54F and cloudy @ 14:30, calling for a high of 55F. Low here this morning was 37.8F.
Got started going through paperwork yesterday related to household information. I've never gone through all of it and organized it ... it's a total dog's breakfast ...
Multiple folders for the same thing, and many misfilings ... like the installation instructions for the whole house vacuum in a folder labelled "Water" ...
This was all prompted by an issue that raised it's ugly head a week or so ago.
The slight trickle leak coming out of the water softener increased significantly ... to the point that I shut the softener off and put it on bypass.
Was initially looking at just going ahead and replacing the softener but rather than just throwing $$$ at the problem I figured I'd dig into it a little deeper.
Took a water sample down to our local water treatment place to have it tested and it showed hardness as 9 gpg, pH 7.0, .5 ppm iron, and TDS of 327.
Talked to a tech down there about the softener issue after explaining the situation and got a
"Oh you don't want to spend $2K on a softener ... I can rebuild that valve ..."
So I told him I wasn't planning one spending $2K on a softener ... since I can get a Fleck (pre-filled with resin) off Amazon for around $700 - $800.
But to explore things I asked
"Ok, so what's involved in rebuilding it ?" ... meaning what are we looking at as far as the cost goes.
He ballparked it at around $300 but wanted to come out and look at it so we set up a service call for him to come take a look.
He came out this past Thursday (an hour early), took a look, and checked the softener to see if it was operating. Price had gone up to more like $500 ... rather than $300 he talked about earlier.
And his tone had changed from a supremely confident
"I can rebuild those don't waste the money on a new softener" to
"Weeeell, you can take a chance and roll the dice and sink the money in it ... or just buy a new one ... which we can install for you."
For $2400 - $2500 ... and if we bought the softener from them, they wouldn't charge us for the $95 service call to come out and look at it.
Told him I'd have to discuss it with The Woman and let him know.
A couple of things about this kind of rub me the wrong way:
1. The change in tone between the conversation at their shop and after he got here.
2. Difference in price between the shop and here - for both repairing the softener and replacing it.
3. When he came early for the appointment last Thursday, he sat in his truck in front of the house for probably 15 - 20 minutes yakking on the phone to someone ... with me sitting out there in a lawn chair.
The final factor is that this is the same company that came out when we were having problems with the well being low-producing in 2012 and the company owner, who came out, diagnosed it as the pump being bad.
They replaced the pump at that time ... and within 24 hours we were having the same problem. I still have the old pump ... which I insisted on keeping when they replaced it.
End result of that (after some discussion) was they cut their bill in half, said we basically got the pump at their cost.
So, having initially inquired (online) about rebuilding this valve back in 2020, I've been watching YouTube's on how to do it. It ain't rocket science.
New piston is $85.
New injector screen is $4.
New seal and spacer set is $34.
The Stuffer Tool to install the spacers and seals is $98 ... but it can be rented (for 30 days) for half that. It isn't necessarily required and I found a trick on the videos I watch to use a substitute (rolled piece of stiff paper or thin plastic)
Brine valve appears to be seized currently ... if that can't be restored maybe another $100 for that.
So since the softener is out of service at the moment anyways, I'm going to disconnect it and tear into it and see what I can see.
I did manage to locate the original receipt for the softener, was installed back in 1993 and is a Fleck 2500 or 2510 Econominder (metered) with the brass valve body (newer ones are plastic or resin), 32,000 grain and was loaded with fine mesh resin.
Still have not located the original bill for the drilling of well and the drilling report. Had my hands on it at one point, no telling where it is now ...
Also located what I assume are most of the receipts for the submersible well pumps that were installed.
As part of eliminating the too regular replacement of submersible pumps I'm going to be ordering a Cycle Sensor and a Cycle Stop Valve from TBN member Valveman ... which should reduce pump cycling, prevent rapid cycling, and prevent the pump running dry for extended periods.
Hope everyone is having a decent Monday ...
