GE 460i advice

I recently partially disassembled my softener attempting to fix it. I followed the troubleshooting advice in the manual, and thought the turbine was not spinning therefore the flow meter was not working... anyway, the big issue now is I put it back together and it leaks like a sieve! The bypass and valve body are plastic (nylon whatever) and the only thing keeping it from leaking is everything is aligned perfectly and the mating faces are parallel and the o rings are good and lubed.... so this is super difficult when the bypass is attached to the pipes... what's the best bet for success here? Turn off the supply, pull the bypass, disassemble, replace o rings, lube, reassemble and then attach the entire thing back to the pipes? Should I get some kind of semi-flexible connection like a stainless hose or whatever?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
mnemonic76

Yea, it is tough to align all that with the piping still attached. Disconnect the piping from the unions, rebuild the valve assembly and then re-connect the unions. Oh, damn, it doesn't have unions does it? In that case either install a couple of them or get a couple stainless flexi supplies.

No unions, just copper to some kind of fitting to allow the nylon part to connect... have to take parts to the store to cobble together I guess... I'm not much of a plumber, all the plumbing abbreviations make me feel like my dad must when I talk about computer hardware

Thanks a bunch for the quick reply!

mnemonic76

Photos of what is going on might help in coming up with some ideas as to what can and can not be done.

He did that. I'm not being anti anything. He's having trouble getting the parts back in with the piping still attached to the inlet assembly and the unit is probably up against the wall to boot so he can't see well back there. And it didn't have unions in the first place because most likely someone just screwed a couple of male adapters into the back of the valve assembly and let the next guy deal with it.

Yeah, Peter Griffin is right... the problem is the plumbing (copper pipes) are not supported properly, and the tank is heavy (cause its full of water) and it makes it really difficult to align... I have dis-assembled/ re-assembled 3 times, and I am fairly mechanically inclined. It's just too hard to get that all perfectly aligned. I think I will start with Peter's advice and while it's apart I will take some pictures in case I have further trouble.

Thanks a lot guys! My dad is a contractor, and he turned me on to this forum. He was right on! You guys are both knowledgeable AND helpful. Thanks for treating me like someone you know!

mnemonic76
aka T.R.

best of luck