market to preserve their cut of the pie. Mine is still working fine, 18 months later.
Oh, one other thing. You should be able to easily quantify the water losses from your water softener by looking at the flow out the drain hose. Normally it drains only intermittently, every week or so. Most of the time that hose should be completely dry. You could even put the end in a bucket for an hour to estimate loss, although you want to be sure it drains through the floor drain if a bucket overflows. If the water softener is responsible for continuous water loss, you should have constant flow out that hose, a clear red flag. If you don't, then water is going through the device and maybe causing a hissing sound but it is not lost there. In that case I'd look at devices downstream. For example leaking toilets are a very common and easily fixable cause of water loss. Often all you witness is a soft hissing sound from a leaking toilet. Likewise it's possible to lose water through an outdoor irrigation system, a leaking hose in a washing machine, or a leaking dishwasher supply line, etc.
@@spelunkerd Thanks for the insight. Where exactly is the drain hose in the softener? Sorry, I'm completely clueless with this kind of stuff.
@@tomcha75 On most water softeners, a hose dangles down from the device to a floor drain. If you see a hose leading into a drain, pull it back and see if it is trickling water. Where a floor drain is not available, they need to somehow tee into the black ABS piping of the drainwater system.
@@spelunkerd Ok. I'll check it out. Thanks!
I’m all for guys fixing their own appliances and things around the house. I do it when I can. But what you’re doing is a bandaid. The seal pack is a wear and tear part, and needs replacing or a valve rebuild every 4 - 8 years depending on water quality. The price you quoted probably includes labor by a technician. Not too bad for a house call and parts. Vaseline is a no no. Hope it lasts for awhile.
Those are good points. I don't know why people keep saying I used Vaseline. I clearly didn't, as shown and explained carefully in the video. Yup, I fully expect to have to do this again some day, but I can now do it myself and skip the service visit. Too bad I can't seem to find those seals anywhere, since swapping out the seals would likely save another hundred dollars. In professional hands there may be little cost difference, because you are swapping part costs for more labor. DIY labor is free, so the balance tips the other way. Now almost a year out, it is going strong.
I'd milk it out as long as possible, then just replace the unit. I'm sure the resin beads are near end of life. I'm a big fan of the ecowater made units because they are cheap ($400-$500 US) and reliable. They are mostly sold under other brand names like sears kenmore, whirlpool, ge, morton, etc. The 'experts' will tell you that these units are junk, but I beg to differ. They use a rotating valve instead of a piston style valve. The early units would slowly wear grooves in the disk, and they would fail in about 5 years. Newer units are the same design with upgraded materials that last longer. You typically get 10 years plus before the seals wear. I will typically rebuild once, then replace on the second failure (usually 15-20 years total life). The resin beads are usually close to end of life by then anyway. It just makes sense to replace at that point.
Hi guys my Culligan water softener has some problem with the refill phase... I always need to refill manually water...does anybody know what should be the problem or where I can take a look to fix it?Thx 🙏😊
I would probably start by removing and cleaning the seal pack, the way I did it. Along the way, clean everything, then reassemble. You can get silicone paste from Amazon. A brief look today turned up a few that are specifically formulated as 'food grade', which is probably a better choice.
Well done :-D, That company really know how to ripoff people :-(, did you measure the outer diameter and thickness of the O rings?, i bet there is a box of assorted rings on ebay or amazon that would not cost a kidney :-D.
The motor i always think of as a " Record player motor." because i learnt of there existance from repairing record players when i was young.
They also appear in the back of electric ovans, just a longer output shaft and a fan.
One trick the record player motor manufacturers had was to include a 22 volt winding that supplied the amplifier board in the cheap all in one record player and amplifier.
No transformer needed for the amplifier, very sneaky :-D.
Seal pack $270 Ouch !! $90 in Cali USA.
the seals look like quad ring seals
I'm hoping somebody will stop by and point to a source for these seals, they are square cut but with a step, not typical of any seal I've ever seen.
spelunkerd You probably already sourced your seals, but, I believe “quad ring” is to seals like “crescent” is to wrenches. I’ve bought seals similar to those from McMaster Carr labeled as X-rings. I usually use nitrile rated for high pressure hydraulics though.
@@jknuthj1765 Remarks like this one are why I always read the comments. A good line on generic replacements would be priceless.
You really have no clue what you are doing. If your water is running down drain its automatic that it's the sealpac ... No need take the head off, also when you took off the 3 screw cover off the top,, this is the brine draw it has 3 pieces you only took off the screen, the small blue or brown inductor is inside if the very small hole is clogged it will NOT suck the brine water to make your water soft.. As for the gray wire which you had no clue what it was ..It is the flow meter wire while you had the bypass off you should have check it.the out side,, just blow into it if it spins its fine...Now for the use of vasoline NEVER use it will damage the outer orings..
It is always nice to get a visit from a guy who makes a living doing this repair, every day. I appreciate your constructive feedback about the educator nozzle. As shown in the video I removed first the screen and then I removed the educator nozzle; it is stained brown with natural tannins in our water. The nozzle was clearly patent. Your insight as to how to easily test the flow meter is useful. What I hear from you is that you would quickly make the diagnosis, go right to the seal pack and swap it out for a new one. I have no doubt this is standard professional workflow. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ll guess that in professional hands the cost for that including labor, a service call, and parts would be a few hundred dollars. Your remark about vaseline is noted. For that reason I gave up using vaseline around seals back in the 1980’s; As described in the video at 9:23 I used silicone paste, not vaseline. Silicone paste has a long record around seals, it does not cause swelling or degeneration, and it is safe with drinking water. In the end, my ‘clueless’ repair managed to fix this water softener for, zero dollars. Now almost a year out, the softener is working flawlessly. So, when the time comes I have retained a huge stockpile of money for future repairs or replacement. With all due respect, I’ll take the clueless option.
@@spelunkerd aren't arrogant knowitallz fun? I believe you can buy the seal-pak for 70 dollars in the US? Perhaps that's just the o-rings? Thought it news you might use when those rings eventually fail.
Oof. He said you have "no clue". It seems pretty obvious to me that you are an analytical genius.
You probably aren't a Culligan man but you just disassembled their entire machine, explained what each part does, located the source of your issue, and then repaired it. Not only that but you made quality video documentation, allowing others to replicate the process. I'm sure that hundreds of these viewers are in debt to you now, including myself. I would even venture to say that you are in possession of a tremendous amount of "clues". Thanks!