Fleck 5810SXT bizarre behavior

[Smith333]

A few weeks ago I changed some master settings on my softener's Fleck 5810SXT. The next day, I noticed that the "gallons remaining" on the display was 10 gallons HIGHER than it was the day before. The day after, it was another 18 gallons higher. Over the next few days I investigated and ruled out possible causes. As the days went by, the gallons remaining continued to increase each day in increments between 10 to 25 gallons. I finally discovered what was happening. I have the softener set to regenerate at 3:45 PM every 21 days. When the softener's clock changes from 3:44PM to 3:45PM every single day since making the initial changes, the gallons remaining suddenly jumps a random amount between 10 and 25 gallons. I confirmed this by setting the clock to 3:44PM several times. Each time the clock advanced to 3:45PM, the gallons remaining jumped a random amount between 10 and 25 gallons.

I went into master settings and changed the regeneration time. Upon exiting master programming, "gallons remaining" suddenly DROPPED by 225 gallons. I proceeded to set the clock to one minute before the newly set regeneration time, and the problem recurred.

When I use soft water, the "gallons remaining" drops as it should.

Anyone know what could be going on and how to fix this?

 

[BDrivenByDemons]

I had some weird problems with mine too. Settings would change on their own after a power fail. Pentair tech support had me do a master reset and all was good after that. Hold the extra cycle button while powering up the valve. This will wipe everything so be prepared.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Asker123]

5810 SXT has definitely something weird about it. Read my following thread. 5810 SXT once threw error 4 on me and filled my brine tank with lots and lots of water. Luckily powering down and replug fixed its settings but I had to deal with extra water.

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/high-water-in-brine-tank-fleck-5810-error-code-4.103097/#post-741397

 

[Smith333]

Thanks, I just performed the factory reset and re-entered all of the settings, but the problem still persists. I fear that it has somehow been corrupted. It's not even 2 years old!

 

[BDrivenByDemons]

Thanks, I just performed the factory reset and re-entered all of the settings, but the problem still persists. I fear that it has somehow been corrupted. It's not even 2 years old!

Go to the pentair website and send them an e-mail. The guy I worked with was super helpful.

 

[Smith333]

Thanks, I will contact their customer support and let you know how that goes.

 

[Reach4]

When you change the programming, I think the count starts over.
Example of automatic:
RS = cr ; Cr = base reserve on recent experience
DO = 30 ; Day Override (typ 30 if no iron/Mn)

The valve starts with a pretty pessimistic reserve number, and then watches your experience for the various days of the week to get a better idea of the needed reserve with time. I got impatient with that, and I switched to a fixed reserve:
Example of fixed reserve:
RS = rc ; rc says use gallons vs percent
RC = 180 ; Reserve capacity gallons
DO = 30 ; Day Override (typ 30 if no iron/Mn)

If you want no jumping around, you can switch to a fixed reserve.

 

[Asker123]

How does the Reserve capacity work? When all the gallons provided by the valve after Regen are consumed, valve will add 180 gallons ( in the example above) and then when all the 180 gallons are consumed , it will regen. Lets say your Regen time is 2 AM and if 20 Gallons left at that time, the valve will not regen. Next morning you consume 100 gallons. Now you are 80 gallons over the reserve. In this case the valve Regen on the next night 2 am regardless of how many gallon you consume over the Reserved capacity. Is this assumption correct?

 

[Reach4]

Let R represent the reserve, in gallons. The display will show C/H-R as remaining gallons right after regen or reprogramming. (softener thinks it has been regenerated after reprogramming, so you may need to trigger a regen manually before the softener would have regenerated on its own.
Once the count-down gets to zero, it shows that on the display... I forget exactly how, but I think it includes an R. And it may have a count-up number rather that the regular count-down.

Then once you are in reserve, the softener regenerates at 2am if the RT is set to 2am.

 

[Smith333]

You know what, you nailed it Reach4. When I changed the settings I had changed the reserve capacity from safety factor (SF) to variable (cr) without realizing it. I just changed it back to safety factor and the "problem" disappeared. Thanks!

 

[Reach4]

I like RS = RC better than RS=SF. RC is in gallons. SF is in percent of capacity.

If my hardness were to change, I could leave the RC days as they are. Both of those are fixed rather than adaptive.