Softener settings help

[Rick Sims]

Hello,

newbie here, seems like a very informative forum, thanks for having me. been looking for info on here, but looks like everyone's situations are a bit different due to water quality.
I did a little research and purchased what I thought would suit my needs for this unit for my home. I basically went by ppm of our water and having city water to decided on my purchase. I hope I got the right one, It's the "Fleck Iron pro 2 5600sxt digital 64000 grain".

replacing old Culligan mark 100

My ppm is 700

2 people in household w/ grand kids visiting often

I have the ability of replacing this unit myself, just don't have the knowledge to set it to the right settings to run most efficient. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Reach4]

My ppm is 700

Is that hardness in ppm?

What is the iron and manganese?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Rick Sims]

Is that hardness in ppm?

What is the iron and manganese?

yes, I used tds&ec meter it reads ppm on it. the research I did you take my 700ppm divide by 17.1 and that gives the hardness "gpg" of 40.9 correct?

I don't know iron and manganese levels. how do I check? I presume with a kit?

 

[Reach4]

While TDS puts an upper bound on hardness, it does not measure hardness. After your water gets softened, the TDS will be about the same.

If well water, you should get a lab test. I like kit 90 from http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/

Is the inside of your toilet tank rust colored?

If city water, your iron would be zero.

Here is some preliminary/temporary settings pending the lab results. This presumes BLFC=0.5, which is common. Look for a label near the brine line.

System info (not programmed)
salt lb/cuft = 6 ; A choice ( efficiency vs capacity)
BLFC = 0.5 ; Brine Refill rate GPM
cubic ft resin = 2 ; ft3 resin = (nominal grains)/32,000
Raw hardness = 30 ; including any compensation
People = 3 ; gallons affects reserve calc
Estimated gal/day = 180 ; 60 gal per person typical calc
Estimated days/regen =20.20; Computed days ignoring reserve
Fleck 5600SXT Settings:
DF = Gal ; Units
VT = dF1b ; Downflw/Upflw, Single Backwash
CT = Fd ; Meter Delayed regen trigger
NT = 1 ; Number of tanks
C = 40.0 ; capacity in 1000 grains
H = 11 ; Hardness-- 10 drops plus small compensation.
RS = rc ; rc says use gallons vs percent
RC = 180 ; Reserve capacity gallons
DO = 28 ; Day Override
RT = 2:00 ; Regen time (default 2 AM)
BW = 5 ; Backwash (minutes)
Bd = 60 ; Brine draw minutes
RR = 5 ; Rapid Rinse minutes
BF = 8 ; Brine fill minutes
FM = usually t0.7 or p0.7 ; flow meter, make note of what is there

See (FM: http://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?attachments/img_fleck5600sxt_flow-png.31592/)

 

[Rick Sims]

While TDS puts an upper bound on hardness, it does not measure hardness. After your water gets softened, the TDS will be about the same.

If well water, you should get a lab test. I like kit 90 from http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/

Is the inside of your toilet tank rust colored?

If city water, your iron would be zero.

I have city water Reach4, so do you suggest I get a test kit and check hardness, manganese and whatever else? I already have the new water softner, just need recommendations on how to correctly set it

 

[Reach4]

I have city water Reach4, so do you suggest I get a test kit and check hardness, manganese and whatever else? I already have the new water softner, just need recommendations on how to correctly set it

In that case, iron and manganese =0.

Look at the report from the city. If it is not on the web, phone the water department and ask. They may give hardness. If it is Lake Michigan water, set hardness to 8. Increase DO to 28 rather than the 7 I preliminarily wrote above. The water in your city may be from wells, in which case H will be much bigger than lake water. If from wells, typically you would program in the top of the range plus a bit more. You don't want to program for the average.

For your own test, it would be good to get the Hach 5-B hardness test. You can check the incoming water yourself, but you can also check the softened water.

 

[Rick Sims]

In that case, iron and manganese =0.

Look at the report from the city. If it is not on the web, phone the water department and ask. They may give hardness. If it is Lake Michigan water, set hardness to 8. Increase DO to 28 rather than the 7 I preliminarily wrote above. The water in your city may be from wells, in which case H will be much bigger than lake water. If from wells, typically you would program in the top of the range plus a bit more. You don't want to program for the average.

For your own test, it would be good to get the Hach 5-B hardness test. You can check the incoming water yourself, but you can also check the softened water.

I will look into the city for info on hardness and what water source we have. I appreciate your input sir

 

[ditttohead]

I would recommend getting a Hach 5B test kit. A tds tester is useful for testing the performance of an RO but not much else. Sodium, chloride, sulfates, calcium, magnesium etc will all register on a tds meter. A softener replaces calcium and magnesium with sodium, (very simplified explanation), so the tds will be very similar. FYI, a tds meter is actually a conductivity meter that "best guesses" the tds through a known math equation that is wildly variable and not very accurate, but... definitely close enough for most uses.

 

[Rick Sims]

I would recommend getting a Hach 5B test kit. A tds tester is useful for testing the performance of an RO but not much else. Sodium, chloride, sulfates, calcium, magnesium etc will all register on a tds meter. A softener replaces calcium and magnesium with sodium, (very simplified explanation), so the tds will be very similar. FYI, a tds meter is actually a conductivity meter that "best guesses" the tds through a known math equation that is wildly variable and not very accurate, but... definitely close enough for most uses.

thanks ditttohead for the response,
I did buy that tester for my ro system, but for some reason thought the ppm reading would help me get a hardness reading. now I know, glad I found you guys. I will get it tested and post results. hopefully your help can get my new system up and running at it full potential. I'm kind of anal when it comes to getting the most out of something effeciently.

thanks again,
Rick

 

[Rick Sims]

got my Hach 5B test completed. It took 10 drops, so I'm guessing take that multiply by 17.1 = 171 ppm. and the city water is run of wells.

so if you don't need anything else, can I get some settings for my new softner?

thanks again,
Rick

 

[Reach4]

so if you don't need anything else, can I get some settings for my new softner?

Change to H=11 -- 10 drops plus small compensation.

DO=28 due to no iron or manganese (city water)

New longer prediction of how long between regenerations.

Changes entered in bold up top.

Watch to see if the city water hardness changes or if you detect hardness bleed-through.

 

[Rick Sims]

these settings are for "Fleck Iron pro 2 5600sxt digital 64000 grain"? so "c" will be 40 instead of 64?
same for "bf" 8 not 13?

 

[Reach4]

these settings are for "Fleck Iron pro 2 5600sxt digital 64000 grain"? so "c" will be 40 instead of 64?

Yes.
There are lots of articles and discussions. Here is one: https://www.aquatell.com/pages/understanding-true-water-softener-capacity

Here are some alternative C and BF settings you could use:

BLFC = 0.5
Cubic ft resin = 2
lb/cuft ; C= ; BF=
4 ; 30.4 ; 5
5 ; 36.4 ; 7
6 ; 40.0 ; 8
7 ; 44.1 ; 9
8 ; 48.0 ; 11
9 ; 51.3 ; 12
10 ; 54.0 ; 13
11 ; 56.0 ; 15
12 ; 57.5 ; 16
13 ; 58.6 ; 17
14 ; 59.4 ; 19
15 ; 60.0 ; 20

The less salt per cubic ft, the more salt efficient, but more hardness breakthrough. The sweet area is in bold.

 

[Rick Sims]

awesome, I will start with #6.

thanks

 

[Rick Sims]

so the way I understand it, It will regenerate about every 20 days?

about how much salt per regeneration will that be?

 

[Reach4]

so the way I understand it, It will regenerate about every 20 days?

about how much salt per regeneration will that be?

6*2=12 pounds. So roughly a 40 pound bag every other month.

The 20 days is an estimate based on using 180 gallons of softened water per day. Actually it would be about 19 days, since every night at 2AM, the softener checks to see if computes it has 180 gallons of capacity left to make it through another day. If not, it regenerates.

If your water got harder, you would increase H. The days estimate would shorten.

 

[Rick Sims]

got everything hooked up and programmed. do I need to let it sit and wait for regeneration at 2 AM? or can I run a manual regeneration now, and if so how do I manually do that?

 

[Bannerman]

Have you manually added some water to the brine tank? Since the Brine Fill cycle is usually programmed as the final stage of the Regeneration Cycle, water is programmed to be added to the Brine tank at the end, to prepare brine for the next regen cycle.

To initiate a regeneration cycle that night at the programmed regen time (ie: 2am), tap the extra cycle once. To initiate an immediate regen cycle, press and hold the extra cycle button for 5 seconds.

 

[Rick Sims]

Have you manually added some water to the brine tank? Since the Brine Fill cycle is usually programmed as the final stage of the Regeneration Cycle, water is added to the Brine tank to prepare brine for the next regen cycle.

To initiate a regeneration cycle that night at the programmed regen time (ie: 2am), tap the extra cycle once. To initiate an immediate regen cycle, press and hold the extra cycle button for 5 seconds.

no water in brine tank yet. How much? couple gallons??
I think I will regenerate now Instead of waiting till 2AM

thanks

 

[Bannerman]

If there is no salt added to the tank yet, the manual suggests 1" water above the salt grid (platform) if your brine tank has one, or to above the air check screen which is at the bottom of the brine well (the pipe where the brine pickup valve and float is located).

A couple gallons will work as that will be drawn in and the correct amount of water will be added at the end so as to dissolve the specific quantity of salt you have programmed.

Before starting a regen, suggest opening a faucet downstream from the softener for a few minutes, to allow trapped air to escape.