Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
Rev. 08/2011 Page 4 Product No. 13786A
Take special precautions with automatic dishwashers.
Soft water, when combined with caustic phosphates in some dishwasher
detergents and very high temperatures in the dry cycle, can etch dishes and
glassware. To prevent this possibility:
• use the “no heat” dry cycle on your
dishwasher;
• use the minimum amount of a good quality,
low phosphate dishwasher detergent
needed to clean your dishes. This may be
as little as 20 percent of the amount
recommended by the appliance
manufacturer or on the dishwasher soap
box;
• wash good china and crystal by hand.
Special care for plants and fish.
Depending on your water hardness level, amount of rainfall and how often you
water, you could use soft water for outside watering, but why waste your soft
water? Water your lawn, shrubs and outside plants
from an outside hard water faucet, or put your
Plumbline water system in by-pass before watering.
See “By-pass” on page 7 for instructions on by-
passing your system. Many houseplants can be
watered with soft water, although some can be highly
sensitive to the elevated level of sodium ions in soft
water. You may prefer to water houseplants with
hard water or water from a Plumbline reverse
osmosis system.
Fish accustomed to hard water may have trouble with an abrupt change to soft
water. Make the change gradually over a period of seven to 14 days by blending
hard and soft water until the tank contains 100 percent soft water. Once you
begin using soft water, you should notice that your fish tank stays cleaner longer.
Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
Rev. 08/2011 Page 9 Product No. 13786A
Even though it takes three (3) hours for this center knob to complete one
revolution, the regeneration cycle of your unit might be set only 1/2 of this
time.
In any event, conditioned water may be drawn after rinse water stops flowing
from the water conditioner drain line.
Plumbline Water Softener Troubleshooting
Problem
Possible Causes
Solultions
Softener fails to regenerate.
A. Electrical service to unit has
been interrupted.
B. Timer is defective.
C. Power failure.
A. Assure permanent electrical
service (check fuse, plug, pull
chain or switch).
B. Replace timer.
C. Reset time of day.
Softener delivers hard
water.
A. By-pass valve is open.
B. No salt in brine tank.
C. Injectors or screen is plugged.
D. Insufficient water flowing into
brine tank.
E. Hot water tank hardness.
F. Leak at distributor tube.
G. Internal valve leak.
A. Close by-pass valve.
B. Add salt to brine tank and
maintain salt level above water
level.
C. Replace injectors and screen.
D. Check brine tank fill time and
clean brine line flow control if
plugged.
E. Repeated flushings of the hot
water tank are required.
F. Make sure distributor tube is
not cracked. Check O-ring and
tube pilot.
G. Replace seals and spacers
and/or piston.
Unit uses too much salt.
A. Improper salt setting.
B. Excess water in brine tank.
A. Check salt usage and salt
setting.
B. See excessive water in brine
tank.
Loss of water pressure.
A. Iron buildup in line to water
softener.
B. Iron buildup in water softener.
C. Inlet control plugged due to
foreign material loose from
pipes by recent work done on
plumbing system.
A. Clean line to water filter.
B. Clean control and add media
cleaner to media bed.
Increase frequency of
regeneration.
C. Remove piston and clean
control.
Loss of media through
drain line.
A. Air in water system.
A. Assure that well system has
proper air elimination control.
Check for dry well condition.
Iron in conditioned water.
A. Fouled media bed.
A. Check backwash, brine draw
and brine tank fill, increase
frequency of regeneration,
increase backwash time.
Excessive water in brine
tank.
A. Plugged drain line flow control. A. Clean flow control.
