Clack WS1 salty water problem

[777]

I have a 45k Capacity Unit, about a year old, after regeneration the water is very salty. I have had a technician come to look at it and he changed the configuration saying it was incorrect. But my problem isn't solved, just $90 lighter.
Hoping to get some answers on here.

Here are some stats.

Grain Capacity = 45
lbs of salt per regen = 15.5
Backwash duration = longer
Brine Refill = post
Hardness = 50

The other specs are the default setting from the instruction manual.

When the regeneration cycles

Backwash = 10min
Brine = 60min
2 Backwash = 10min
Rinse = 6min
Fill =10:13min

Thankyou

777

[Gary Slusser]

You can't get 45K in a 1.5 cuft softener with 15.5 lbs.

Post the rest of the programming; every field in both the dealer side of the computer and the consumer side.

Are you on city water or your own well?

How many permanent residents in the house?

Who did you buy it from?

Post pictures of the installation, including the drain line. Quote this post and answer the questions and we'll have you fixed up soon.

[Peter Griffin]

download the Drawings Service Manual from clack's website

There is an explanation of the P codes and what they mean in the manual as well as what all the programming steps do.

You will get much better salt efficiency from your softener if you salt at 6 lbs per cubic foot and set the capacity consistent with that salt dose--19K per cubic foot (or to be conservative and provide a margin of safety use 17K) when using 6 lbs/ft3 assuming standard resin.

Standard resin, when regenerated with 9 lbs/ft3 yields 25K capacity so if you chose to stay with the 9 lb dose you should set the capacity to about 68K (75K less 10%)

[Bob999]

Standard resin, when regenerated with 9 lbs/ft3 yields 25K capacity so if you chose to stay with the 9 lb dose you should set the capacity to about 68K (75K less 10%)

I don't think the poster has said the what the volume of resin is in the softener--only the capacity and salt rate are listed in the post. I don't see the basis to assume that it is a three cubic foot unit. If the 45K capacity he lists is the maximum capacity with maximum salting it would imply a 1.5 cubic foot unit.

[Gary Slusser]

download the Drawings Service Manual from clack's website

There is an explanation of the P codes and what they mean in the manual as well as what all the programming steps do.

You're giving him some bad information.

We don't know what version circuit board he has and it may not be the P number board but, there is no explanation of what P number he should use or any info explaining how he would pick one and the numbers are not softener size specific.

Standard resin, when regenerated with 9 lbs/ft3 yields 25K capacity so if you chose to stay with the 9 lb dose you should set the capacity to about 68K (75K less 10%)

I get 20K with 6 lbs and 24K with 9 lbs in a 1 cuft of regular mesh resin. But how do you get 68K or 75K into his 45K (1.5 cuft ) softener? Man you might want to stick with plumbing inspections.

[Wally Hays]

If I had to guess, I would say that either the rinse cycle is not set right or more likely there is a problem in the valve assembly. At any rate the regen water is not being fully rinsed and dischardged from the media. Clack's manual doesn't help much. There is no troubleshooting guide at the back. Try a manual regeneration and visually check to see if there is discarge from the drain line and about how much.

Oh yea, If you paid a guy 90 bucks to fix it, why not call him back and have him fix it right this time?

[777]

You can't get 45K in a 1.5 cuft softener with 15.5 lbs.

Post the rest of the programming; every field in both the dealer side of the computer and the consumer side.

Are you on city water or your own well?

How many permanent residents in the house?

Who did you buy it from?

Post pictures of the installation, including the drain line. Quote this post and answer the questions and we'll have you fixed up soon.

Sorry for the delay...

This is the programming.

Initial Setup
Configuration = Softener
Grain Capacity = 45
Lbs of salt per regen = 15.5
Backwash Duration = Longer
Gallons Capacity = Auto
Brine Refill = post
Regenerant Flow = dn
Regeneration Initiation = Normal

Installer Setup
Hardness = 50
Calendar Override = off
Time of regen 2:00am

I am on city water, have 2 adults and 2 children in the house.
The water company I bought it from went out of business unfortunately.
The drain line looks to be 1/2 " ID running to floor drain with no kinks.

It does look to be a 1.5 cu foot resin tank.
The unit is made by Watts

Thankyou

[Wally Hays]

What size are the inlet and outlet pipes to the unit?

[Gary Slusser]

Initial Setup
Configuration = Softener
Grain Capacity = 45
Lbs of salt per regen = 15.5
Backwash Duration = Longer
Gallons Capacity = Auto
Brine Refill = post
Regenerant Flow = dn
Regeneration Initiation = Normal

Installer Setup
Hardness = 50
Calendar Override = off
Time of regen 2:00am

I am on city water, have 2 adults and 2 children in the house.
The water company I bought it from went out of business unfortunately.
The drain line looks to be 1/2 " ID running to floor drain with no kinks.

It does look to be a 1.5 cu foot resin tank.
The unit is made by Watts

Thank you

Visit the Sizing page on my we site by Clicking the link in my Signature below for more info.
Your softener is way too small. To get anything close to good salt efficiency you would have to regenerate it like every night or every other night.

Four people with 50 gpg of hardness uses 12,000 grains of capacity per day.

For 45K, you need to set the salt dose at 22.5 lbs. That would get you a regeneration every 900 gals or once every 3 days.

24K would be every other night at 9 lbs per regeneration or 18 lbs in 4 days compared to 22.5 every 3 days.

You do not have a P number board so your control uses the salt efficiency settings (K and lbs) to establish the length of time the backwashes and rinse etc. run for. You have the lbs and K of capacity screwed up.

You should set the calendar override to the number of days between regenerations. And the Regeneration Initiation = Normal to Normal and On 0. That means if you run the gallons to 0, it will do a regeneration immediately after the water stops being used for 10 minutes. In about 1.25 to 1.5 hrs it will be done. You get hard water during the regeneration but, that's better than running out of the reserve capacity before the next scheduled regeneration.

Since it has not been programmed correctly, you must do two manual regenerations with no water use during or between them, at 23 lbs each AFTER reprogramming the control for the K of capacity and day override you should be using; and the 23 lbs of salt.

You can do the first one at like 9 PM, when done at 10:15-10:30 PM, push the Regen button in and let go, Regen Today will flash on the display, and go to bed.

In the morning, set the lbs to what you should be using and enjoy.

If you still have salty water, let us know.

[777]

Water was not salty.
Thankyou very much.

Guess I should call the water utility to find out if the water hardness of 50 is correct.

Thanks again for correctly programming my softener.

777

[Gary Slusser]

You have to use the highest hardness in their entire system because at some time they will do maintenance and be sending you harder water that the softener will remove but not regenerate the additional capacity used.