I have a GE water softner that is about 4 yrs old and I've noticed that it drips from the plastic to plastic connection when the wash machine cycles during a fill or rinse. The water pressure in the house is at 50 lbs and I have a expansion tank on both water heaters set at about 50 psi.

I've have the same issue in the past and thats when I installed the PRV and expansion tanks thinking that 80-90 psi of water pressure was too much. After installation the dripping went awy.

recently I've noticed the same problem has come back. Each time the washer cycles to fill/rinse (when it shuts off) I see the pressure spike about 10-15 lbs and the drips come back. When the washer is not in use the softner does not drip.

I was thinking of installing some water hammer arrestors but not sure if that would help.

here is a picture of the softner and where it drips (red circle)
[i300.photobucket.com]

any suggestions would be appreciated!

That is an "O" ring seal and it should either leak all the time, or never. It may have been damaged when the softener was installed.

Thanks hj for the reply -

this was installed some time ago (2-3+ years). I did the install and put the "O" rings on, even used some swimming pool lube so they would go on smooth. In fact I believe I even put some teflon tape in the groove to help make sure it was a tight fit since the inital install had the original drip I mentioned below.

I did the tape and the expansion tanks and that took care of everything until now. I can't think of anything that has changed; water pressure, expansion tank pressure....

I can't think the "O" rings have deteriorated since it's just water but I guess anything is possible.

has anyone seen "O" rings go bad?

thanks



Edited 1 times.

not in that application.

quote; In fact I believe I even put some teflon tape in the groove

that was NOT an improvement on the connection. IF the drip was there at the start, the "O" ring was defective, OR the port it slid into was. "O" rings seldom "go bad" when they are in an application which is not continually moving, such as a faucet stem or faucet spout.



Edited 1 times.

very good point - I will look to replace the "O" rings this weekend

thanks for the clarification!