Intermittent salty water after regen

[Wslboyer]

I have a Fleck 9100 with dual tanks; it's been in service for about 7(?) years, and a few times per year this happens: When regen starts and it switches tanks, the supplied water is very salty. So this means that sometimes, regeneration leaves the tank full of salt. I've been experiencing this maybe a total of 10 times in the last 4 years. It's not common, but is obnoxious enough that I want to fix it. Occurrence seems to be random and it has never yet occurred twice in a row.

Not sure it is same as a couple of other posts with salter water after regen because it works most of the time, and the saltiness is extreme - a few minutes of running the water does not help - seems to need a lot of flushing.

Suggestions on what needs replacing/cleaning?

 

[Reach4]

If this is a 9100SXT, the cause could be the BD cycle is not long enough. But then I don't know why the symptom would be intermittent.

If 9100 mechanical, then maybe a bigger injector would fix this. Again, I don't know why the problem would be intermittent.

Could be something else.

It is also possible that it occurs most of the time, but the first water you use is usually not being drunk. Flushing toilets, shower, laundry, whatever.

You could do a regen, and monitor the drain line TDS, with a TDS meter, thru the brine draw time. Toward the end of the BD time (last 5 minutes maybe?), the TDS should be down fairly near the TDS of the raw water or the non-salty softened water..

 

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[WorthFlorida]

Possible O-rings need replacing. As things move one O-ring could be broken or rolling allowing leakage. Google Fleck 9100 Rebuild Kit.

 

[Wslboyer]

If this is a 9100SXT, the cause could be the BD cycle is not long enough. But then I don't know why the symptom would be intermittent.

If 9100 mechanical, then maybe a bigger injector would fix this. Again, I don't know why the problem would be intermittent.

Could be something else.

It is also possible that it occurs most of the time, but the first water you use is usually not being drunk. Flushing toilets, shower, laundry, whatever.

You could do a regen, and monitor the drain line TDS, with a TDS meter, thru the brine draw time. Toward the end of the BD time (last 5 minutes maybe?), the TDS should be down fairly near the TDS of the raw water or the non-salty softened water..

I don't believe it occurs most of the time because we notice it most often during showering, but then several toilet flushes do not clear the salt and from the shower, the hot water tank is contaminated for several days any laundry is noticably stiff from the salt. So I don't think it could happen without noticing.

I did monitor conductivity for several regen cycles and I could tell that the salt was fully flushed before the cycle ended.

 

[WorthFlorida]

Is the tube to the brine tank translucent or clear? Run the water at the shower and see if any brine is being drawn into the softer? Look at part #19 & 20. Showering you are drawing more water from the WH for a longer time, therefore, the leakage has time to contaminate the WH. Running the shower is probably dropping the water pressure due to faster running water, more so than at a sink, therefore, brine might being siphoned and it becomes noticeable as you stated.

https://www.softenerparts.com/assets/images/9000cv.jpg

 

[Wslboyer]

Is the tube to the brine tank translucent or clear? Run the water at the shower and see if any brine is being drawn into the softer? Look at part #19 & 20. Showering you are drawing more water from the WH for a longer time, therefore, the leakage has time to contaminate the WH. Running the shower is probably dropping the water pressure due to faster running water, more so than at a sink, therefore, brine might being siphoned and it becomes noticeable as you stated.

https://www.softenerparts.com/assets/images/9000cv.jpg

With the dual tank, in a conversation with the manufacturer a year or so ago, I was assured that it was impossible for the tank being regenerated to contaminate the tank or water in use at all. But maybe if a shower or high water draw decreases the pressure during a regen, the next time the tanks are switched that poorly regenerated tank would contaminate the service water. Maybe I should turn up my well pressure a little?