Advice on my situation of sizing water softener
- Thread starter Loiwin
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Believe it’s a 14” x 34” shaped like a rectangle
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Bannerman
Well-Known Member
You need to ensure there is enough salt remaining to allow the programmed capacity to be restored. Your programmed salt setting is 16lbs to restore 48K capacity. As long as more than 16 lbs salt is within the brine tank, the system will have enough salt. One method to judge and ensure there is enough salt remaining is to observe salt above the water level.
While you mention the height of the water, that liquid height will change depending on the amount of salt in the tank. Even as your 11 minute BF @ 0.5 gpm will add 5.5 gallons to the brine tank, if there is little salt, the liquid height will be significantly lower than when there is plenty of salt.
The liquid height appears to be increasing as every 1 gallon entering the brine tank, will dissolve 3 lbs of salt. As you have added water to the tank multiple times, the salt height is decreasing.
Edit to add: Assuming all brine had been drawn before you halted BF with 5 minutes remaining, then there will only be 3 gallons usable in the brine tank, not 5.5 gallons. As 5.5 gallons is needed to dissolve 16 lbs to restore 48K, then 2.5 gallons will need to be added to the brine tank. As you have now sanitized the system and if the water to the fixtures is clear, suggest allowing the system to regenerate automatically when the programmed capacity has been consumed.
While you mention the height of the water, that liquid height will change depending on the amount of salt in the tank. Even as your 11 minute BF @ 0.5 gpm will add 5.5 gallons to the brine tank, if there is little salt, the liquid height will be significantly lower than when there is plenty of salt.
The liquid height appears to be increasing as every 1 gallon entering the brine tank, will dissolve 3 lbs of salt. As you have added water to the tank multiple times, the salt height is decreasing.
Edit to add: Assuming all brine had been drawn before you halted BF with 5 minutes remaining, then there will only be 3 gallons usable in the brine tank, not 5.5 gallons. As 5.5 gallons is needed to dissolve 16 lbs to restore 48K, then 2.5 gallons will need to be added to the brine tank. As you have now sanitized the system and if the water to the fixtures is clear, suggest allowing the system to regenerate automatically when the programmed capacity has been consumed.
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Banner, great explanation. Since I stopped the BF after 6 minutes, do you recommended adding ~2 gallons hard water for the next regeneration cycle?
If so, should I then add some more salt just to be on the safe side?
Do you guys calculate when to add salt by how many lbs you add -how many regenerations you use to consume that amount added, or do you add salt when level it’s a certain height?
ditttohead
Water systems designer, R&D
Keep the salt tank full of salt. Check the level periodically. The system will refill with a predetermined number of gallons of water so salt levels are not critical.
34 inches high, and 14 inches square at the top, tapering down toward the floor?
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Thanks ditto, will fill it a little higher to about 3/4 full. If I’m using 16 lb salt each regeneration once a month, at what level of salt should I say hey I need to refill? 1/4 high, 1/2 high?
Ioiwin, if I model your tank as a 13 inch square down where the salt is, your 5.5 gallons of water added would be expected to raise the water level by about 7.5 inches. That would be on top of whatever residual brine/water is left after the air check valve cuts off. That lower level could be considerable, especially if you have a salt grid. If I model it as a 12.5 inch square, then I get a predicted 8.1 inches of rise over the low water mark.
Your corners are rounded a bit, so that is part of why I used the smaller squares as models. The other part is the taper. These are not precise numbers by any means.
You keep some salt above the water. Whether you keep the salt level lower, or fill it to the top is up to you. I like lower initially to see things work. I did that. Now I put a lot more salt in than I did during my check-out phase.
Your corners are rounded a bit, so that is part of why I used the smaller squares as models. The other part is the taper. These are not precise numbers by any means.
You keep some salt above the water. Whether you keep the salt level lower, or fill it to the top is up to you. I like lower initially to see things work. I did that. Now I put a lot more salt in than I did during my check-out phase.
Thanks for the thoroughness. So if when after every few months or so I see the salt getting below the water line, then add some more salt? The installer said to add a couple of bags when the salt is a few inches from the bottom. Sorry if I keep asking, I am just unclear of when to actually add salt.
So it’s safe and you’re recommending to add 2.5 gallons water to the tank, add some more salt to be above the new water line, then just allow the softener to do its thing?
If the water level is above all of the salt, the water can stratify. Brine is denser than water.
So keep some salt, or a lot of salt, higher than the water. When I was watching my salt, I would tilt the salt surface, so the water surface was higher than the salt surface in part of my tank, and not others. I now put in more bags now that I feel confident everything is working.
Note that your brine tank is smaller than most. So your water level will be higher than most. In fact, I would try to make sure that your safety float does not limit the fill.
Expect to consume a 44 pound bag of salt about every 2.75 regenerations. I buy my pellets in 44 pound bags, coincidentally.... not that that is relevant to anything. 40 pound and 50 pound bags are common too.
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At my age I hate reading something like this and then questioning my sanity. How does he get 4 regenerations out of a 44 lb. bag when he is using 16 lbs. each time??
You are right. I will edit my error.
Hey guys, hopefully I can get a little more feedback on my mishap with stopping the BF short by 5 minutes. Do you guys recommend I add 2.5 gallons water and top it off with some more salt so the next regeneration has adequate water to regenerate 16lbs for 48k grains? Thanks all, I really do appreciate all your time
Bannerman
Well-Known Member
This was already addressed in post #83.
With regard to the salt level, fill the brine tank to the top. Let's say your tank can hold 6 - 40 lb bags, you can then anticipate approx 15 regeneration cycles (6 X 40 = 240 lbs / 16 lbs = 15 cycles) before all salt is consumed. Suggest not waiting 15 cycles to top-up but maybe refill when 8 - 10 have taken place. If the softener usually operates 2 weeks between cycles, then you know to add salt every 16 - 20 weeks which you can add to your calendar as a reminder.
Do you think there is no chance that while this is new he will have to maybe raise the brine float because that is limiting the fill, or have to do something else that might be hindered by the brine tank packed full? No harm in letting this thing work through a couple of regular regens before packing it full IMO.
ditttohead
Water systems designer, R&D
The float is easily accessed through the brine well cap even if the tank is full. The float should not need to be adjusted so long as the float is adequately high. The float is nothing more than a safety backup.
OK. He has a small brine tank with a 2 cuft softener. So brine level will be higher than most.
I am glad to hear that safety floats are easily adjusted via the brine well.
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to say thank you all so much for your help, expertise, and quick responses. I can post an update on how the softener is working in the next month or so. Until then, I’m sure I’ll come up
With a few more questions
Just wanted to say thank you all so much for your help, expertise, and quick responses. I can post an update on how the softener is working in the next month or so. Until then, I’m sure I’ll come up
With a few more questions
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