Fleck 9000 releasing resin during regeneration

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Edward Smithe

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Today I removed the KDF 55 sleeves from my twin tank econominder 9000.

One of the plastic necks that screws into the tank cracked so I decided to remove both of them. Getting the KDF 55 media holders off of the riser tube was extremely difficult. I had to shorten them by 1.5 inches.
I also had to put 1.5" pedestals under each tank.

Here's the problem, I manually initialed the regeneration for the tank, about 30 seconds into the regeneration the system started releasing huge amounts of resin as if the valves are opening in the reverse order.
I put the system in bypass, ran another manually initiated cycle only to have resin released from the other tank.

I'm perplexed and could use some guidance.
 

Reach4

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Suppose the DLFC was bad, and made the backwash rate too strong. Further suppose there are no top baskets to stop the resin from blowing out during backwash. That might explain the symptom.

If you could measure the flow out of the drain line during backwash or fast rinse, that could detect that. Fast rinse will not wash resin upwards.
 

Edward Smithe

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I just got off the phone with an expert at Pentek, It appears that part # 12088 was missing from the injector body causing the back wash to be too fast, resulting in the expulsion of the resin. I'm guessing that the small slats in the old KDF 55 filters acted as that part by restricting the flow and preventing the resin from escaping through the small slats in the KDF 55's.
 

Reach4

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Fleck part # is a 2.4 gpm DLFC washer.

That implies that each of your tanks is 10 inches diameter.
 

Bannerman

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KDF is extremely heavy media. Although the smaller diameter for a KDF MediaGuard requires a lower backwash rate than loose KDF media installed within a media tank, the KDF MediaGuard continues to require a higher backwash rate than lighter water softener resin alone. While the resin will be lifted much higher within the tank, the MediaGuard will prevent resin loss to drain.

Because you removed each MediaGuard but didn't reduce the drain flow rate by replacing the DLFC button with the appropriate flow rate for just the resin, then media loss was an unfortunate result. Now, in addition to obtaining the appropriate DLFC flow restrictor, you may also need to purchase additional resin to replace the resin that was lost to drain.
 

Edward Smithe

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I've had the system for 16 years, and I'm on municipal water. It's not highly chlorinated. It's only about five grains per gallon of hardness. Would you recommend that I replace the resin or just add what I lost?

Has resin technology improved over the last 20 years?
 

Reach4

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16 years on municipal water, I would replace with new 10% crosslinked resin.

I don't know when this became commonly available.
 

Edward Smithe

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I successfully emptied the resin, although it was quite a challenging task. Afterward, I proceeded to rinse out the tanks and added 1.5 cubic feet (CF) per tank of the 10% crosslinked resin that you recommended. I sincerely hope that this resin will last for over 15 years, considering the extensive process involved. There was a substantial amount of KDF 55 on the bottom of each tank.

Now that I have reassembled everything, I am running a regeneration cycle on each tank. The first tank produced a discharge that was noticeably yellow, which I assume is a normal occurrence considering the resin's composition of Sulfonated styrene/divinylbenzene copolymer and its black color.

I kindly request your assistance in reviewing my pin settings. Could you please confirm if they are correct?

Each tank has dimensions of 10" x 54" and contains 1.5 CF of resin. The water hardness is measured at 5 grains per gallon. While most individuals wouldn't typically require a softener at such a low level, my wife insisted on having one.
 

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Bannerman

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You didn't mention bedding gravel. Although gravel is not maditory, it is always recommended as it does assist with water flow through the resin bed, thereby reducing hardness leakage while also optimizing capacity regeneration during each regeneration cycle. A further benefit for gravel is that it will separate the resin from the bottom basket, so if the bottom basket ever becomes compromised, resin will be less likely to escape from the tank and enter your home's plumbing system.

For a 10" diameter tank, the usual recommended gravel quantity is 15 lbs of 1/8 X 1/16 NSF certified beding gravel.

The recommended procedure for starting a softener (new resin) is described here: Water Softener Startup Proceedure
 

Edward Smithe

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Is it possible to add the bedding gravel after the fact? I'm assuming that because it's heavier than the resin that it would settle to the bottom.

Did my pin settings look correct?
 
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