Water Softener Assembly & Start Guide for Citymaster, Citymaster PRO, Citymater PRO+, and Wellmaster Systems

These instructions will help you to get your Aquatell Water Softener quickly assembled, installed, and treating your water.

Identify The Boxes:

Your softener ships in two boxes:

1. Brine Tank Box: Contains brine tank w lid / brine line / control valve / parts (21 lbs)
2. Treatment Tank Box: Contains loaded & capped treatment tank (61 lbs)

Open the Boxes:

To open the boxes, we recommend using a box cutter with a blade no longer than 1/4"

Box 1 - Brine Tank Box

• Open the top of the box with your box cutter and remove the the lid, brine line, control valve, and parts bag (for Citymaster PRO+ also remove the sediment filter assmbly)
• Remove the padding material from the control valve
• Remove the lid from the brine well (4" white tube) and remove any paper packaging and remove tape from the top of the safety float assembly

Box 2 - Treatment Tank:

• Cut the tape at the top of the box and open it up
• With the box flaps open, find a corner of the box and run your box cutter down the corner. Since the media tank is round and the box is square, at the corners there is little chance that you can accidentally damage the tank with the blade of the box cutter.
• Never cut the box open down the flat side as it is likely to damage the tank

All The Pieces:

In addition to the capped media tank, you should be able to find all of these parts and pieces:

1. Upper Media Screen
2. Clack Control Valve Bypass
3. Drain Line Tube Stay
4. Plumbing Connectors
5. Silicone for Installation
6. Clack Water Softener Control Valve
7. Brine Line Tubing
8. Brine Tank Lid (not shown)

Installation Location

• Your Aquatell Water Softener is installed on the downstream side of your water meter or pressure tank
• If you have other water treatment equipment in place, the water softener is typically placed after a dedicated iron filter and before any sediment filtration equipment. The exception is if you have hard sediment (aka sand) in your water supply, in which case the sediment filter would go before the softener
• The brine tank (aka salt tank) is typically positioned directly beside the treatment tank so make sure you leave room for it
• The softener must be protected from weather including rain and freezing temperatures

Control Valve Assembly & Installation

Position the treatment tank where you'd like the softener to be installed, and then remove the cap so it looks like this:

Connect the upper media screen to the bottom of the control valve. It inserts into a groove and then twists into place:

Use some of the silicone grease to lubricate the outer surface of the riser tube and the tank lip:

• Lower the control valve with the attached upper media screen onto the tank making sure that you guide the riser tube into the bottom of the riser tube
• Push the control valve down until the threads of the control valve can engage with the threads of the tank. Spin the control valve on until it stops, then give it an extra 1/8th turn. Because the control valve is o-ring sealed to the tank, it does not need to be tightened more than that:

Install the retainer rings (1) and o-rings (2) onto the plumbing connectors. Make sure the retainer rings are fully seated in the groove. Put some silicone lubricant on the o-rings:

Insert the plumbing connectors into the bypass valve and hand-tighten the black nuts until they are snug:

Attach the bypass valve with the attached connectors to the control valve:

Make sure the handles of the bypass valve are turned to the "bypass" position:

Drain Line Connection

1. Brine line push-to-connect fitting
2. Drain line compression fitting

Pull out the red clip that holds the drain line fitting in place and then pull out the drain line fitting. The photo below shows how to connect your drain line tubing. The best material is 1/2" rigid plastic (like PEX). Make sure the pipe is fully inserted into the fitting as you tighten the nut on:

Soft drain line material can also be used. The most common is 5/8" (Outside Diameter) clear vinyl tubing. You'll need to insert the Tube Stay (see below) into the end of any soft tube before inserting the end into the drain line fitting. The photo shows the tube stay half-inserted. Make sure you push it in fully before installing it in the drain line fitting.

Once your drain line has been connected to the drain line fitting, insert the fitting into the drain line port on the control valve, and re-insert the red clip. Make sure the clip is fully seated. The weight of the drain line must be supported properly by tacking it to a wall or other structure. If the full weight of the drain line is hanging from the control valve fitting, this can cause a leak.

When your Aquatell Water Softener system backwashes it will send a flow of water through this line. So the open end of the drain line needs to be discharged to a suitable drain location. Common drain locations are a floor drain, laundry tub, or sump pit. Be sure to secure the open end of the drain line so it cannot move. The drain line should be no longer than 20 feet. Make sure you abide by local plumbing bylaws.

Connecting The Brine Tank

The brine line connects the brine tank (aka salt tank) to the water softener control valve. It's a 5' clear tube that is 3/8" in diameter. Take one end of the brine line and apply a small amount of silicone lubricant to the outer surface. Push it into the brine line fitting on the control valve. It will require firm pressure to seat it into the fitting:

The brine line also needs to be connected to the brine tank. To begin this process let's identify some of the brine tank components:

Removing the Brine Well Lid reveals the safety float assembly. Remove this from the brine well and have a look at the top end. Remove the tape on this fitting to reveal the tube stay:

We're going to provide a lot of detail on how the brine line connects properly to the top of the safety float because this is a critical connection to the proper functioning of the softener. Please note that as we describe this connection the end goal is to have the connection made with the safety float inside the brine well, and the brine line passing through the wall of the brine tank and brine well - like this:

Looking at the top of the safety float again, the collet lock needs to be removed so that the tubing can be inserted into the push-to-connect fitting, and the tube stay can be discarded as it's not required with the tubing we provide:

To make a proper connection betwen the brine line, first remove the Collet Lock from the safety float connector. Then apply some silicone grease to the end of the brine line and insert it into the push fitting making sure it seats all the way. The Collet Lock then needs to be re-attached:

Plumbing

Connect your household plumbing to the plumbing connectors that shipped with your Aquatell softener. When viewing the control valve from the front, untreated water enters from the right and treated water exits to the left. Arrows on the Clack control valve show the flow direction also.

For threaded connectors, it's advisable to use a small amount of Teflon tape to ensure a good seal to your plumbing material

For any of the Clack push-to-connect fittings, it's important that you cut your plumbing straight across and that you de-burr the cut end with emery cloth or light sand-paper. Lubricate the cut and de-burred end with a small amount of silicone lubricant. The plumbing is then pushed into the push-to-connect fitting. There is an internal o-ring so there will be some resistance. Make sure the plumbing fully seats into the fitting.

For Clack plastic push-to-connect fittings (such as those shown in the photo below) there is a collar that needs to be locked into place by turning it 1/4 turn once the pipe has been inserted:

Other Plumbing Considerations:

• make sure the weight of the plumbing is supported or leaks may develop (for inlet/outlet plumbing and drain line)
• if you use elbows or other hardware in the drain line, make sure they do not reduce the inside diameter of the drain line. PEX fittings that expand the tube diameter (such as those made by Wirsbo) or Push-Connect-Fittings (like Sharkbite) are ideal as they do not reduce the inner diameter and allow full flow
• if you use soft material for the drain line be sure to avoid making tight turns that could collapse and block water flow
• the flow to the drain is substantial so make sure the end of the drain line is well-secured

• Set the hour (scrolling past 12:00 will change from AM to PM) then press NEXT
• Set the minutes, then press NEXT

Now set the hardness value to match your local hardness conditions. If you live in a city you can check your hardness value in Canada here or for the U.S. here. If you have your own well or alternate water supply you'll need to know the water hardness. To account for iron and manganese, add 3 grains per gallon of hardness to your hardness number for every 1.0 ppm (same as mg/L) of combined iron+manganese. To access the hardness setting press and hold the Next + UP arrow at the same time:

Use the UP or DOWN buttons to set the hardness value, and then press NEXT:

Leave the Regen Day set to 7, and then press NEXT:

Aquatell water softeners are demand regenerated, meaning that the softener will regenerate on the necessary day, but the time of day is set by the user. Use the UP, DOWN, and NEXT buttons to set the time you'd like the softener to regenerate. The default value is 2:00am. The regeneration takes about 1.5 hours. If you have other water treatment equipment that backwashes on a schedule, make sure you offset the time of regeneration so they don't regenerate/backwash at the same time.

Turning On The Water

• Ensure that no water-using outlets are running in your home
• Open the inlet side of the bypass valve halfway - you will hear water flowing into the tank
• When water stops flowing, open up the bypass inlet all the way, and do the same for the outlet
• Immediately force the system into a regeneration by pressing and holding the REGEN button until you hear the motor engage, then release:

• the backwash is comprised of multiple steps and takes about 1.5 hours in total:
• During the first backwash check all of your plumbing connections:
  • check the control valve/tank seal
  • check the drain line connection on the control valve
  • check the inlet/outlet plumbing connections
• Also check where your drain line discharges to ensure it can receive the volume of water
• When the regeneration has completed there should be water in the brine tank
• Add 1/2 bag of water softener salt to the brine tank
• After two weeks of operation, you can then fill up the brine tank fully with salt

The system is now fully ready to treat your water and will regenerate as needed on its own!

Common Questions & Issues:

• You may have noticed some water/moisture coming out of the control valve during unpacking - this is because all of our control valves are wet-tested at the factory and some trapped water may leak from them during transport
• If your household water shows discolouration after the installation, force a second backwash to further rinse the media. Do this by pressing and holding the REGEN button
• The media may release tiny air bubbles to your household water supply for several days. This can make your water look cloudy or "milky". This will resolve on its own, but you can accelerate the process by forcing a backwash by pressing and holding the REGEN button
• During a regeneration, you can still use your household water but it will not be treated
• If you have other pieces of water treatment equipment that backwash automatically (softener, carbon filter, etc), it is advisable to change the time of backwash so that it does not overlap with the other pieces of equipment. This ensures the softener has enough water flow to properly backwash. The softener is set to regenerate at 2:00am by default. When changing the time of backwash please pay attention to AM/PM and note that the softener system takes about 1.5 hours to complete a regeneration cycle
• If you find that the media tank isn't perfectly vertical, it is usually because the tank base has shifted in shipping. The tank base is a friction fit and you can lie the tank on its side (with the tank cap still one) and tap the base with a rubber mallet to reposition it