How To Remove the Piston and Seal/Spacer on the Aqualux Prosoft Water Softener

The piston and seal/spacer are two very important components of the Aqualux Prosoft softener and any of our backwashing filters including our AIO iron filter systems. Certain troubleshooting steps may involve removing, inspecting, cleaning, and possibly replacing these components. The instructions below will show you how to safely and easily remove these components from your system.

Step 1 is to put the system in bypass and depressurize it. Here are instructions that show you how to do this.

Once the system has been depressurized, disconnect the power cable from the control valve.  Then remove the softener control valve cover.  The image below shows the rear of the valve with the cover removed.

Use a screwdriver to remove the screws indicated by the red arrows.  Please note the location of the painted dot on the black plastic keyhole that's located beside the blue piece in the picture below.

Removing these screws will allow the upper portion of the control valve to be removed which will reveal the upper portion of the piston:

Next, remove the plastic plate that sits around the piston nut. Pay special attention to how this plate is secured in place so that it's easier to put back together. Once the plate is removed you'll be left with this (arrow points to the piston nut):

Now apply a wrench to the piston nut and turn it in a counter clockwise direction to loosen it. Once it is fully loosened the piston can be pulled all the way out. Insert a finger into the hole left by the piston and you'll feel the seal/spacer stack which is a cylindrically-shaped cage with rubber seals on the inside surface. Hook your finger onto this pull it out also.