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Water Softener Troubleshooting Pro Tip: Regeneration Fast Forward

Water Softener Troubleshooting Pro Tip: Regeneration Fast Forward

Today Gary The Water Guy will teach you how the pros fast forward Water Softener regeneration cycles.

The quickest way to confirm that your water softener is working correctly is to put it through a regeneration cycle and make sure it does what it should during each cycle. This being said, some of those cycles can last 60 minutes or more... and nobody's got time for that!

You can usually troubleshoot in the first few minutes of each cycle by fast forwarding through the rest of the cycle so that you can quickly troubleshoot your water softener, tannin or iron filter

 

Check out these two simple steps!

STEP 1: Almost all water softener brand valves are the same. Basically, you hold down the regeneration (REGEN) button for 5 or more seconds and once you hear the motor start, let go and the regeneration begins.

STEP 2: After each cycle starts to count down, just press the REGEN button and release and it will go to the next cycle. Continue this process until you get back to the home screen.

NOTE: For older technology -- non electronic valves, like the very common Fleck 5600 -- you manually turn them to the REGEN cycle and when you hear water running, just let go and the cycle continues. To advance through the cycles, manually turn the manual regeneration knob to the next cycle.

 

There you have it! Two simple steps to water softener regeneration. 

 

 

To learn more about Water Softener regeneration, check out this video.

For my next video on water filtration equipment troubleshooting and repair click here

Video Transcript

Gary The Water Guy:
Do you want to troubleshoot your water softener but you can't stand there for two hours to make sure it's regenerating properly? There's got to be a way to make it faster, right? Well, in this video, I'm going to show you how the pros do it, and I'm going to show you starting right now.


Gary The Water Guy:
Hi. I'm Gary The Water Guy, and I simplify water filtration to help you conquer crappy water for your family. The simplest way to confirm that your water softener is regenerating properly and goes through its cycles properly is put it through a regeneration cycle and observe what's happening in those first few minutes. Well, because some of those cycles are 60 minutes long, you can't stand there and wait. So what the pros do is they fast forward through each of those cycles once they've determined what's happening.


Gary The Water Guy:
Now, it doesn't really matter what brand of water softener you have. If it's an electronic valve water softener like this Clack WS1 valve water softener here that we have from HUM Water Care, they're pretty much all the same. So to start a regeneration cycle, you find the regen button, which is up here, press it down and hold it for about five seconds. After five seconds, you'll hear the motor start up, just like that. And then it goes to the first cycle. Once it starts counting down that first cycle, then you can check out what you need to check out on the water softener. Once you've done that, then you can just press the regen button again, and that'll fast forward it to the next cycle. But one thing you always have to keep in mind is you can't fast forward it until it actually starts counting down. See, if I push it again, it's not going to fast forward because it hasn't started counting down.


Gary The Water Guy:
And you'll know when you're done because you'll have gotten back to the home screen. Most water softeners either display gallons per minute flow rate or the current time, et cetera, and that's how you'll know when you're done. If you have an older water softener with a mechanical valve on it, like this Fleck 5600, all you do is just take this lever in the center, you just turn it, and then it'll start the regeneration cycle. But the fast-forward is simple, you just keep turning it until you get to the cycles you want. If you're going to the brine cycle, we want to see if the units drawing brine or not. Let it sit on the brine cycle for a while until you've determined whether it's working correctly, and then you could advance it, turn it all the way around until you're back in the window up here that shows service, and you're done.


Gary The Water Guy:
To learn more about water softener troubleshooting, just click up here and it'll take you to my next video, and I'll see you there.