Aquamatic Valve Repair Service

After viewing our extensive video library on identifying, ordering, and repairing AquaMatic diaphragm valves, people have been concerned about the complexity of getting the correct Aquamatic valve and/or parts. Also, some are concerned with needing special tools and the difficulty of repairing these valves. So they asked us if we can repair their valves for them. The answer is YES!

Within our Service Area:
If you are located within our service area, one of our service people can repair the diaphragm valves at your site. If you need an uninterrupted treated water delivery, we will have to work around your production shutdown schedule and will need to bring a spare valve of each size at your facility so we can rapidly replace the valves and get you up and running as quickly as possible.

Outside of Service Area:
If you are outside our service area, we can repair your Aquamatic valves in our shop. To get your facility up and running as quickly as possible, you will definitely need to purchase spare valves for each valve you will send to us to for repair.

Industrial Water Softener Maintenance

Res-Kem Corp. and our sister company General Water Services offer preventative maintenance contracts for customers here in the Mid-Atlantic region. I thought it might be helpful to go over our Preventative Maintenance procedures for a commercial or industrial water softener for those of you who maintain your own water softening equipment.

For an industrial water softener we suggest our customers have bi-annual visits by our technicians. It's a very simple inspection that can prevent unscheduled downtime and the associated problems. How often our customer tests the water hardness is largely determined by how critical the application is and the availability of staff. We strongly suggest testing the water hardness on a daily basis if possible.

Res-Kem service technicians do a mechanical inspection that includes the following:
Inlet and Outlet Water Hardness - When we specify a commercial or industrial water softener we are given a water analysis, the average, high and low flow rates, hours of operation, and desired end-point. It's important to note changes against the design specification. If all things are equal, seeing hard water at the outlet points to a mechanical problem with the water softener (or no salt in the brine tank). If something else has changed - flow rate is lower or higher than specified or the inlet water hardness has increased - our technician will review the data with our engineering department and discuss the problem in greater depth with the customer.

Inlet and Outlet Pressures - Pressure testing is done when the water softener is running at the design specification. If there is a high differential the water softener might be running at too high a rate. If the water softener is running at a typical flow rate, (10 – 15 gpm/ft2) and there is a high differential pressure, the resin bed could be plugging up and preventing the water from flowing through the softener correctly. The differential pressure across a softener resin bed should generally run less than 15 psig. Of course there are many factors, which can result in higher differential pressures, i.e. depth of the resin bed, design of the internal distribution, age of resin, etc.

Inlet Chlorine (in absence of carbon filter or bi-sulfite feed) - Chlorine will break down cation ion exchange resin. Exposure to significant amounts of free chlorine, "hypochlorite" ions, or other strong oxidizing agents over long periods of time will eventually break down the crosslinking. Over time the cation resin turns to mush and will plug up the bed or eventually be flushed out so there remains much less resin than required.

Check salt level in brine tank, add if necessary

Make Note of Leaks - Our technicians are trained to look carefully for that small drip. We'll fix it if possible while we're there, otherwise we will make an appointment to come back to service the problem. You should have gaskets in on hand for both the manway and handhole openings.

Make Adjustments to the Control Valve - You should have received an operating manual with the water softener which includes information about the system settings.

If outlet water is out of hardness specification adjustments may be necessary.

Verify water softener timer is set to correct time and day.

Recalculate how often the water softener should be regenerating based on hardness and gallons and adjust control as necessary.

Optional Annual Maintenance

Valve Maintenance - There are many different types of controls and valves used on a commercial industrial water softener. In general you will need the following parts on hand to perform this service:

Aquamatic Valve Nest Systems - Diaphragm & Seal Kits, Internal Parts Kits, Seat Tools and Shaft Tools.

Fleck Top Mounted Control Systems - Upper and Lower Seal & Spacer Kits, Top Piston Kit, Lower Piston Kit.

Autotrol Top Mounted Control Systems - Internal parts kits. Specific kits depend on valve type.

Ion Exchange Resin Test - Although softener resin will last significantly longer than deionizer resin, in the presence of chlorine or other oxidants it will break down. If your water is highly chlorinated or has other contaminants such as iron, you should test the resin within 18 to 24 months of start up and every year thereafter. Otherwise, test the resin after the third year and then every year thereafter. By doing so you will know when to budget softener resin replacement as it is often a major expense.

Condensate Polishers Shipped for Local University

Last month, Res-Kem shipped a quadruple condensate polisher system to a local university. The condensate polishers are used to treat the water in the condensate loop, reducing water treatment chemical usage and reducing heat waste from excessive blowdown.
The system is comprised of four individual ASME-code stainless steel tanks with stainless steel internals, face piping, and Aquamatic valves. All external piping was a combination of welded and flanged stainless steel. Each system has an Aquamatic 962 controller to operate the valves during the backwash and regeneration cycle. The regeneration and backwash cycles are initiated by a differential pressure switch.

The local Res-Kem representative sold and installed the system at the university. The new system replaced a twin condensate polisher that had reached the end of its life.

The design flow rate is: 450 gpm
The peak flow rate is: 600 gpm
As stated above, the regeneration is initiated by a DP Switch.


The qualification process by the university was very rigorous. First university personnel visited out manufacturing facility in Aston, PA to see a similar system being built in our assembly facility. Afterwards, university personnel visited a local customer with a water softener and water dealkalizer. After we were qualified, our engineers worked with the site personnel to modify our standard design to fit the site's requirements.

Aquamatic Valve & Control Lines Discontinued

In addition to the announcement of the A200 series impulse control stager being discontinued, the letter from Pentair has other Aquamatic discontinuations. The following Aquamatic Valve & Control Lines will be discontinued after March 13, 2009. Also, certain Aquamatic Valve & Control options will be discontinued after March 13, 2009. Orders can be placed until March 2, 2009. Contact Res-Kem if you need help finding a potential replacement.

Discontinued Aquamatic Valve & Control Lines:
Product Family: V82 Series
Product Type: Diaphragm valves
Description: High pressure brass line
Potential Replacement: V46 Series

Product Family:V44 Series
Product Type: Diaphragm valves
Description: Iron and brass isolated bonnet line
Potential Replacement: V42 Series, K55 Series

Product Family: 59 Series
Product Type: Stager
Description: 16 port brass stager line
Potential Replacement: 58 Series

Product Family: 96 Series
Product Type: Stager
Description: 8 port high pressure line

Discontinued Aquamatic Valve & Control Options:
Description: Drill and tap Options 5(all four bosses) and 7 (bosses #1 and #3) on K52 Series and K53 Series valves
Potential Replacement: Drill and tap Options 1-4, 6

Description: FKM (Viton) diaphragm on K53 Series
Potential Replacement: Buna-N diaphragm: K52 series FKM diaphragm

Aquamatic Stager Controls Information for GE/Osmonics

Res-Kem added a significant amount of information on Aquamatic Stager Controls to our website including Product Specifications, Manuals and Ordering Guides. We wanted to make the information more easily accessible for our customers and others who use Aquamatic stager controls in their water treatment equipment.

Res-Kem uses Aquamatic Stager Controls for many of the systems we manufacture. Stager controls are used to automatically control softeners, dealkalizers, sand filters, multi-media filters, cation and anion deionizers. Also, we use these same stager controls, with a valve nest, to retrofit old Permutit, and Brunermatic multiport valves. Also, given our system expertise, we service these units in the field.

Aquamatic Stager Controls:

Res-Kem uses Aquamatic Stager Controls for many of the systems we manufacture. As the name implies, it is comprised of an Aquamatic Stager and an Aquamatic Control. Res-Kem uses Aquamatic valves with a variety of stager control combinations to automate the operation and/or regeneration of valve nest type water softeners and filters. Aquamatic Stager Controls are used to automatically control softeners, dealkalizers, sand filters, multi-media filters, cation and anion deionizers. These same stager controls can be used with virtually any other valve manufacturer with pneumatic actuated valves ONLY if their actuators are air/spring. These manufacturers include Keystone, Bray, George Fisher +GF+, Hayward, and Asahi. Also, we use these same stager controls, with a valve nest, to retrofit old Permutit, and Brunermatic multiport valves.

Aquamatic 962 Stager Controls:
The AquaMatic 962 stager controls combine an AquaMatic stager with an Autotrol 962 series electronic control, mounted and prewired in a NEMA-rated enclosure. When combined with a flow meter, the series 962 electronic controls provide sophisticated, demand-based water conditioning by monitoring the amount of water used. Time-based and/or external signal initiation is also available as a standard feature.

Aquamatic A100 Stager Controls:
This series of AquaMatic controls combines an electromechanical timer with a stager. The A100 series initiates a regeneration based on a time set on the built-in time clock.

Aquamatic A200 Stager Controls:
This series of AquaMatic controls combines an electromechanical timer with a stager. The A200 series initiates a regeneration when a signal is received from a water meter, sensor, pressure differential switch, push button or other remote device.

Aquamatic 7000A Programmable Regeneration Controller (DISCONTINUED):
These units are no longer sold. Through some careful engineering, the 7000A controller can be replaced with a Aquamatic 962 Stager Control. The Aquamatic 7000A was an electronic programmable regeneration designed to control the regeneration of filters and ion exchange processes. The 7000A was used in combination with an Aquamatic 48 Series Stager, Aquamatic 51 Series Stager, or Aquamatic 58 Series Stager.

Aquamatic Stager:

Added are product specifications on Aquamatic Stagers. A stager is a motor-driven rotary multiport pilot valve, which is used to control a set of individual diaphragm valves in a predefined sequence.

There are five stager designs available:

Aquamatic Series 48 brass stager with six ports. The 48 stager can control typical softener or filter systems as well as sequential backwash filters.

Aquamatic Series 51 brass stagers with eight ports. Used for more complex systems such as non-standard softeners, twin alternating softeners or filters.

Aquamatic Series 96 brass stagers with eight ports. Used for more complex systems such as non-standard softeners, twin alternating softeners or filters.
The 96 stager design is similar to that of the 51, but is rated for 250 psi (17 bar) and used for high pressure systems.

Aquamatic Series 58 PVC stager with sixteen ports. Used for more complex systems such as non-standard softeners, twin alternating softeners or filters.

Aquamatic Series 59 brass stager with sixteen ports. Used for more complex systems such as non-standard softeners, twin alternating softeners or filters.

Given our expertise building systems with Aquamatic Stager Controls, we can help you select the correct parts, select/troubleshoot stager controls or service stager in the field.

Aquamatic Valve Selection and Pricing

A common inquiry we receive at Res-Kem is a customer looking for a price and delivery on an Aquamatic Valve. We, in turn, ask the customer the following:

What kind of Aquamatic valve is used on the equipment?

Is the valve normally open, or is it normally closed?

Does it have a limit stop or a position indicator?

Is there a Spring Assist Open or a Spring Assist Closed option?

Knowing the type of valve allows us to properly provide an accurate estimate and insure you receive the correct valve for your application. In most cases, it's hard to identify a valve because the equipment is old, corroded, and/or there is no longer a parts list for the system. So, where does one go from here? We hope to provide some insight into ways you can determine the type of valve you have in order to get the correct price and valve.

The best way to identify the valve is to know the Aquamatic Valve Model Number which is a 13 digit number that describes the valve.

A GE Aquamatic Valve Model Selection Guide helps determine the valve type and some options. Each valve series has its own Valve Model Selection Guide. Customers more than likely do not have this number because, again, it is an older system with no parts list. Typically, Aquamatic valves will have the valve series cast or molded into the valve body. For example, a V42 series valve is the common cast iron Aquamatic Valve. If you look closely on the body of the valve, you will see a 3 digit number, such as, 421 or 424. The 42 would indicate the series, and the 1 or 4 indicates the size.




The Aquamatic Composite Valves are the K52 & K53 series. Again, on the body of the valve, you will see a 3 digit number for these valves, 521 or 535. The 52 and 53 specify the series, and the 1 or 5 represents the size.




Now that we have figured out the type of valve, lets take a look at some ways to determine the configuration of a valve.

Is it Normally Open or Normally Closed?
The most common Aquamatic Valves have two ports positioned on the top portion of the valve cap and along the side underneath the cap. They are usually an 1/8" or 1/4" female NPT port. If the NPT port on the top of the valve cap has a a pipe plug, the valve is a Normally Closed Valve. If there is no pipe plug at all on the ports, the valve is Normally Open.

Limit Stop or Position Indicator?
Limit Stops and Position Indicators can be easily identified on valves. Limit Stops are adjustment screws or bolts which limit the valve stroke. They are primarily used to control the flow rate. Position Indicators are small rods attached to the main valve stem which are used to show the position of the valve. One thing to note: if you have a valve with a position indicator, you will not have a Spring Assist Closed Valve since those two options cannot be combined.





Spring Assist Open or Spring Assist Closed?
These options are typically used to assist full opening or closure in the absence of line and control pressure. It is also difficult to determine if one has this option because the springs are inside the valve cap. With the composite valves, the valve caps look the same if there is a spring option or no spring option. If you look closely, the letters SAO or SAC are usually marked on the valve body of the composite valves; however, that mark tends to wear off over time.

The Spring Assist Closed option can easily be identified on the metal diaphragm valves because the valve cap is noticably different.





These valves also come with metal tags that indicate the options. You can find these tags secured to the valve cap hex screws. The tags could get broken off, so you do need to check to see if there was a tag on the valve cap. If all else fails, the best way to determine if you have this option is to remove the top cap to be certain.

Solo and Solomatic Valves from Aquamatic

Over many years most water treatment equipment manufacturers utilized various types of multiport valves for their water conditioning equipment, including water softeners, dealkalizers and filters. One of these valves were known as Solo(R) Valves and Solomatic(R) Valves manufactured by Aquamatic(R) Inc., now a part of GE Water.

These Solo and Solomatic valves, once a staple in the water treatment industry, are now long gone, having been discontinued. For those not familiar with these valves, here is a brief description of the Solo and Solomatic valves:

Solo Valve: This was a manual multiport valve, three or four position, generally cast iron. The Solo Valve was also produced in acid resistant bronze for hydrogen softener and deionizer use. The three position Solo Valve was used for pressure filter applications; the four position Solo Valve was typically used for water softeners and dealkalizers.

The Solo Valve was produced in sizes ranging from 3/4" to 4". It may be nearly impossible to find the literature for the Solo valves. Here is a scanned copy of the Solo valve technical bulletin of the entire product line from our extensive archives.

Solomatic Valve: This was a hydraulically operated multiport valve designed to automatically control the regeneration and service flow through softeners, filters and other ion exchange systems. This valve was manufactured in sizes ranging from 3/4" to 2½". Here is a scanned copy of the Solomatic valve technical bulletin from our archives.

Now that Solo and Solomatic valves are no longer manufactured and parts are no longer available to rebuild or repair, what can be done should you have a system with good tanks and broken or non-working Solo or Solomatic valve(s)? Any of these systems can be retrofitted using a nest of Aquamatic Diaphragm Valves.

For automatic Solomatic systems, the controls can be upgraded to the current state-of-art electronic, programmable controls utilizing flow sensors, differential pressure switches, etc. For manual Solo systems, the multiport valve can be replaced with gate or ball valves for strictly manual operation or with Diaphragm Valves for manual, semi or auto initiation via a time clock or differential pressure initiation.

Aquamatic Valve and Repair Kit Selection

Res-Kem receives many requests for replacement of GE(R) Aquamatic (R) valves and Aquamatic valve repair kits. Please contact us. We have many people that can help you through the selection of the correct Aquamatic valve or Aquamatic valve repair kit.

If you can have available the following information when you contact us, this would help you quickly get the correct Aquamatic valve. If not, do not worry. We can walk you through the selection.

What is the size of the valve?

What is the valve made of? Depending upon the valve size it can be cast iron, bronze, stainless steel, or PVC.

What are the end connections? Depending upon the valve size and material it can be threaded, flanged, or union fittings.

What type of actuator does the valve have? The options are normally open (Standard), normally closed, spring assist closed, spring assist open, limit stop, and position indicator.

What is the diaphragm made of? Choices are BUNA (Standard), EPDM, and FKM.

What process is the valve used in?

On the Res-Kem website we have product information for liquid and air diaphragm valves:
Aquamatic 420 Series (421, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428 and 429) metal diaphragm valves
Aquamatic 531 Series (531, 534, 535, 537) corrosion resisitant diaphragm valves
Aquamatic VAV Series (VAV1, VAV4, VAV5, VAV6, VAV7 and VAV8) air diaphragm valves

GE and Aquamatic are registered trademarks of GE Fairfield, CT