Fleck 5600 Ecominder - Salt setting for very hard water

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r2d2

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Hi guys,

I know there are lots of threads about this topic, but I'm still a bit puzzled about which settings should I use for my Fleck 5600. Hardness in my well water is 600 ppm (yes, very hard water), which gives a 35 grain figure. So I purchased a 1 cu. ft. resin unit form the local dealer and set the dial as follows for a 2 person house:

capacity: 32,000 / 0.75 = 24,000 grain
people: 75 gal x 2 = 150 gal
hardness: 600 ppm / 17.1 = 35 grain

Regeneration cycle: (24,000/35) - 150 = 535 gal

I set the black dial to regenerate every 500 gal usage. Is this correct?

Now, I was doing some research for the salt setting on the back if the control valve (white cam). I found that most people use a setting of 9 lbs. for a 1 cu. ft. unit, but mine is set at 18 lbs. With this setting, my brine tank would nearly overflow after eeach brine refill cycle at the end of the regeneration. Water level is around 6 inches below the overflow orifice in the tank. Is this normal? Is the salt setting of 18 lbs. correct or should I use less?

Thanks for any help guys.

Greetings form Chile!

Arturo
 

Reach4

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18 pounds of salt for 3/4 cubic ft of resin is way high. Even if you mean 18 pounds per cubic ft of resin, that is still way high. Ideally you would have gotten a bigger softener. For your calculations, 75 gallons per day per person is above average. Maybe consider backing off that reserve from 150 to 120 or even 100?

You did not state a number for iron or manganese. If we presume zero for those, consider 8 or 10 pounds of salt per cubic ft (6 or 7.5 actual pounds) per regen, expect 18000 or 20250 grains of capacity respectively. Your softener will regen more often, but you will be using less salt.

With 18 pounds of salt programmed in, the softener should have been putting 6 gallons of water into the brine tank each time.
 

ditttohead

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A 1 Cu Ft resin system should be regenerated at approximately 24,000 grains with an 8 pounds of salt per CF regeneration. The salt setting is on the back of the valve, remove the cover and you will see it. Set it to 8 pounds.

Your system is undersized for your application, but. it will work, you will simply waste a bit of salt and water.

Get a real test kit, Hach 5B is the best one for your application. Do you have any other competing ions? Iron, Manganese, or any other water problems? Have you had a real well test done? If you are going to be a DIY'r, you really need to have a real hardness test kit at minimum.
 

r2d2

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Thanks for your replies. I have ordered a Hach 5B test kit. Should get it down here mid next week. Will let you know the numbers as soon as I do the test.
 

r2d2

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I finally received the kit and performed the test. Water hardness from the well is 65 grains per gallon (1,114 ppm). Any comments on the setting I should use? Another interesting thing I discovered is that even when the resin tank is 1 cu ft, the dealer sold me a valve with blue injector / throat and 3.5 gal drain orifice. I understand that configuration is used for larger resin tanks. He knew this water was very hard, maybe that's the reason?
 

Reach4

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With the Hach 5-B, you should dilute your sample with 2 parts distilled water and 1 part tested water. Then multiply that result by 3. This is because the test is only specified up to 30 grains. I don't know if not diluting hurts accuracy, or they don't want you to have to use up your solution so quickly by counting out 65 drops.

I don't know about the injector. I think your math in the first post is good, but you would need to change the 35 to the new hardness value. Let us know the new value that the dilution method shows.

Your system was undersized for 35 grains. It is more undersized for 65 grains.
 

ditttohead

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Your system is completely undersized, not even close.

Your compensated hardness should be near 75 GPG, but do as Reach said, dilute your sample to get a more accurate test. The larger DLFC size has no bearing on hardness. Backwash rates are based on water temperature. A typical softener needs 5 GPM per ft2 at approximately 65 degrees. Warmer water would use higher DLFC rates, colder water would use lower. This is due to waters varying density at varying temperatures. A 5600 typically uses a #1 White injector but again, the injector size varies with many factors including settings, efficiencies, ....
 
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