Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Culligan Mark 100 Help!

I just installed a culligan mark100 that my brother bought new 8 years ago. we removed it from his house about a month ago and installed it in mine 4 days ago and i cannot get any soft water out of it. I talked to my local culligan man he checked my water 27gr. and 2 1/2 parts iron. He told me what to set it at. It is going thru its cycles ok(Backwash,Brine rinse,and then puts water back in the brine tank) It is using salt I have regenerated it about 8 times in the last 3 days and still no soft water. So I took another softened sample to the culligan man and he said it smelled like sulfer he is going to check it and get back with me monday But I know I don't have sulfer water and my brother did not have sulfer either. I made sure the in & out water connections were right and it is not on bypass. I also removed the control valve and checked the screens and they were clean. Can the resin be bad? I put the old one back in today and the water is fine now but it has a leak in the tank. I don't understand this at all.

Are you getting any hardness reduction at all? If sounds like the system is going thru all cycles (especially brine injection). Is there still resin in the mineral tank? There's a possibility that the media was discharged or chlorine fouling has occured. If it were chlorine fouling, you'd get low pressure problems. Let me know what you find out.

Art

I flushed it with iron out and then i got soft water out of it, but it still smelled like sulpher so I flushed it with bleach and now it works perfect!. And I called the culligan man and thanked him for all the help he DID NOT GIVE ME!! all he had to do was tell me to bleach it to get the smell out of it but NO All they want to do is get in your pocket! I know this will piss some culligan people off But I really don't care, They want you to think that these things are impossible to work on and they are not! For as much as they charge for there stuff it should come with FREE support for life.

I called the culligan man and thanked him for all the help he DID NOT GIVE ME!! All he had to do was tell me to bleach it to get the smell out of it but NO All they want to do is get in your pocket!

I don't know your Culligan man but I've been in field support in other industries for 20 years. Aside from qualifying the Culligan man's ability to correctly diagnose your problem remotely there are limitations placed on remote support by superiors and more often the company's legal department.

First, the tech has to rely on the customer accurately describing the problem or there's the old ... move it closer to the phone so I can see it. In my experience most of the time the customer leaves out a detail that doesn't seem significant to them but when the tech gets there IS significant. Customers are not trained to accurately relay symptoms and situations as accurately as someone with technical knowledge and experience. You moved a used softener, that was obviously NOT working properly, from another location, that was treating who knows what quality water, to your location, and you expect a one sentence solution from a water treatment pro that has none of the details over the phone and for free?

Seems that from your post the Culligan man did try to help you twice on the phone or at the store for free. That he would charge you for a service call to come to your location, diagnose the problem, repair the problem, and warranty his (or her) work is the way business is done. That you want him (or her) to solve your problem off site for free is unreasonable.

As far as "for as much as they charge for their stuff it should come with FREE support for life" is that regardless of how many times that softener has been resold or handed down to relatives, regardless of who now owns the softener, regardless of however many times it's been moved, and regardless of how many years old it is? I just want to be sure I understand the terms of the warranty you feel this product should have and if you've ever seen any product, of any kind, that offers the warranty you feel this softener should have had.

Second, the tech is responsible, and can be held legally libel, for any instructions or advice given to the customer if something goes wrong. We live in a litigous society, and many good deeds get severely punished.

So, if the Culligan man says "flush it out with bleach' and you don't completely rinse the bleach out and a family member gets sick he may be libel. If you splash bleach in your eye the tech may be libel. If you use too much iron out and kill your 8 year old resin (that the Culligan man had no idea of the water conditions it had been treating) you'll be screaming "it worked OK until I did what the Culligan man told me" and then "I want a new water softener for free" will follow shortly thereafter. Bleach is really nasty stuff and should be handled and used properly and safely.

In general, you need two things to achieve success ... knowledge and tools. If you lack either you won't resolve many problems. If you have only one then you have to decide whether to get the other or call someone in to do the job. If you're willing to get both then you can usually help yourself but don't beat up someone who has both and charges you for them. They're just trying to make a living. You like to get paid for your work, don't you?

I'm glad you solved your softener problem and I'm sure you're pleased it didn't cost you any money to do so but be fair. You may need that Culligan man down the road. There are people out there who sell water treatment products that provide NO service after the sale and the customer is completely on their own. I know first hand about that and it is not a good spot to be in. That you can call the Culligan man and he will come and resolve your problem is a valuable asset.

pageman,

BTW, where is the unit leaking from?

Art

Trust me I will throw it in the trash before I give Culligan 1 cent to repair it!