No flow with water softener

[JeffG]

Hi all, we have a "Superior" brand water softener (uses standard components: Fleck 5600 control valve etc), and have run into a problem with it. With the unit in service position, water flow starts out just fine, then decreases rapidly until, within a minute or so it's merely a trickle. Moving the softener's inlet valve to bypass restores full flow immediately.

Where inside the unit should we start looking to find the problem? Everything else seems to be ok, i.e. regeneration cycles appear normal, there's good suction etc etc.

Thanks in advance for any help/info/advice.

Jeff

[JeffG]

Never mind. We're renting this house, the owner said she doesn't want to pay for a repair, and it's not worth it to us to pay for it ourselves.

Turn the valve to bypass. Unplug. End of problem, at least for us.

[LazyPup]

You Landlord may not have the option of discontinuing it. In most jurisdictions even if a piece of equipment is not required by code, if it was in place and working at the time you entered into the lease they are required to maintain it for the duration of the lease.

[JeffG]

It wasn't working at the time we moved in. The owner said she didn't know what the problem was (the previous tenant had simply unplugged the unit) and she said we were free to try and fix it ourselves, i.e. meaning at our cost. So we figured it would be worth paying a repair guy to come out and take a look at it.

He didn't find anything obviously wrong, he oiled a few parts, checked for proper salt level etc, started a regen cycle and told us to call him if it didn't work. Well, the cycle went fine, and that's when we tried to actually use our newly and fabulously softened water.

Gush. Trickle. Nada.

Called back the repairman and got a shpiel about how our mineral tank probably needed replaced (the unit is ~20 years old) and quoted us ~$200 to replace it. Forget it. We'll deal with the hard water (which isn't all that hard to begin with).