Clack water softner

irelandspurs

Got a Clack water softener installed on Wednesday but since Thursday morning the tank has been 3/4 full of water,is it not only supposed to have a couple of inches of water in the bottom?

Dtp79

irelandspurs wrote: »

Got a Clack water softener installed on Wednesday but since Thursday morning the tank has been 3/4 full of water,is it not only supposed to have a couple of inches of water in the bottom?

Not familiar with the brand. Could you put up a pic of it?

irelandspurs

Dtp79 wrote: »

Not familiar with the brand. Could you put up a pic of it?

Dtp79

irelandspurs wrote: »

Assuming its set up alright and commissioned properly, I had a similar problem like this with a similar Softner. I rang tech support. On the waste pipe leaving the Softner ( not overflow ) there is a washer in the fitting, the problem with my washer was that the inner hole was too small, so they told me to cut a bigger hole in it. That sorted it for me. Don't know if you even have that washer on yours

shane0007

irelandspurs wrote: »

Got a Clack water softener installed on Wednesday but since Thursday morning the tank has been 3/4 full of water,is it not only supposed to have a couple of inches of water in the bottom?

Read the MI's as it will tell you the correct levels. Last one I installed (not that brand) was half way salt, 3/4 water. The may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer so always go by the MI.

aah yes

irelandspurs wrote:

Got a Clack water softener installed on Wednesday but since Thursday morning the tank has been 3/4 full of water,is it not only supposed to have a couple of inches of water in the bottom?

Dtp79 wrote: »

Assuming its set up alright and commissioned properly, I had a similar problem like this with a similar Softner. I rang tech support. On the waste pipe leaving the Softner ( not overflow ) there is a washer in the fitting, the problem with my washer was that the inner hole was too small, so they told me to cut a bigger hole in it. That sorted it for me. Don't know if you even have that washer on yours

Ooh eckers, what a pickle.

So, you have a WS1TC 3 button valve from Clack Corporation - see tech site (clackcorp.com), this is a pre-configured control valve with softener regeneration configurations from P0 to P6 depending on system size, - your system size falls in to the P0 or P1 lower end wash programmes - check website for valve manual to enter programme or select SET button along with ARROW UP, hold both for 7 seconds, then let go and hold both again for 7 seconds.

You have the later version of the WS1TC valve as the display is in hours and minutes, so the benefit with this upgrade is that you have a lithium battery time back up, auto selecting Hertz detection from US 60 Hz to Euro 50 Hz, and the extra minutes digits on the display. However still worth checking P0 to P6 selection.

Your vessel size looks like, either 8" x 17" so possibly 10 litres of cation resin, or 9" or 10" x 14" so possibly 12 to 14 litres of resin (maximum) housed in a Euro or Mistral grey cabinet.

On top of the WS1TC control valve the marker sticker for the brine injector should range from letters coded from C, D or E, for 8", 9" or 10" diameter tanks. So you should not have A, or B, and certainly not F, G, H, I, etc. Inside the brine injector access port you should see a coloured brine injector ranging from Violet, to Red to White - 8", or 9" or 10" for matching vessel diameter.

Finally that black washer you saw in the drain line elbow, the grey 3/4" elbow was not a washer as such, and you will definitely never be wanting to cut it with a knife to open it out, the name for it is a DLFC, or a Drain Line Flow Control button and is carefully moulded to control the waste flow out of the system when brining. It can only be orientated one of two ways, and the correct side to view is the side with the printed numbers and curved hole.

Any cuts or nicks in the DLFC and you will need to get a new one. Clack DLFC buttons come in various sizes based on tank diameter like the brine injectors, and for 8", 9" and 10" diameter vessels you would need a 0.17 or 0.22 or 0.27 size DLFC.

The next size down from a given DLFC size can produce slightly higher brining efficiencies so the last thing you want to do is get a knife and open up the hole, also this would have the effect of creating a higher brine level in the tank if anything and possible cavitation and noisier brining. Tell the crack pot who said to cut it open to get back to softener training level one.

The optimum fill level for tank brining water is determined by correct P0 or P1 settings, the correct brine injector, C, D, or E, and the correct DLFC, eithe 0.17, 0.22 or 0.27. As long as a mixture of water and salt are below the over flow elbow level after regeneration there should not be too much to worry about if the P setting, injector and DLFC are correct, then salt could be added higher to fill the tank.

Higher water levels can be experienced sometimes if incoming mains water pressure drops somewhat below 20 psi for an extended period of time for a week or so or if the wash out flex pipe gets frozen outside and traps a core of undischarged water / ice in the end of the pipe near a gulley for two or more washes in sub zero temperatures.

If there is too long a washout flex pipe outside that is run horizontally, this can trap water that can freeze and prevent drain output. Water will fill higher in the brine compartment instead.

Finally if the grey John Guest 3/8" brine elbow loses its vacuum sealing when siphoning for any reason (say if the brine siphon has a rough sharp end cut to the pipe) and the inner o'ring seals prevent proper siphoning, then the brine compartment can over fill instead.

The biggest mistake with the water softener either way is that it is a timer valve and not a Clack meter or volumetric 5 button valve, so the slight savings on system cost will be heavily lost on much higher water use (4 to 8 times more) and more frequent wash outs, much higher salt use (2 to 4 times) and shorter system life both for control valve and resin. Timer valves are a really bad choice nowadays considering the benefits of efficient metering systems and the added valuable benefits of extra diagnostics, water use tracking, and leak detection diagnostics.

The Clack WS1TC is the best of the timer valve choices though, so you have an excellent valve manufacturer, the best in the world, and it can be upgraded easily to a meter system by changing control panel, cover and added meter, from €100 to €150, which will save salt and water to the equivalent value within a year or so, and extended system life by multiple factors.

Also the mini-cabinet size you have is better for one or two people when used with a timer valve. A metered valve can push this figure to 3 or 4 people comfortably depending on your water hardness.

Apart from the bad news, I hope the wee tips help out a little on the DLFC and water fill levels.

Dtp79

Tell the crack pot who said to cut it open to get back to softener training level one.

I was only passing on advice I received from tech services for the model I worked on. I also didn't go to "water Softner school". I only install them and commission them in accordance with manufactures instructions.

shane0007

Dtp79 wrote: »

Tell the crack pot who said to cut it open to get back to softener training level one.

I was only passing on advice I received from tech services for the model I worked on. I also didn't go to "water Softner school". I only install them and commission them in accordance with manufactures instructions.

Did you actually read all that!!!

Dtp79

shane0007 wrote: »

Did you actually read all that!!!

Ha I did in me arse! I browsed down through it and a few lines caught my eye

positron

gws wrote: »

The Clack WS1TC is the best of the timer valve choices though, so you have an excellent valve manufacturer, the best in the world, and it can be upgraded easily to a meter system by changing control panel, cover and added meter, from €100 to €150, which will save salt and water to the equivalent value within a year or so, and extended system life by multiple factors.

Thanks for the really useful post gws. I got here researching water softners,
and I had decided on the Clack unit posted by the OP as the ideal - but thanks to you know I know I should really be going for a metered Clack valve rather than the timer as here.

Next question is, do you know who sells these under cabinet systems with Clack metered valve? Most places seems to be selling aquasmart and other non-clack, timer valves and systems.