Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Blown timer! DOAH

Hi all,

I hooked up my new water softener this weekend and when I connected the wires for the electrical it was not good. I tried to connect it exactly as the old softener was connected. I had a Culligan Mark in there and replaced it with a Kenmore 400. I took off the plug converter on the Kenmore. (My first mistake) then I connected the w.s. wires directly to the switch. (mistake #2) I turned on the power and the orange lights on the w.s. came on and popped off.

I took out the switch and wired an outlet with a reset on it there instead.
I re-wired the converter on the w.s. I think it converts from 120V to 40V?
I plug it in and it is dead as a doornail.

I can't seem to get any help from Sears, as they just want to come out and look at it.

Can anyone tell me if the $150. timer is the only thing that will blow when you zap the thing with 120V? :wall:

Any help would be great!
Thanks much!
~Lane~

I can't find a Kenmore "400". I assume it's similiar to the Kenmore Ultrasoft 425 and 480 which use a "wall wart" (ugly transformer that plugs directly into your wall socket) that outputs 24 Volts, and I'm almost certain it's AC. Most likely you just toasted your timer board, which is easy to replace (so avoid paying for a service call if you can -- just order the part directly from them. Unless they want to give you warranty coverage on it), it's just gonna cost you. It's possible you damaged the other electrical components as well: The Motor; The flow sensor; and the position switch. I doubt these were damaged, but you won't know for certain until you install a new timer board.

Most likely you have a nice combo motor and gearbox made by Molon, which IIRC will run about $40. I don't know how much the switch and flow sensors cost.

The timer board's definitely the most expensive component.