Need to make sure your venturi's working properly? The Venturi assembly produces a suction to pull the salty brine water out of your salt tank during a recharge. Let's go through some steps below to test it out.
Supplies Needed: Towel
Step 1 - Disconnecting the Brine Valve
1. First, on the screen you'll press the 'Recharge' button, then tap 'Recharge now'. This initiates a recharge and the tank will start filling.
- Note: If you notice a heavy flow out of your drain hose here, your softener has an extra Clean cycle set up. We need to skip that. Press 'Advance valve' once to move to the Rinse cycle, then after the motor stops, press 'Advance Valve' again to move to the Fill.
2. Now, you'll advance to the Brine cycle by tapping 'Advance Valve' one time. Check your drain hose here and see if there's a small trickle of water draining. If you can't see the end of the drain hose, readjust it to have an air gap:
3. Go ahead and remove the top cover of your unit by unhooking the 2 clips holding the back of the cover to the tank below. Pull the cover back and away from the unit to release these clips.
4. Bypass your softener by pushing the white handle IN on the back of your unit.
5. Now, you'll disconnect the Brine hose from the Venturi (white cone piece). Unscrew the nut by twisting it counter-clockwise and pull the hose off.
6. Now, you'll need to blow air through the hose like a straw to confirm it's clear. If it's hard to blow air through, you may want to Clean the Float Assembly to ensure there's nothing stuck in there.
Step 2 - Check for Suction
Time to check for suction at the Venturi port. Grab your towel and place it under the Venturi port in case water leaks out.
1. One of three things (listed below) will happen next. Slowly pull the white handle back OUT of bypass.
a. Water flows out the Venturi port consistently (at least 15 seconds).
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- Bypass the system again and remove the Venturi cap. Check that all pieces with numbers and letters on them are facing up inside the Venturi.
- Replace cap and open bypass again, listening for suction. Then skip to #2 below.
b. Suction, then water means your drain line is blocking water from exiting correctly.
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- Bypass the unit again and disconnect the drain hose elbow by removing the black clip.
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- Look inside the elbow port and check for any debris.
- Blow through the drain hose elbow (like a straw) to free any obstructions.
- Reattach drain hose elbow and open bypass again, listening for suction.
c. Consistent Suction is the desired outcome. If the suction is strong, continue onto the next step. If it's weak:
- Bypass the unit and unscrew the white cap of your venturi. Pull up and out on the gray screen. Inside the red/blue disc is a circular black flow plug. Remove that black plug, set aside, and reassemble the venturi without it.
- Take the unit OUT of bypass and you should hear a stronger suction.
- Reattach the brine hose to the venturi.
- Reattach the top cover. Leave the bypass pulled OUT.
2. Leave the softener to automatically finish the recharge over the next 2 hours. There's no need to push any buttons. The excess water should drain over the next 2 hours, leaving 2-4 inches left in the bottom of the tank.
3. Depending on how much water you start with, you may need to run multiple recharges. Over the next few days, if you notice your tank continuously filling with water in between cycles, we suggest you check for Internal Leaks.
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