Help with Culligan Mark 59
Larry Andrews
checkout this month turned up a bad solenoid (open coil) which was replaced.
The tank has been cleaned and salt added. The unit was placed in brine
tank refill mode to fill the brine tank with water. The float valve
stopped the flow. The bottom of the float is about 12 inches from the
bottom end of the rod. Both of the moveable stops are directly against the
float so that it can not move up and down on the rod. Manual recharge was
attempted. During the recharge cycle, it would not draw brine from the
tank. Voltage was applied to each solenoid at the proper stage in the
cycle. All of the switches and the timer function properly. The three
valves which are activated by the solenoids were checked. They were intact
and not blocked, although the rubber was not new looking.
The top of the control valve was removed and the large spring loaded
cylinders, the internal moving parts, were taken out. The rubber parts
were showing significant signs of chlorine damage. Wiping them down with a
paper towel left large black streaks on the towel. The screen at the bottom
of the left chamber was clear. No damage or blockage was visible anywhere.
The Culligan parts man said that the springs in the cylinders were weak.
Two new cylinders were obtained and installed and the valve body top plate
was screwed down. The rubber parts of the solenoid valves were replaced at
the same time. After replacing the cylinder and valve parts the softener
started making different noises. That is not a very good description, but
something was working differently. The unit would now draw brine from the
tank, but not much it seemed. After cycling the softener several times over
a period of days, the water did not feel very soft. For a short time after
recharge, the cold water seemed somewhat soft. After a day or so, the soft
feel went away. The hot water was soft one morning and I thought that it
was back on-line, but it has not been soft since, even with daily recharge
and the salt setting increased to 12.5 lbs. There are two people living in
the house, so we are not using that much water. The salt setting initially
had been 7.5 lbs.
The control valve was then disassembled as far as I could go. The front
metal plate on the valve body was removed and a chunk of metal was found
partially blocking the drain channel. It was stuck in the rubber in the
back of the valve and was about .2 inches across. The horizontal cylinder
with the slotted head on the front left side of the valve body was removed
and disassembled to get to the screen. It was not blocked, was reassembled
and reinstalled. A small wire was snaked through the brine feed tube into
the valve body and also through the outlet tube into the valve body. They
are clear. After reassembling the valve, drain action seems to be more
vigorous. Maybe it is my imagination. After recharging twice, several
hours apart, the cold water initially seemed soft. The hot water never did
get soft. (There is considerable scale in the bottom of the hot water tank.
It is almost up as high as the bottom element.) I don't see any problem
with the softener operation, yet it is not working.
Does this leave the mineral bed as the likely problem, or is there something
else I should check? What would it cost to have the mineral bed replaced?
I have about $85 in parts and it still does not work. How much further
should I go with a 20 year old softener?
Larry
Tony Hwang
That is, whew, more than 20 years old. Go for new one which has
on-demand recharging. Save water and salt. When I moved out of my last
house(sold it), I left the guy there. Starting with solenoid failure it
was acting frequently. Now I have Kenmore single tank one installed and
it works fine. Only recharges when needed.
Tony
Gary Slusser
"Larry Andrews" <la...@andrews.org> wrote
Twenty year old resin is probably the problem, especially if there was
chlorine in the water. The cost of resin varies by the quality and type
but shouldn’t be much over $100 per cuft. Naturally it depends on where
you buy it.
Gary
Quality Water Associates
Gary Slusser
"BR Spider" <spider99-----nospam----at@----nym.alias.net> wrote
> "Larry Andrews" <la...@andrews.org> wrote:
>
> >..parts cut
> >
> >Does this leave the mineral bed as the likely problem, or is there
something
> >else I should check? What would it cost to have the mineral bed
replaced?
> >I have about $85 in parts and it still does not work. How much
further
> >should I go with a 20 year old softener?
> >
> >Larry
> >
>
>
it wasn't
> in my bag of instructions. It was several hundered dollars as I recall
(about 5
> years ago). I have a model 412 that I'm TRYING to fix (brine tank not
filling
> all the way on random days, plus water soft some days not on others
even after
> tank fills, but everything seems to cycle fine). I've kept it limping
along for
> quite a few years now. But I'm about ready to scrap mine and look for
a
> replacement since some of the parts are pretty expensive. On my unit,
I plan to
> invest more labor (my time), but not much more in parts since gaskets
are
> wearing out, tubes starting to drip, etc. All fixable, but like an old
car.
>
> After I get my water tested, I'm going to be polling around looking
for
> recommendations. How hard your water is may influence your decision as
to
> whether or not to purchase a new one, based on what you need. My water
was >60
> grains hardness about 10 years ago, so I need something pretty robust.
I'm going
> to take a sample to a lab and get a "full" analysis done and look for
a new
> unit. Just my preference.
I misread his question as though he wanted to buy the resin and replace
the old himself. To have someone do it would cost more than the price of
the resin, $100, that I mentioned. The cost depends on how far I have to
go, the amount and type of resin based on what and how much of it is in
the water and what type of softener it is. Cabinet models are more due
to them being much harder to replace the resin in than two tank models.
My price averages about $250 for a 1 cuft or smaller unit.
I'll caution you against you using a lab to test your water by saying
they are in the business of selling water tests, and they don't know
anything about equipment that you should rely on. And if you're
concerned about harmful chemicals being in your water, you'll do best
buying a POUse undercounter filter with the money you'll spend on
testing. And remember, most of that type problem comes and goes with
precipitation etc. and because you don't have it in one sample doesn't
mean you're home free with no future problems. And with >60 gpg hardness
you really need a dealer involved. They know what to test for and what
equipment to propose and how it should perform for you.
Gary
Quality Water Associates