Hello all, Purchased a used Kinetico 51 (with dual tanks) however the instructions that came with it are nothing more than an advanced sales brochure. I was able to assemble the tanks quite easily. And biermech was kind enough to help me differentiate between the drain line and the brine line. Now I'm wondering if there a quick and dirty faq that will run me through the initial startup and basic maintenance. Thanks.

We just moved into a new (to us) home built in 1989. There is a Kinetico model 60 and RO module treating the well water. The water here is hard with lots of iron and our well is only 30' deep. I called the local Kinetico dealer for a service call right before we moved in. When I scheduled the service call I asked them to send someone that would explain the system to me and check its operation. Unfortunately I was traveling for business when they came out, but my wife let the tech in and had me on the phone a few minutes after he showed up because she was so mad. The tech arrived here, glanced at the unit, and immediately told my wife it would need to be replaced because it was too old. He never even [B]touched[/B] the RO unit (which is partially disconnected, one tube and the pressure/storage tank is not connected!) instead saying it too was too old for service. His [B]only[/B] recommendation was to buy all new stuff from them and of course it was a great time to buy [I]right now[/I] because they would double the warranty and give me 10% off! He wouldn't even price any repairs saying the unit was too old to fix and was "iron fouled". When my wife called me, I had him on the phone and basically kicked him out of the house for charging me $90 to make a sales call. He tried to sell me on new units with a 2 minute sales pitch. From a service guy! Whatever. I'm still pretty upset about that. But anyway... I guess we paid for an on-site water test. Our results were hardness 15, clear iron 8, ox iron 0, ph 6.5, H2S <0.2 and "other" 460. I think I need two things to fix this unit - new resin, and a fix for the brine tank float valve assembly. Pretty sure the resin needs replaced after 20 years. And I don't believe the brine tank is filling correctly. I have taken it apart and cleaned the float valve but when I manually set it to brine/rinse the water level stays close to the same. Water is coming from the softener to the brine tank, but the level in the tank doesn't seem to rise? I'm in NE Ohio and would really appreciate a local resource to buy new resin from. Is there any service I can do to the brine tank float valve? I can take pictures of it if it would help. I can put just $200 into trying to fix this - if that won't do it, then I will be buying a DIY softener system from someone online and installing it myself. I am very handy. This is my wife's first experience with well water and she will not live with untreated water for very long. Thanks for any assistance you can provide, Patrick