Water softener fail - major leak problem

[croydoncorgi]

Here's a new one!

Customer called me with no hot water and no water in some WC cisterns. Kitchen tap OK.

When I got there, I found water softener (ion-exchange) resin in the pipework downstream from the water softener. It had got EVERYWHERE. Since it is made of consistent-sized small beads, it WILL flow out of the pipes so long as there's no restriction on the end and the pipe is not pointing upwards for any distance. In these cases, it just sits there as a damp mass allowing minimal water flow through.

Luckily, dismantling WC and other cistern valves and taking garden-tap non-return valves, etc. off the ends of the pipes allowed mains pressure (3 Bar) water to push the resin out. Altogether, there must have been 3 - 4 litres of the stuff in various pipes! I'm now left with two short and inaccessible pipe-runs (in floor and wall, and behind a built-in basin) that are still blocked. I've tried raising the pressure in the upstream pipework to 7 Bar (using a hydraulic test pump). All that happens then is the resin allows the (very slow) flow rate to increase a bit to dissipate the pressure but the blockage stays where it is.

I imagine that some sort of baffle plate intended to keep the resin beads inside the softener has split or otherwise broken, so the flow of water carried the resin out into the pipes.

Anyone EVER come across this problem before? (It's certainly a first for me!)

Does anyone know a reliable, non-intrusive method of removing the resin beads from pipes? I've tried extra pressure - no effect. I'm considering vibrating the pipes somehow to increase the spaces between the beads. Once the water flow gets going, the resin comes out quite easily but the problem is getting it started.

Back-stop method might be to dissolve it out - but I don't know enough about the resin to identify a good solvent that will dissolve the beads easily into a flowing liquid WITHOUT attacking any metal or plastic plumbing components. Ideas, anyone?

 

[picasso]

any idea what the resin is made up of ?, there are several different types (as I am sure you know).

 

[Boilerman2]

Consult with the Softener manufacturer (it may be covered by a long warranty?) but they will be able to advise on what the media is made from and give advice on removing

 

[HERTS P&D]

Is it possible to cut the pipe work and suck them out with a wet vacuum?

Andy

 

[croydoncorgi]

Is it possible to cut the pipe work and suck them out with a wet vacuum?

No - as the pipes are behind fitments, tiles and under a tiled floor!!

Also - if 7 Bar of push won't work, 1 Bar (physical absolute max) of suck is unlikely to make any impact. (There has to be significant MOVEMENT of water or air to shift the beads. This can't happen through the blockage.)

 

[wetshoes]

Could you rig up the garden hose to back flush it ?

 

[croydoncorgi]

Could you rig up the garden hose to back flush it

Yup - already tried it! And then went on to try 7 Bar from a test bucket, to no greater benefit!!!

 

[wetshoes]

I had this a few years ago.
Megaflo combination valve was totally blocked with resin balls! In this case it cleared quite easily as it was all 22mm pipe from softner to prv!

 

[croydoncorgi]

Further information from softener resin supplier is that there is no realistic solvent for resin.

They suggest that if water flushing doesn't work, compressed air MAY be effective. We'll see. Otherwise it's new pipes.

 

[doitall]

As said John, cut a lever valve in the pipework, and give yourself about 2m of pipe to get the pressure up, then slam it open.

 

[croydoncorgi]

Eventually, I managed to get a hose onto the open ends of the pipework and flushed back towards the softener. Since the main feed ran via the loft and the blockages were on the ground floor, this probably would not have worked by itself. As it happened, there was a third nearby connection that WAS NOT blocked (due to not having been used while the softener problem was happening). I was able to use this as the route to drain and after a bit of messing about the pipes cleared. Lucky.

It appears that the hole through the middle of a 'standard' ballofix service valve is just too small to allow the semi-solid resin plus water mixture to ooze through quickly enough. If the pipe upstream of it is vertical, with upward flow, individual beads sink back to the lowest point faster than the nett flow rate upwards, so the blockage won't clear. Push the blockage backwards into a longer, horizontal section and the water will get past it and then it'll all flush out.

My Plan C was to use compressed air to try to create a froth of air water and resin beads which should have flushed out more easily. OK in theory but maybe fortunately I didn't need to try it!