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Frank Fitzpatrick
 
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Default WaterBoss Water Softener Quality and Warranty Issues

I bought a WaterBoss 900 from Lowe's in March of 2004.
I looked on the web and usenet news groups first, but
didn't see anything that made me think there would
likely be problems. I was wrong.

This unit has been slowly overfilling it's brine tank
after the regen cycle is complete. I've only just now
figured out why. I still don't have it fixed. The
unit is sitting disassembled out in my garage.

The manual that came with the unit had troubleshooting
procedures that I followed, and performed the various
maintenance, lubrication, and cleaning procedures. In
the process I had to dismantle and reassemble the
various (all plastic) valve assemblies. That did not
fix the problem.

I called the customer support at WaterBoss, and they
sent me a replacement brine valve assembly. Calling
customer support is a major hassle for me at least,
since their hours of operation coincide with my
working hours. Since I'm not often at home during
working hours, it is kind of difficult to check
something that the support person tells me while I
have them on the phone. They won't send someone out
to do the work, it must be done by the customer or
someone the customer pays. Isn't that a great
warranty?

The valve assembly that WaterBoss sent me was dry,
and the maintenance procedures clearly state that
the plunger valve be coated with silicon grease.
I went ahead and lubricated the valve per the
manual instructions, then installed it. Guess
what... I still had the same problem. (It takes
a couple of days to be obvious, as the brine tank
takes that long to become noticably too full.)

I took some time off work to be at home and called
WaterBoss again. This time they told me there is
a leak at the plug in the bottom of the media tank.
They told me I had to remove the media tank from
the cabinet to access the bottom of the tank. I
was instructed to tighten the plug once I had the
tank removed. Again this is left up to the
customer to perform.

The (plastic) media tank is full of water, resin,
and whatever else it has. I can not lift it. I
was able to rig a hand winch and some straps in
garage and lift it out that way.

The WaterBoss customer support got it part right.
I could determine the leak was from the edge of
the plug. But the (plastic) plug was not loose at
all. In fact, when I attempted to tighten it, I
couldn't get it to budge. But I did get it to
start to tear the plastic plug. As I attempted
to tighten the plug using a 3/4 inch socket with
a short ratchet drive (no cheater bar or
extension) I could feel the wrench start to pull
to the side, as the plug material started to fail.
So now I need a new plug, which I hope fixes the
leak, and I hope I can replace without having the
resin come out. I'm not certain that original
problem was caused by the plug, or the media
tank itself or some unknown seal on the plug.

It strikes me that this unit should have had
some kind of pressure test as a part of quality
control. Of course with all the plastic in this
unit, maybe quality control isn't a priority at
WaterBoss.

Best Regards,
Frank Fitzpatrick
San Antonio, TX
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