Kinetico Water Softener Full Rebuild - Part 5 of 8 (Reassemble Head Unit)

[@vm8854]

Great video, I recently took mine apart. I noticed no silicone grease on the red gaskets and other gaskets on the oem. I noticed you added grease. No issues with adding silicone grease? Agree usually gaskets have some grease.

[@loonhunt]

No issues here, going 2 years strong. My thinking was general, like you mentioned, that it usually does no harm adding grease (as long as it's the right type: potable silicone grease). Probably ok without it too, but I believe the grease helps to keep the gaskets "fresh" for longer, thus providing a better seal for longer as well.

[@vm8854]

What would cause the unit to continuously backflush during regen? I just cleaned my unit not sure why continually backflushing after few hrs to drain pipe. I may need to put into bypass for now.

[@andrewcormie980]

Hello Loon, I also think that your tutorial is the best I've seen. My Kinetico also needs repair and I started it today after studying your tutorial. My Kinetico is about 32 years old, and I am in England. What I have found though, is that on mine the level 2 is glued to the level 3. Before discovering this I tried many ways to separate them, and finally having hammered a small chisel against the joint, moving around, succeeded only in breaking part of it where it is narrow against the large opening diametrically opposite the salt water inlet. It is there that I see no gasket, only a glue line that I have now broken. There must be a gasket in there but maybe smaller in area then on yours. I can only hope that in mine the gasket is still intact and that the holes and waterways are clear. I will try gluing together again.

[@loonhunt]

Glue sounds like a desperation act of a prior owner. If you need parts in the UK, you're luckily all set! A Level 2 or 3 Seal is only about £15.00 www.aquastream-softeners.co.uk/152-kinetico-spares?page=2

[@mooch91]

You've put the best tutorial of disassembly and reassembly of this unit that is available in the public domain. Would like to talk with you about where you get your parts and more about how and why these things have issues.

[@loonhunt]

Videos like this have been good to me over time, so I'm happy to give back to the community when I'm able. I'm no expert, but like anything mechanical, parts wear down over time, *especially* when water is involved. I'm sure the water quality in your area has a big impact on how often issues arise. Many newer units have big whole-house filters installed before the softener-- I'm sure something like that would help remove large sediment before it makes its way into the softener. Sediment could potentially clog the unit, jam up the gears, or cause something to break. Some of those holes between levels are awfully tiny, as the video shows... they could clog easily. Some parts I got from ebay seemed to come from a water source with very high iron-- there was all sorts of gunk built up on those parts and I'm sure it caused issues. Honestly, I may clean the inside of my head unit every year as preventative maintenance. As for Kinetico parts- as I said in the video, I had to get them from ebay (resold used parts) or from outside the US. I called every dealer within 100 miles of me and they all refused to sell me parts... but they'd happily send a service rep for major $$$$. No thanks. It's so incredibly wasteful and ridiculous. So what I did was check ebay regularly and searched for random foreign websites and sent them messages. You might try to send an email to [e-mail] and see if they can help.

[@mooch91]

@@loonhunt Thanks for your response. I've had mine apart half a dozen times and the pros have rebuilt it a few times, but the same problem keeps coming back. The unit drips to drain when the control disc is sitting in the 6:00 position. On occasion, as well, we get salty water in the house when it starts a regeneration from the same position. I was convinced it was something in the internal seals because one of the rebuilds made it go away for a couple of years, but it has persisted even after a recent rebuild by a service rep. I took it apart and see nothing wrong - all passages are clear and clean, the seals look good visually, there was no excessive grease. I'm about ready to ditch it for a DIY Clack or Fleck setup, because I've already probably spent enough on repair to have bought a new, cheaper unit. Thanks - any additional ideas appreciated.

[@bruddahp6763]

@@mooch91 I just got on here to see if there's anything I can do for my 7 year old 2060S that has the same problem as yours. It drips maybe 1 drop a second from the drain at the 6. Glad I found that I'm not alone. Well....Maybe not all that glad, but you saved me from doing multiple rebuilds. Might attempt one if it gets any worse. Thanks!