[York v45]

I have a very old Autotrol 155 water softener that is leaking from the control valve. This unit is over 25 years old, I rebuilt it once before about 20 years ago. The unit still makes soft water and has been trouble free for many years so I'm considering repairing it. Does the resin wear out or degrade?

I do think this softener uses more salt than it should. I think I'm still cycling 3 times a week even though the kids have moved out long ago. Repair or replace?

 

[Akpsdvan]

A rebuild of the valve and re bed of the resin will give many more years and save the land fill.
Yes resin like a car battery does ware down over time.
You might look into an upgrade of the control and find a meter assembly to go to gallon usage.

 

[York v45]

OK, so I decided to rebuild the softener with an updated demand type control.
I bought an Autotrol 760 Logix controller complete with a new 255 valve assembly and ½ cu.ft. of resin from softenerparts.com.

I did the job today in about 3 hours including a stop for lunch. The hardest part was cleaning the tank and capturing the old resin…..outdoor temps today were 10°F so getting wet was no fun. Once clean everything went back together very smooth, no leaks, and no issues.

I’ll post back in a few months and report on before and after salt usage. I’m also going to add a whole house water filter but don’t have that installed yet.

 

[York v45]

OK, I now have a few months experience with the Autotrol 760 controller. I went from 3x/week regen with the old manual valve to 1x every 2 weeks. Salt usage has been reduced drastically and water quality is improved due to the new resin. The controller tells me I could go even longer between cycles, but why push it.
Overall I couldn't be happier with the results.