Culligan N8 Water Softener won't stop running during recharging

There are some seals in what is called the seal pack that either have something holding them open or they are bad and the seal pack needs to be replaced.
Now it might be possible to remove the seal pack and take it apart and find the bad one or two and move them to the ends...
The site that has had some packs from time to time does not have any right now so that cheap way of getting a kit is not there.

When one removes the front cover, there are two phillps head screws that hold it on, just to the left of the timer control.
There is the motor and the white cam... behind the white cam there is a screw and then under the motor there are two screws all hold the metal plate to the valve body.
In the middle of that valve body from front to back is the piston and seal pack..
Now if your system is old enough it might not be the seal pack that has gone, but rather the link between the motor and piston that has broken and left the piston where was when the link broke..

There is one more thing that could be.
The motor that moves the piston in and out... could be dead...... or one of the male females connectors could be bad.
Or even the timer motor could have gone bad......
There are about 4 different things that could be the reason that it is dumping water to the drain past the time frame that should be.

One of the two motors or the link would be the simple, the piston cage/seal assembly would be the not so simple..

There are parts, they just like replacing aged equipment rather than repair.

Good to hear that the motors are still good, that would have been a rather simple fix as all of them are there on the front.

And if the one motor is driving the piston in and then pulling it out either the link or the tray is still good and the piston head is good.

The only other thing that could give "water to the drain while in service" is a seal in the main seal pack/piston assembly.
If one of the o rings is bad or the piston with a grove then it is like a car burning oil.....

I will check in later today to see how it is going.

Try this link out, http://www.culliganwater.com/reside..._softener_and_filter_parts_list_post_1991.pdf
I know that it is not the same valve, but the little secret that they will not tell is that the valve in the link is the same valve that you have, goes on the tank just about the same as yours and the front is a little different, but the seal pack that is in the link is the same as what yours has.........

I really do not like those that make things more than they are... simple....

I will be out for the weekend.... I do use the username in a few other diy sites, and there are a few that would let you private message from the start...

jacladek said:

Revision - it's part #28 (27 fits with it) but the broken piece seems to be 28!:laughing:

Click to expand...

On part number 28, let us call three parts to the whole, there is the cage that has the o rings and spacers, the plastic rings that screw into each other then there is the piston and then the shaft.
If I am understanding what you are talking about, the shaft or shiny metal part that on end hooks into the piston and the other comes out the front to the tray or link... either the piston end is broke and can no longer hold the shaft or the shaft has lost that one end and can no longer hold the piston..

Either way one has two choices, find a full kit or find some one that has re useable parts to rebuild what you have broken and get yours up and running again.

How close to understanding the broken part am I?

You can check tomorrow if they will sell you that part, I have no idea as to the rules of culligan, or check and see what they want for the kit number 01013033...
Let me know how it goes tomorrow.

Not a problem.
Part of any job is the parts location... finding where the parts are and the time for the parts to get to the job..
At least that is the way it is here in Alaska.. the job might only be about a few hours or a day, but getting the parts.. that is another story.

jacladek said:

Still waiting to get the part. The Culligan people are giving my husband the runaround. The piece is in stock but they can't sell it to him unless the Sales/Service Manager himself sells it to him. Only problem with that is the guy is always on the road. My husband has been waiting for a return call since I last posted. Unbelievable. He's ready to just buy a Sears water softener after all this.

Click to expand...

Is it just the part or the kit that your husband is trying to buy?

Sounds more like they are trying to not sell it to you.

You can use the information that I sent awhile back for another choice if you would like.

jacladek said:

Thanks for the info. We may be looking into the Sears one very soon. Depends on how patient my husband is this week. LOL He doesn't like Sears all that much either but he did hear from someone else that their water softeners are pretty reliable. Our Culligan one is almost 19 years old and we've never had much trouble with it. A part broke, he knows what he needs, now he just needs someone to sell it to him. One of the other nice men on this site helped him to narrow down the problem. We're close, yet so far.

Click to expand...

There might be a time to totally replace the unit, but now is not that time, there are still parts out there. There are both new and used parts.
The key is using the information in the pm to get the part or parts needed to get your system back up and running again.

Can you read the pm that I have sent?

One reason that I no longer go to the local Ford dealer for any thing on my 7.3 powerstroke is because of run around the trees that they have done in the past... to many times they have told me that they where going to do some thing that never took place..
There is a Bank that is national that I would like to no longer do business with.... but I can not change the mortgage for the house... they too are in the Let us help and then nothing takes place..

Customer service today is no longer what it was years ago..

It is sad how customer service has gone down hill around the country, companies not putting the customer first unless that customer is spending a very good deal of money..
There are some companies around that put the customer first but they are few.... and getting fewer.

Was on the road my self today, any word from your husband on parts from any of your local dealers?

Any update on the part search?

Good to hear that some one finally helped out in this matter for you and that you now have the system up and running again.

Normally the the o rings for either the culligan or fleck valves that you are talking about come as a set.
It is possible at times to find some one that have the o rings that are good but used out of an assembly that was replaced and found to still have some good parts with in it.
Some keep good used parts while others do not.

It is possible to go in from the back of the valve.
The valve will have to come off the tank and then the rear clip removed and then the plug pulled and then some thing like a 1" socket to push the seal pack assembly out through the front.