Fleck 5600SXT 64K Settings Help Requested

[Aaroninnh]

Wanted to thank Reach and other contributors for the posts. I was able to program my new fleck 5600sxt 64,000 grain system based on the settings recommended. Thanks again for all the knowledgeable posts. Can't emphasize how helpful they were!

That said, I set my hardness to 19 possibly temporarily as the average hardness according to the city is 17. I ordered the Hach 5-B, but it has yet to arrive, so until then just going with the average city hardness.

I just forced a regeneration and will wait awhile before testing.

In the meantime, I did have a question on the salt. Is there a recommended type of salt to use...ie. smaller crystals vs. pellets? I remember a water softener guy telling me for our old house system that the crystals were the only way to go because the system can handle them easier and they don't get stuck. Is that correct? Also, is it recommended or is it okay to fill the brine tank all the way up to max capacity with salt (I believe four bags for my tank) or is there a certain amount of salt to keep in there based on the 5 gallons or so of water? I'm having a hard time understanding how the 5 gallons of water will break the salt down if it's filled to capacity. Or does it just break down the salt that's submersed in the water until it cycles through and processes the salt little by little?

Ive always filled my salt tank pretty much up to the top, but not covering brine well. Don't let it get super low. Refill when it gets down to 1/3 or 1/2 of salt.

I buy the morton or diamond yellow bags, since they have the additive to help keep the resin clean (i think its just citric acid or something). If you have iron go with the green ones. Some people like solar salt.

It all works fine.

 

[Reach4]

In the meantime, I did have a question on the salt. Is there a recommended type of salt to use...ie. smaller crystals vs. pellets? I remember a water softener guy telling me for our old house system that the crystals were the only way to go because the system can handle them easier and they don't get stuck. Is that correct? Also, is it recommended or is it okay to fill the brine tank all the way up to max capacity with salt (I believe four bags for my tank) or is there a certain amount of salt to keep in there based on the 5 gallons or so of water? I'm having a hard time understanding how the 5 gallons of water will break the salt down if it's filled to capacity. Or does it just break down the salt that's submersed in the water until it cycles through and processes the salt little by little?

A gallon of water can dissolve 3 pounds of salt. After that, the brine is saturated.

Each regen, all of the brine gets sucked out. More water is added during the brine fill cycle, and that generates the brine that will get sucked out next time.

I like pellets. It's cheaper where I am, and has fewer non-solubles. Others like solar salt.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Elias Dainese]

Roger that. Sounds like pellets are the overwhelming favorite. I suppose I'll give the pellets a try and see how that goes. Thanks.

 

[Jeff Ho]

Wanted to thank Reach and other contributors for the posts. I was able to program my new fleck 5600sxt 64,000 grain system based on the settings recommended. Thanks again for all the knowledgeable posts. Can't emphasize how helpful they were!

That said, I set my hardness to 19 possibly temporarily as the average hardness according to the city is 17. I ordered the Hach 5-B, but it has yet to arrive, so until then just going with the average city hardness.

I just forced a regeneration and will wait awhile before testing.

In the meantime, I did have a question on the salt. Is there a recommended type of salt to use...ie. smaller crystals vs. pellets? I remember a water softener guy telling me for our old house system that the crystals were the only way to go because the system can handle them easier and they don't get stuck. Is that correct? Also, is it recommended or is it okay to fill the brine tank all the way up to max capacity with salt (I believe four bags for my tank) or is there a certain amount of salt to keep in there based on the 5 gallons or so of water? I'm having a hard time understanding how the 5 gallons of water will break the salt down if it's filled to capacity. Or does it just break down the salt that's submersed in the water until it cycles through and processes the salt little by little?

Reach, Bannerman, Ditto, and Aaron have been the most helpful!

 

[Jeff Ho]

Wanted to thank Reach and other contributors for the posts. I was able to program my new fleck 5600sxt 64,000 grain system based on the settings recommended. Thanks again for all the knowledgeable posts. Can't emphasize how helpful they were!

That said, I set my hardness to 19 possibly temporarily as the average hardness according to the city is 17. I ordered the Hach 5-B, but it has yet to arrive, so until then just going with the average city hardness.

I just forced a regeneration and will wait awhile before testing.

In the meantime, I did have a question on the salt. Is there a recommended type of salt to use...ie. smaller crystals vs. pellets? I remember a water softener guy telling me for our old house system that the crystals were the only way to go because the system can handle them easier and they don't get stuck. Is that correct? Also, is it recommended or is it okay to fill the brine tank all the way up to max capacity with salt (I believe four bags for my tank) or is there a certain amount of salt to keep in there based on the 5 gallons or so of water? I'm having a hard time understanding how the 5 gallons of water will break the salt down if it's filled to capacity. Or does it just break down the salt that's submersed in the water until it cycles through and processes the salt little by little?

It is usually best practice NOT to fill up the entire brine tank with salt. I believe it increases the chances of forming a salt bridge. We have the same softener Elias and Reach, Ditto, and all these guys helped me set it up on ideal settings. I currently have my capacity set at 48k and my BF setting at 11. That adds 5.5 gallons of water into my tank. I only fill the salt so that it is about an inch above the water which is about 2/3 of the way full.

 

[Bannerman]

A softener is an appliance that should not need constant supervision. It will be typically equipped with a large enough brine tank to allow several months use without refilling. Once the salt is consumed to where the brine begins to become visible above the top of the salt, refill the tank at that point.

I regularly follow this practice with my own softener and in 20-years use, have never experienced a salt bridge.

Although you maybe initially anxious and frequently check when using a softener is a new experience, once you have an idea of how long it is taking for the salt to drop to where the brine tank needs to be refilled, you could then set a repeating entry in your phone's calendar as a reminder of when to check.

 

[Elias Dainese]

Good stuff, Gents. Will definitely put those points into practice.

Also, as a follow up, my Hach 5-B kit came in from Amazon yesterday and I was anxious to test my water right away. I averaged between 20 and 21 drops to turn it blue on the water from my spigot. I tested all the bathrooms cold water and they only took one drop to go blue. I was surprised to learn that our kitchen faucet was running hard water as it took 20 drops as well. Why would the kitchen not be hooked into the softener? Is that common practice? Does this mean that the dishwasher isn't running soft water? At any rate, I adjusted H to 22 to account for compensation as suggested by Reach (even though the water was testing at 1 drop with H at 19, I feel more comfortable moving it up to 22).

Lastly, just to be sure, I have my C set to 42 and BF at 8 based on the chart that Reach referenced. We are a family of 7, so I'm wondering if maybe C is a little low. I calculated that we use about 420 gallons of water per day (7 people x 60), so RC is set to 420.

 

[Aaroninnh]

Good stuff, Gents. Will definitely put those points into practice.
Why would the kitchen not be hooked into the softener? Is that common practice? Does this mean that the dishwasher isn't running soft water? At any rate, I adjusted H to 22 to account for compensation as suggested by Reach (even though the water was testing at 1 drop with H at 19, I feel more comfortable moving it up to 22).

Yes, that is somewhat common. Often the kitchen faucet is on hard water so people can cook without the additional sodium in the water that a softener adds. I think a better idea is to put in a reverse osmosis spigot in the kitchen...thats what I did.

Dishwasher is generally connected to hot water, which would usually be soft...so your DW is likely on soft water.

 

[Jeff Ho]

Good stuff, Gents. Will definitely put those points into practice.

Also, as a follow up, my Hach 5-B kit came in from Amazon yesterday and I was anxious to test my water right away. I averaged between 20 and 21 drops to turn it blue on the water from my spigot. I tested all the bathrooms cold water and they only took one drop to go blue. I was surprised to learn that our kitchen faucet was running hard water as it took 20 drops as well. Why would the kitchen not be hooked into the softener? Is that common practice? Does this mean that the dishwasher isn't running soft water? At any rate, I adjusted H to 22 to account for compensation as suggested by Reach (even though the water was testing at 1 drop with H at 19, I feel more comfortable moving it up to 22).

Lastly, just to be sure, I have my C set to 42 and BF at 8 based on the chart that Reach referenced. We are a family of 7, so I'm wondering if maybe C is a little low. I calculated that we use about 420 gallons of water per day (7 people x 60), so RC is set to 420.

That fooled me as well Elias. LOL. What Aaron says makes sense on why the kitchen cold bypasses the softener.

My guess is for a family of 7 you might want to increase the capacity. I have a family of 5 and go with the 48k setting and 8lb salt settings.

 

[Bannerman]

Running unsoftened to the kitchen cold faucet had been fairly common in the past due to concerns with additional sodium. While concern maybe justified when the amount of hardness being removed is excessive, for most installations, unless there is a medical reason, the level of sodium is not much of a concern.

Here is a link to a writeup about the amount of sodium in softened water: https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/154

go with the 48k setting and 8lb salt settings.

That will be 8 lbs salt per cubic foot of resin (8 lbs/ft3).

 

[Reach4]

Running unsoftened to the kitchen cold faucet had been fairly common in the past due to concerns with additional sodium. While concern maybe justified when the amount of hardness being removed is excessive, for most installations, unless there is a medical reason, the level of sodium is not much of a concern.

Don't water your plants with softened water.