Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Kinetico 30

hello everyone! It's my 1st post here and i'm new to water softeners, so please bear with me.

Have a Kinetico model 30 that overflowed a few hours ago. I found this board and started doing some research.

1) It is continuously running right now.
2) It isn't plumbed with a bypass or even shutoffs.
3) The drain from the tank isn't going anywhere.....just the elbow out the side....so it's flooding the garage.
4) The other drain(I think) off the top drains into my crawlspace and it is wet under there
5) it looks like the plastic is cracked where the line connects to the brine tank.
6) When I took the float out, a small green magnet fell out and I'm not sure where it goes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. off to Lowe's for some drain line to get the water outside

Sean :wall:

P.S. I have some pics.....can I post them on here?

Yes, you can post some pix here. How long has it been hooked up? Are you the new owner? It sounds like there are a couple of issues that need to be addressed.

Cracks are never good and leaks are preventable.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Hi Andy,
Thanks for the reply.I bought the house a few years ago. Everything has been fine......just keep an eye on it and add salt as necessary. I have no idea how old the unit is.

I'm from up north and softeners weren't necessary.

I hooked up a drain line to drain the water outside. I will put in a bypass tomorrow assuming I can make my own. And then I'll see if I can buy parts for it on Monday.

Will using the water in the house be affected much? The tank will be 1/2 full or so all the time....where it will drain out. There will be no salt in the unit, so i assume it will just be untreated water.....is that correct?

Sean



I tried to post pics but it says I can't post attachments....not sure how to do it.

I use photobucket and cut-n-paste the link below the picture.

Not sure what you mean by ' the water outside'. Into a pond?

So, you installed it, right? Did you have the water tested? Just wondering if it is right for you water conditions.

Untreated water will affect your household fixtures and appliances amoung other typical problems that hard water will cause.

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/)

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

ok, pics aren't really that important at this point.

The softener was here when I bought the house. We never did anything to it except add salt. I'm not even sure we need it as we are on county water. I think they may have had it installed when they had a well.....not sure though.

I was draining the water outside in the yard. Decided I didn't want to waste all that water, so I shut the main off for the night. Can't believe there are no shutoffs or a bypass!!!!

I just meant the untreated water overnight....if it would affect anything......the brine and salt and such-since I'm not really sure how it all works. But since I shut the H2O off I'm not too worried about that.

thanks, Sean

Thanks for the help Andy.

Ok, here are some links to pics....hope they work. 1st is the system......as you can see, no bypass, shutoff, nothing. one line is straight off the main coming in, and the other is back to feed the whole house. had to shut off water at the street last night.

2nd is a bad pick of the float assembly....but i think you can make out the "v" crack in the clear plastic.

question.....if that plastic cracked and was leaking into the tank, would that make the tank continue to fill? why wouldn't the float shut off the supply when it topped out?



http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e272/bbozwell/softener.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e272/bbozwell/DSC00950.jpg

ok,
I screwed up......there is a bypass on the system. I did try to use it last night and it didn't seem to do anything. I pulled the system today so I could put a main shutoff in. I will have my water tested and see if I actually need to fix it and put it back in. If I do fix it, I can only get parts directly from Kinetico, right? How much do you think a new float assembly would be?

Hope you all had a great weekend

Yes, I was going to tell you that there is a by-pass. It is a screw out type. The system is around or over 20 years old.

If water is coming into the brine tank from a route other than designed, it may not shut off as it is supposed to. A new brine float might cost $50 - $70. A good used one would work, too.

If a plastic part of the valve is broken, it needs to be replaced and a Kinetico dealer may be able to help you. I might be able to give you a part number if I knew exactly which one was needed.

Andy