Clean Water Systems CWS Plus Installation manual

Clean Water Made Easy
www.cleanwaterstore.com
CWS Plus Sediment Filter Installation & Start-Up Guide
Thank you for purchasing a Clean Water System! With proper installation and a little
routine maintenance your system will be providing neutral pH water for many years.
Your new system comes with a printed CWS Service manual, which along with this start-up
guide will help guide you in the installation and start-up of your new system. The CWS
service manual covers other types of systems as well such as water softeners and filters, so
there may be information in your CWS service manual that does not pertain to your
system. Please review this start-up guide entirely before beginning to install your system
and follow the steps outlined for best results.
SEDIMENT MEDIA CONTAINS DUST. USE PAPER MASK AND VENTILATE TO AVOID
BREATHING DUST.
Questions?
Call us toll-free: 1-888-600-5426 or 1-831-462-8500
Email us: [email protected]
See more information on our website: www.cleanwaterstore.com/resources

Clean Water Made Easy
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Table of Contents
Packing List ................................................................................................................................................4
Sediment Filter 1.0 cubic foot size .........................................................................................................4
Sediment Filter 1.5 cubic foot size .........................................................................................................4
Sediment Filter 2.0 cubic foot size .........................................................................................................4
Sediment Filter 2.5 cubic foot size ........................................................................................................4
Pre-Installation .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Best Practices for Piping & Drain Installation .............................................................................................5
How Your Sediment Filter Works...............................................................................................................6
Fig 1: Sediment Filter Tank Water Flow..............................................................................................7
Fig 2: Typical Sediment Filter CWS Plus piping installation .................................................................8
Assembly and Installation Instructions .................................................................................................... 10
Fig. 5: CWS Plus By-Pass and Pipe Connectors .................................................................................11
Troubleshooting the CWS Plus Sediment Filter........................................................................................ 14
What to Do If Your Filter Tank Does Not Sit Level on the Floor ............................................................14

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Packing List
Sediment Filter 1.0 cubic foot size
Quantity 1 CWS Plus Backwash Control Valve w/ Bypass Assembly and Pipe connector kit (1”or ¾”)
Quantity 1 10” x 44” filter tank with distributor tube
Blue media funnel for adding the Sediment media
12lbs. Filter gravel
1 cubic foot of Sediment media
Sediment Filter 1.5 cubic foot size
Quantity 1 CWS Plus Backwash Control Valve w/ Bypass Assembly and Pipe connector kit (1”or ¾”)
Quantity 1 10” x 54” filter tank with distributor tube
Blue media funnel for adding the Sediment media
16lbs. Filter gravel
1.5 cubic foot of Sediment media
Sediment Filter 2.0 cubic foot size
Quantity 1 CWS Plus Backwash Control Valve w/ Bypass Assembly and Pipe connector kit (1”or ¾”)
Quantity 1 12” x 52” filter tank with distributor tube
Blue media funnel for adding the Sediment media
20lbs. Filter gravel
2.0 cubic foot of Sediment media
Sediment Filter 2.5 cubic foot size
Quantity 1 CWS Plus Backwash Control Valve w/ Bypass Assembly and Pipe connector kit (1”or ¾”)
Quantity 1 13” x 54” filter tank with distributor tube
Blue media funnel for adding the Sediment media
35lbs. Filter gravel
2.5 cubic foot of Sediment media

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Pre-Installation
1. Review your packing list and make sure you have received all the parts before beginning
installation.
2. If you are going to be turning off the water to the house and you have an electric water heater,
shut off the power to the water heater before beginning installation in case water heater is
accidentally drained.
3. Pick a suitable location for your filter system on a dry level spot where it won’t be exposed to
freezing temperatures. A minimum of 20 PSI is required. Maximum pressure is 90 PSI.
4. Get all of your plumbing parts together before beginning installation. Installation typically takes
3 to 5 hours. However, after installation the Sediment Filter must be allowed to run through a
complete backwash and rinse cycle.
5. After the system is installed and running, your water may be discolored, or full of sediment or
rust, particularly if this is older or corroded piping. This typically clears up over a day or two.
Best Practices for Piping & Drain Installation
1. See typical installation on page 7 (Fig 2). The Sediment Filter is installed after the pressure tank.
2. Make sure to connect the IN pipe to the CWS Plus inlet and the OUT pipe to the outlet (see Fig
2). As you face the CWS Plus control from the front, the water enters on the right and exits on
the left. From the back (see Fig 2) the water enters on the left. The inlet and outlet are
attached to the bypass valve, which is marked with arrows as well.
3. Make sure there is a working gate or ball valve before the CWS Plus Sediment Filter and also one
after as shown in Fig 2. The pressure gauges are optional and perhaps not necessary but a hose
bib (which is a faucet that you can attach a garden hose to) is strongly recommended after the
Sediment Filter and before the second ball valve. This makes it easy to rinse your new Sediment
Filter on start-up and gives you a place to test the water before it enters your household
plumbing.

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4. If you will be using copper piping, do not sweat the copper pipe directly on to the CWS Plus
control valve. Avoid heating up the CWS Plus control valve plastic with the torch.
5. If have copper pipe before the Sediment Filter and it is too difficult to change out, you may still
experience some copper staining of fixtures and have a copper residual in the water because
this section of pipe will still have acidic water flowing through it. We recommend PEX or PVC
pipe up to the Sediment Filter and then copper after it, if you have copper plumbing.
6. You do not need unions to install your CWS Plus control valve. If you need to remove it, the
CWS Plus has quick-release couplings that make it easy to put the Sediment filter on by-pass and
remove the filter system from the piping.
7. The drain line tubing (not supplied) is connected to a drain from the drain outlet using flexible
½” ID tubing. Note that the drain can run up above the CWS Plus control and into a drain, it
does not have to drain down, as the filter backwashes under line pressure from your well pump.
Most plumbing codes require an air-gap connection, so that if your sewer or septic tank backs
up, it cannot cross connect with the drain tubing.
How Your Sediment Filter Works
See Fig 1 below. Water enters the top of the sediment filter tank (red arrows) and flows down through
the media and up the distributor tube (blue arrows). The downflow type sediment filter removes
sediment and can be backwashed, which cleans and re-classifies the media, preventing channeling.
During backwash the flow of water is reversed and water flows down the distributor tube and up
through the media, lifting and expanding the sediment media. During the backwash the media is cleaned
by the action of water flowing through it.

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Fig 1: Sediment Filter Tank Water Flow
Chemsorb Media
Filter distributor
bottom screen
(built-in to tank)

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Fig 2: Typical Sediment Filter CWS Plus piping installation with ball valve and
hose bib after the filter

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Fig 3: CWS Plus from the rear showing the inlet (left) and outlet (right) end-
connector fittings 1” or 1-1/4” NPT in Noryl plastic. Brass end-connectors are
also available for connecting to copper tubing.
Fig 4: CWS Plus side view
Inlet
Outlet
Inlet
Outlet
Bypass Knobs
(bypass position)
Drain Line

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Assembly and Installation Instructions
1. By hand, unscrew the entire CWS Plus control valve from top of tank if it was shipped screwed
on. Place distributor tube in tank if not already inside. If not already done, make sure the blue
cap is on top of distributor tube, or wrap the top of distributor tube with electrical or duct tape.
You do not want gravel or Sediment to go down the distributor tube.
2. Add the filter gravel that came with your order. You want the gravel to cover the bottom
distributor screen before adding the Sediment media.
3. Next add Sediment media. The tank will be about 2/3 full of media.
4. Remove cap or tape from top of distributor tube. Be careful not to pull up distributor tube
when removing cap or tape.
5. If possible at this point, fill tank completely with water. This will allow the Sediment Filter media
to settle and eliminate the need of “purging” the air out of the tank later.
6. Add a small amount of silicone grease or vegetable cooking oil to the tank threads and screw on
CWS Plus control valve carefully. Do not use pipe-joint compound, Teflon tape, or Vaseline or
other petroleum greases to lubricate tank threads.
7. See how the CWS Plus by-pass is connected in Fig. 5 on the next page. Note that Items 2 are
the pipe connectors and the other end is what gets attached to the control valve. Items 3 are
the red clips that hold the pipe connectors to the by-pass valve. Your CWS Plus is usually
shipped in the by-pass position, as in Figure 4.
Plug or tape top of distributor tube
when adding media to prevent media
from entering. Remove when
finished.

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Fig. 5: CWS Plus By-Pass and Pipe Connectors
8. Lubricate the by-pass valve o-rings with some vegetable oil or silicone grease and connect the
bypass assembly to the CWS Plus control by sliding the bypass valve firmly into the body of the
CWS Plus. Once bypass is in far enough, you will be able to insert the red connector clips.
9. Next lubricate the end-connectors (#2 in Fig 3) with some silicone grease or vegetable cooking
oil and insert them into the bypass valve and then insert the red clips (#3).
10. Note that the CWS Plus is usually shipped in the bypass position. There is a bypass valve knob
on both the inlet and the outlet (Fig 3 #1). You can easily tell if it is in bypass because the two
knobs will be in line with each other (Fig 4). If the valve is in the Service position (Fig 5) the
knobs will be parallel to each other. Make sure both sides are in the by-pass position.
11. Do NOT remove the red clips in order to put the bypass valve in either bypass or service, it is not
necessary nor desired to remove the red clips on the bypass valve hand knobs (see Fig 3 item 1,
which are the knobs you will turn to move the bypass valves).
12. Now install your water pipes to the CWS Plus bypass end connectors. Make sure inlet is
installed to the 'In" pipe connector on the bypass valve and outlet is on the “Out” connector.
13. Connect some flexible tubing from the drain connection on the CWS Plus control valve to a
suitable drain such as a septic tank or drain to a sewer. It is OK to run the drain line up and over
the CWS Plus Sediment Filter up to 4 feet above the top of the tank. If the drain line will be
more than 20 feet, use larger diameter tubing such as ¾” or 1”. Note that it is desirable to be
able to run the drain line into a bucket in order to test the backwash flow rate in the future.
This is why hard piping the drain line is discouraged, however, if you do use hard PVC piping for
the drain line, and you are able to remove the hard PVC drain piping and attach flexible tubing
should you ever desire for testing purposes, it is OK to use rigid PVC pipe for the drain. Make
sure the drain tubing is firmly clamped to the barbed fitting with a hose clamp to prevent leaks.
2
3
3
Bypass Knobs
(service position)

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14. Plug your CWS Plus control valve into an outlet. After being plugged in, the screen may display
“WAITING PLEASE” while it finds the service position. By default, the control valve will be set to
work like a Water Softener, but that’s not correct for this application. So, next you will need to
program the system to work as a Carbon Filter. There are a few settings that must be changed
before the system can be put into service.
15. PROGRAMMING:
a. First, press the menu button labeled once. If it says “SCREEN LOCKED,” you may
have to press and hold the upper left button labeled about 3 seconds until a beep
sounds to unlock the display screen.
b. NOTE: Use the up and down arrows to cycle through the various program settings. To
change any setting, press ‘ ’. When the display flashes, the value may be changed.
Press either the up or down arrow to change the value. Press ‘ ’ once more to accept
the value, and the display should stop flashing to indicate that the setting has been
saved.
c. Step 1: REGIONAL US GAL (this stands for US gallons format, if it is different, change it
to US GAL). When it is set, press the down button to proceed to the next step.
d. Step 2: The display should be set to: “CALENDAR CLOCK”. By default, the system is
most likely set to “METER IMMEDIATE” or “METER DELAYED.” We recommend
CALENDAR CLOCK for the operation of your Carbon Filter, to backwash a set number of
days. Change the setting, then press the down arrow to proceed to the next step.
e. Step 3: TIME- set the time of day. Press the down button to proceed.
f. Step 4: REG. TIME - Set to 2:00 AM generally or sometime when no water is being used, and no
other filter or softener is likely to be in a regeneration cycle. Then press the down button.
g. Step 5: REG. DAYS - This tells the carbon filter how often to regenerate in days. It can be
set for any setting from 1 to 10, with 7 being the recommended common setting. If you
are having some problems with bleed-through of chlorine (or whatever else it is that is
being filtered out) after the carbon filter has been online for a few days, you may want
to change it to 2 or 3 days.
h. Step 6: BACKWASH - Stands for Backwash length in minutes. It should be set to 10 MIN
which means 10 minutes of backwash. If your water is extremely high in iron you can
change this setting to 12 or 14 minutes to allow some extra backwash time, but 10
minutes is a good setting. Press the down button one time.

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i. Step 7: BRINE –This stands for Brine Draw. This doesn’t really apply to your carbon
filter, so lower it to the absolute minimum value, which is 3. This cycle is 3 minutes long
and should display: 3 MIN. Then, press the down button one time.
j. Step 8: RINSE - This is the Rapid Rinse cycle and should display: 10 MIN. Press the
down button one more time.
k. Step 9: REFILL - This step does not really apply to your carbon filter. Lower it all the
way to 00.0. When it is set properly, it should display: 00.0 MIN. Press the down
button one time.
l. Programming is finished- to exit, press the upper menu button one more time to
return to Service mode.
16. Now you can start the initial manual backwash. Turn the manual knob clockwise to “BA. WA”
and a manual backwash will begin.
17. Very slowly turn the inlet knob on the bypass valve towards the service position, but DO NOT
open the valve all the way. We want to allow all of the air in the tank to escape before allowing
the water to flow freely. The bypass valve knobs may be a little stiff at first.
18. Once water begins to flow from the drain line open the inlet valve all the way. Continue to let
the water run from the drain line for about five minutes or until any media fines in the water are
no longer present.
19. If possible verify that the backwash flow is 5 gallons per minute, which is the recommended
backwash flow rate for 0.75. If you have a 1 or 1.5 cubic foot Sediment Filter, it should be
backwashing at 7 gallons per minute. You can easily run the drain hose to a bucket and using a
watch verify the flow rate in gallons per minute. An adequate backwash is critical to properly
clean the Sediment media and prevent it from cementing together.
20. Once the water is clear, press any button to advance to the “Rinse” position. Once again, allow
the water to flow for about five minutes or until the water is clear.
21. Press any button to advance to the “Service” position. Next, open the outlet on the bypass valve
and then open the nearest treated water faucet to the unit and allow the water to run until it is
clear. We advise using a bathtub, laundry sink, or other fixture that does not have an aerator
screen as any remaining residue may get caught in the screen.
22. Refer to your CWS Plus service manual for more information about how your control valve is
programmed if desired.

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Troubleshooting the CWS Plus Sediment Filter
One problem that may occur is if you do not have enough backwash flow rate to properly clean the
Sediment filter. You can verify the backwash flow rate by running the drain line into a bucket and timing
it when the CWS Plus is in Cycle 1 or backwash. A 1.0 or 1.5 cubic foot system should have 5 gallons per
minute and a 2.5 cubic foot system should have 10 gallons per minute of backwash.
In some cases, the CWS Plus may not be programmed correctly. See the CWS Plus service manual for
instructions on how to access the master programming.
What to Do If Your Filter Tank Does Not Sit Level on the Floor
Your black filter tank base is not glued to the bottom of your tank. Occasionally tank bases will become
crooked during shipment. If you find that that your tank does not sit level on the floor, you can easily
adjust it by holding the empty tank and rapping it on a concrete or solid floor once or twice in order to
level it.
How To Remove Media From Control Head
Sometimes, when doing the Initial Backwash, the media gets lifted up into the control head. You can
tell this happened because you will have little or no flow, either going out to drain while in the backwash
positon, or when in the service positon.
To remove media from a control head, do the following:
1) Put the Inlet Bypass in the Closed position.
2) From the Service Mode, initiate a manual regeneration, by pressing and holding the regen button
(button on far left).
3) The valve will advance to the BW (backwash) position, and start counting down. Press the Regen
button again, and wait for the valve to advance and stop at the Rapid Rinse (RR) position.
4) With the valve in the RR position, open and close the Inlet Bypass valve several times. After the third
or fourth time, leave it in the open position and check the drain line- do you have a good solid flow?
90% of the time, the answer is yes, but sometimes, even after opening and closing the valve many times,
you still don’t have good flow… But, in either case (good or no flow), continue…
5) With the Inlet Valve OFF, Advance the valve back to Service position again, and again press and hold
the Regen button, we are putting the valve back to the Backwash position.
6) Open the Inlet valve just enough so you can hear the water passing thru the valve- you should notice
a corresponding slow flow out of the drain line. After a minute, if there are no air bubbles present, open
the valve about another quarter inch- again, you should see a corresponding increase in the flow… And
you will continue until the valve is full open.
IMPORTANT:

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Any time that you are in the Backwash or Rapid Rinse position, you may need to unplug the power- this
will hold the valve in its current position, so it doesn’t ‘time out’ and go to the next position. When you
plug the valve back in, after a minute it will return to where it was when you unplugged it (i.e. 2:32
remaining in BW). Understand, it is not possible to jam media into the head while in Rapid Rinse, or
Service, just in the Backwash, when the flow direction is reversed.
What you are trying to accomplish, after you have pushed the media back in to the tank in the Rapid
Rinse position, is to get the Inlet valve all the way open in the Backwash position, without it jamming
media back in the head, and this is the part where you have to go slow, open up the Inlet valve a little
bit at a time and let it run for a few minutes- this is why you may have to unplug it- and then, once you
have done that, finally, do one more backwash, starting with the Inlet valve open, just as it will be when
it does it automatically at night. Once it does that successfully, you are done.