Help programming my Fleck5600SXT 40000 grains capacity

[kingrocks]

We are 4 in our house 2 adults and 2kids(8 and 6 years of age). Total 3 bathrooms.
Consumption approximately 5000 gallons on water according to my water bill on an average. My wife is a home maker.

Fleck 5600XT Meter Valve
3/4" stainless steel bypass valve
10x44 Mineral Tank
18x33 round brine tank
1.25 Cu Ft Hi-Capacity Resin, 8% Crosslink
Valve-to-Brine Tank Tubing, 6 Ft. x 3/8"
Brine Tank 2310 Safety Overflow Assembly
Water hardness: 11GPG

Drain flow equals 2.0 gpm
BLFC 0.5GPM
Please guide me on this.

 

[Reach4]

MODIFIED: Note change in C. I had 30.0 before in error.
Here is combo that I think should work well with your city water. Note you can change RC (reserve capacity). Also, FM is probably already set correctly, so if it is not P0.7, then just record what is there. Don't be alarmed at that 3.5 people number. I think you use less than the average group of 4 people.

If RC=210, if at 2 AM there is less than 210 gallons of capacity remaining, softener will regenerate. Otherwise it will check again 24 hours later.

Note I also left the FM value blank since I don't know what you have.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[kingrocks]

Here is combo that I think should work well with your city water. Note you can change RC (reserve capacity). Also, FM is probably already set correctly, so if it is not P0.7, then just record what is there. Don't be alarmed at that 3.5 people number. I think you use less than the average group of 4 people. View attachment 31384
If RC=210, if at 2 AM there is less than 210 gallons of capacity remaining, softener will regenerate. Otherwise it will check again 24 hours later.

Thanks for the reply. What I found from my water utilities was it is 160PPM hardness which counts to 9.14. Do I need to program to 9 or 10? When they did water test it was around 9. How much bags of salt do I need to add per month on an average?

 

[Reach4]

What I found from my water utilities was it is 160PPM hardness which counts to 9.14. Do I need to program to 9 or 10?

I suggest you get a Hach 5B test and do your own checking.

I would probably put in 10. You said 11 in your original post.

How much bags of salt do I need to add per month on an average?

Less than 1 --- more like half a bag depending. Pellets are usually in 40 or 50 pound bags. Don't fill it high. I like to slant my salt so there is a little water visible on the low part of the slope.

Figure about 2/3 pounds per day.

 

[ditttohead]

Here is combo that I think should work well with your city water. Note you can change RC (reserve capacity). Also, FM is probably already set correctly, so if it is not P0.7, then just record what is there. Don't be alarmed at that 3.5 people number. I think you use less than the average group of 4 people. View attachment 31384
If RC=210, if at 2 AM there is less than 210 gallons of capacity remaining, softener will regenerate. Otherwise it will check again 24 hours later.

Watch the last setting, the meter is more commonly a turbine rather than a paddle on the 5600SXT. t0.7 would be the correct setting if you have the turbine meter. This is easily indicated by looking at the item between the valve and the bypass. If it has an easily removable grey meter cable (lift it out) then it is the turbing, if it is the paddle wheel, the meter cable goes into a dome and is secured by a screw. P0.7 is the setting for paddle. If the valve is programmed for the wrong meter, it will not work correctly. The setting references the number of pulses per gallon. The Turbine is 133 pulses per gallon, the paddle is 20. Both meters are durable and should last for many years. I prefer the paddle wheel in more demanding applications, it tends to last longer under higher flow raters for extended periods of time, primarily commercial applications but it is a little longer than the turbine and thus pushed the unit out from the wall a few extra inches.
You could post a picture so we could verify the meter type.

 

[kingrocks]

It is a paddle.

 

[kingrocks]

so what should be the setting if it is paddle?

 

[Reach4]

so what should be the setting if it is paddle?

P0.7 for Fleck 3/4" Paddle Wheel Meter
The table is on page 17 of the P/N 42684 Rev. E of the service manual or column 2 of page 9 on Rev. H. http://waterpurification.pentair.com/Files/KnowledgeBase/ItemDownload/en/42684-rev-h-fe15.pdf

See correction of my earlier post on this thread.

 

[kingrocks]

View attachment 31392 MODIFIED: Note change in C. I had 30.0 before in error.
Here is combo that I think should work well with your city water. Note you can change RC (reserve capacity). Also, FM is probably already set correctly, so if it is not P0.7, then just record what is there. Don't be alarmed at that 3.5 people number. I think you use less than the average group of 4 people.

If RC=210, if at 2 AM there is less than 210 gallons of capacity remaining, softener will regenerate. Otherwise it will check again 24 hours later.

Note I also left the FM value blank since I don't know what you have.

Where to check for FM value?

 

[Reach4]

Where to check for FM value?

When you go into the programming mode, you can see what values are already in place and you can change values.

I tried to put the items in the list in the order that they come up. So when you get to that setting, just note the value, but don't change it unless you have reason to. It seems to me that is very probably already the right value, although I guess somebody could have slipped up.



Other values there can be different conditions and different opinions as to the best number. But what kind of turbine/paddle wheel you have would seem to be not subject to changes and opinions.

I tried to put the items in the same order that I expected them to come as you go through the menu.

 

[Bannerman]

Where to check for FM value?

It's in the Master Programming Mode as shown on page 9 of the linked Service Manual

 

[kingrocks]

to program after i press the up/down button fir 5 seconds, it didn't give me all the options. only H,rc,Do and RT. what needs to be done to program all this?

 

[Reach4]

to program after i press the up/down button fir 5 seconds, it didn't give me all the options. only H,rc,Do and RT. what needs to be done to program all this?

From page 7:

Entering Master Programming Mode
Set the Time Of Day display to 12:01 PM. Press the Extra
Cycle button (to exit Setting Time of Day mode). Then
press and hold the Up and Down buttons together until the
programming icon replaces the service icon and the Display
Format screen appears​

The programming icon is a pencil with dots, and the service icon is a faucet.

Setting the time of day is at the top of page 7.

 

[Bannerman]

One thing not noticed initially:

Drain flow equals 2.0 gpm

If by this you mean the DLFC (drain line flow control) number, then 2.0 gpm is light for a 10" tank. 2.0 gpm is suitable for a 9" diameter tank whereas 2.4-2.5 gpm is standard for 10". That flow controls the amount of bed expansion during back wash so, your resin's expansion will be less than the 50% generally required for softener resin.

 

[kingrocks]

From page 7:

Entering Master Programming Mode
Set the Time Of Day display to 12:01 PM. Press the Extra
Cycle button (to exit Setting Time of Day mode). Then
press and hold the Up and Down buttons together until the
programming icon replaces the service icon and the Display
Format screen appears​

The programming icon is a pencil with dots, and the service icon is a faucet.

Setting the time of day is at the top of page 7.

After i checked the manual, I was able to do that. Thanks again

 

[kingrocks]

How to know if I need to add more salt? Will it show any message or icon?

 

[Reach4]

No. Peek inside.

I want some salt above water. The reason is that it appears that stratification can occur because brine is more dense than water. I am wondering if I have days between regenerations if the mixing would occur if my salt level was say 2 inches below the surface of the water. I really don't know, so I figure to take the safer approach and presume that the mixing will not occur and that stratification could occur.

I tilt my salt level so that some water is above salt, but when I fill I fill so that most salt is above water. Others Pile it high. The recommendations I have seen from others is generally to fill no more than half full of salt. The potential thing you avoid by filling too full is the "salt bridge". That's where the salt above the water fuses to make a solid structure and the salt below gets dissolved out. By seeing some water above salt in my tank I am confident that no salt bridge occurs. I suspect I am overly concerned.

 

[kingrocks]

No. Peek inside.

I want some salt above water. The reason is that it appears that stratification can occur because brine is more dense than water. I am wondering if I have days between regenerations if the mixing would occur if my salt level was say 2 inches below the surface of the water. I really don't know, so I figure to take the safer approach and presume that the mixing will not occur and that stratification could occur.

I tilt my salt level so that some water is above salt, but when I fill I fill so that most salt is above water. Others Pile it high. The recommendations I have seen from others is generally to fill no more than half full of salt. The potential thing you avoid by filling too full is the "salt bridge". That's where the salt above the water fuses to make a solid structure and the salt below gets dissolved out. By seeing some water above salt in my tank I am confident that no salt bridge occurs. I suspect I am overly concerned.

Yesterday when I started programming and using it for the first time, in the instructions it said you need to add 120-160lbs of salt first time. So I added initially 120lbs.

 

[Bannerman]

The salt remaining will need to be checked by looking in the brine tank. There is no sensor or automated reminder for that.

A suggestion is to fill the brine tank no more than about 1/2 way and then check the level on a weekly basis as a matter of habit. That way, a salt bridge is less likely to occur but if it does, you will be able to catch it so as to promptly make corrections.

At 5 minutes BF X 0.5 gpm BLFC means that 2.5 gallons is being replaced to the brine tank each regen cycle. As each gallon will dissolve 3 lbs of salt, your salt consumption is then 7.5 lbs per regen cycle.

 

[Reach4]

Kingrocks, checking weekly initially might give you a sense of things including how often you actually regenerate. Generally I would think monthly, or maybe every 2 months, would be enough in the long run for you since you probably will be using well less than a bag of salt per month.