Ok, so I purchased a Fleck 5812 SXT with 64k Grains (10% crosslink resin) from https://www.discountwatersofteners....leck-5812-sxt-on-demand-water-softener-1-1-4/
I previously had another water softener installed, but I don't know the actual size of that one, and there are no model numbers on it, so I don't really know what the company used. I don't actually know what hardness this system got us down too, as I never knew how to test it until I found this forum, but I will say we still had some white buildup in our showers. This system was damaged during the Texas Freeze, so I figured I would go with the 5812 with 64k grains which appears to be much larger than the old system.
I have a 4800 sqft home with 6 people living here. My water hardness was an 11 based on Hach 5B test, and this is city water.
After installing the new system, my hardness only went down to a 6 (on whatever the factory settings were). I contacted discountwater and these are the settings they told me to set my fleck 5812 SXT to:
RF Regenerant Flow: DF1b
CT Control Type: Fd
C Unit Capacity: 58,000
H Feedwater hardness: 13
RS Reserve Selection: RC 450
DO Day Override: 14
RT Regen Time: 2:00am
BW: 15
BD: 60
RR: 10
BF: 28
FM Flow Meter Type: t1.2
I set those settings, then waited about 2 weeks, tested again, but still a 6 on the hardness. And now I noticed that there is a lot more water in the salt tank...it's probably 3/4 full of water now, and was probably only a bout 1/4 full previously.
Now, I do have some questions about the install that I'm wondering could be affecting this issue. And bear with me because I am a complete newbie when it comes to all this. So if any of these questions are dumb, or I did something dumb, just smack me.
For the install, I just swapped the two systems out directly, but there were some sizing differences. First, the fleck 5812SXT I ordered apparently is 1 1/4 inch piping, but my water coming from the city is only 1 inch. The old softener system was also 1 inch. I was thinking as long as I went in 1 inch and out 1 inch of the softener the pressure should still be good? But the flow meter type is set to the t1.2 (for the 1 1/4 inch valve). Could that setting be not letting enough water into the softener because it thinks the lines are bigger, and maybe isn't opening long enough or something like that? Or did I just royaly mess up by ordering the wrong size valve?
It could also be me, but it does seem like I have a little less water pressure in the showers than before.
Next, the poly tubing the old system used for the flush line is quite a bit smaller. I just got a fitting to go from the larger size to smaller. Could this be preventing the system from completely flushing and preventing the hardness from reaching the lower level? I think this one will be easy enough for me to switch, and I've already ordered some new polytube. But just curious thoughts on this.
Lastly, do the above settings appear to be appropriate based on number of people, water hardness, etc?
I've attached a few photos of the install in case anyone sees anything out of place?
I previously had another water softener installed, but I don't know the actual size of that one, and there are no model numbers on it, so I don't really know what the company used. I don't actually know what hardness this system got us down too, as I never knew how to test it until I found this forum, but I will say we still had some white buildup in our showers. This system was damaged during the Texas Freeze, so I figured I would go with the 5812 with 64k grains which appears to be much larger than the old system.
I have a 4800 sqft home with 6 people living here. My water hardness was an 11 based on Hach 5B test, and this is city water.
After installing the new system, my hardness only went down to a 6 (on whatever the factory settings were). I contacted discountwater and these are the settings they told me to set my fleck 5812 SXT to:
RF Regenerant Flow: DF1b
CT Control Type: Fd
C Unit Capacity: 58,000
H Feedwater hardness: 13
RS Reserve Selection: RC 450
DO Day Override: 14
RT Regen Time: 2:00am
BW: 15
BD: 60
RR: 10
BF: 28
FM Flow Meter Type: t1.2
I set those settings, then waited about 2 weeks, tested again, but still a 6 on the hardness. And now I noticed that there is a lot more water in the salt tank...it's probably 3/4 full of water now, and was probably only a bout 1/4 full previously.
Now, I do have some questions about the install that I'm wondering could be affecting this issue. And bear with me because I am a complete newbie when it comes to all this. So if any of these questions are dumb, or I did something dumb, just smack me.
For the install, I just swapped the two systems out directly, but there were some sizing differences. First, the fleck 5812SXT I ordered apparently is 1 1/4 inch piping, but my water coming from the city is only 1 inch. The old softener system was also 1 inch. I was thinking as long as I went in 1 inch and out 1 inch of the softener the pressure should still be good? But the flow meter type is set to the t1.2 (for the 1 1/4 inch valve). Could that setting be not letting enough water into the softener because it thinks the lines are bigger, and maybe isn't opening long enough or something like that? Or did I just royaly mess up by ordering the wrong size valve?
It could also be me, but it does seem like I have a little less water pressure in the showers than before.
Next, the poly tubing the old system used for the flush line is quite a bit smaller. I just got a fitting to go from the larger size to smaller. Could this be preventing the system from completely flushing and preventing the hardness from reaching the lower level? I think this one will be easy enough for me to switch, and I've already ordered some new polytube. But just curious thoughts on this.
Lastly, do the above settings appear to be appropriate based on number of people, water hardness, etc?
I've attached a few photos of the install in case anyone sees anything out of place?