Model #317-180-000 MTD snowthrower, gas

Thank you for your question on the water softener continuing to run.

Can you hear water running and water coming out of one of the drain lines?

Or do you hear the motor rotating the machine constantly through its cycles?

I would first suggest that you remove power to the water softener by removing the plug.

Then remove the top cover and examine the wire harnesses for making sure all wire connections and plugs are tight.

Then plug the unit back in and reset the time of day and set the hardness level.

Are there any error codes that are on the display?

Please let me know what you find out and we can continue to troubleshoot with that information.

I will also give you a web site link to Kenmore water.com.

This is an interactive troubleshooting site for helping you diagnosis you water softener.

Kenmore water troubleshooting .

I hope this will help also.

Sam A.

Thank you for the update Travis. The manually initiated electronics diagnostics is activated by pushing the SELECT button until 000 shows in the display. If there shows an Err with a number from 1 - 5. Check the image below for some help with diagnostics. Please follow the instruction on the page and let me know what you find out. Check the blue link from the previous thread for the on line troubleshooting guide. Sam A.

Thank you for your question.

I can understand wanting to know what the small brownish orange balls are.

This is the resin beads that do the softening.

What has happened is that the distributor screen down in the bottom of the resin tank has broken and is letting the resin beads out into the water lines.

To repair this you will need to replace this part and it is not a nice job for a consumer because you have to remove the resin bed tank from the softener and then remove the resin and replace the distributor. This tank is full of water and resin beads and it is very heavy.

You will have to remove all the salt from the storage tank first.

Then remove the head off the top of the resin tank.

Then remove the top distributor screen and then you will see the resin.

If it was me doing this I would replace the resin bed also, since you have lost some and you have not cleaned the current bed before.

The part number for the distributor is: 7105047 and it sells for about $62.00.

The part number for the resin is: 0502272 and it sells for about $150.00.

My suggestion is to activate the bypass valve to the softener is not in the water supply line and while you will not have softened water it will stop the resin beads from getting into the water lines.

If you feel like you can do this repair and need more help please reply and I will be happy to help you further.

[Kenmore Water | http://www.kenmorewater.com/website/animations/product-animation/ts_index.html].

I have given you an interactive link to Kenmore Water.com so you can see how the unit works and it includes troubleshooting information.

If you do not feel confident repairing this problem yourself, then you can have it repaired at your home by a Sears technician. Here is a link for the website: Sears Home Services .

Thank you for using Manage My Life.

Thank you for your question.

This mower was produced 12/19/2003.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Thank you for using Manage my life.

Mark T.