My water softener has been making an astoundingly loud hammering sound, it literally sounds like it's ripping the pipes out of the walls. The sound lasts for about 10-15 seconds. Of course this occurs in the middle of the night, so it gets everyone's attention right away. I'm no expert on the details of water softener operation, I just get the basics, but here's what I know about mine. I have an Autotrol Series 168 and a 460 NOVRAM MP. (Both of these seem to be part of the box sitting on top of my resin tank, so I'm not sure where one begins and the other ends, but I *think* the 168 is the mechanical part and the 460 is the computer part.) These were installed roughly 12 years ago, and have been maintained by occasional service visits. We're only in the house on weekends. Typically this hammering sound, when it occurs, happens on the 2nd night we're there. I attribute this to the computer control of the NOVRAM noticing that there's been a jump in water usage (during the day between 1st night and 2nd night) and kicking in the regeneration cycle. If we stay longer, the noise may or may not repeat on subsequent nights (though I'm not sure whether this is because the regeneration cycle simply isn't happening -- the NOVRAM supposedly schedules regeneration based on water usage -- or if regeneration is happening without incident). The local plumber has come twice already to address this complaint, so we've given up on him. No idea what he did 1st time. 2nd time he replaced (or rebuilt) the "valve", whatever that is. The noise occurs near the end of the "regenerant draw - slow rinse" part of the cycle (at least that's where the arrow is pointing when it happens. After this horrible noise, there is a sound of a slow cycle of gurgling water, and that cycle gradually over 5 minutes speeds up until it sounds like a dam releases and there's a rush of water that goes out the drain. That lasts about 5-10 minutes. Apparently this is the "fast rinse - refill" cycle because that's where the arrow is pointing then, and then it stops, pointing at "conditioned water". Quiet again. After this event, whenever we turn on any faucet, there's invariably air expelled at first. So obviously whatever happened is putting air into the pipes, which seems related to the hammering. But why? Any ideas or suggestions will be most appreciated. I might add that the water is not as soft as it used to be, nor is the salt in the brine tank being depleted at its former rate. On the other hand, the water is clear and tastes ok (and it certainly isn't clear coming out of the well), so the softener is doing some filtering. Thanks, Leland Woodbury

Hi, Just wondering if it's possible to piece together a complete system buying parts off of Ebay do they have to match perfectly, let say can a valve head from a model 2060 fit on a 2030 tanks and vica versa? Just wondering cause they are seling pieces on Ebay and if this can be done can save a lot of money? I'm figuring the system needs to be match, but can it be calibrated to work? Thanks