Need Help with Water Softener Setting -- Fleck 5600 SXT

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randomwalk

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I recently had a 1.5 cubic ft. softener installed with a Fleck 5600 SXT valve. I looked into the settings and think they are currently incorrect. Can you help me with the correct settings?

The sticker near the brine line says 1.5 lbs. of salt / minute, which I think is equivalent to 0.5 gpm?

The sticker near the drain line says "Drain Flow 2.4 gpm" and "Injector 1".

Current Settings:
DF = Gal
VT = dF1b
CT = Fd
NT = 1
C = 48 --> I think this is incorrect. It seems too high.
H = 20 --> This is correct. I tested with Hach HB-5.
RS = rc
RC = 200 (is 200 gallons too low? On a normal day, I don't think we use 200 gallons).
DO = 21
RT = 3:30 AM
BW = 10
BD = 60
RR = 10
BF = 10
FM = t1.0 --> I think this is correct. We do have 1" pipes.

I have seen the Resin Capacity Chart and wish to use the 8 lbs / cubic ft. setting, which seems the best?

In that case, should change the settings to the below?

C = 36
BF = 8

I don't know how the BW, BD, and RR settings are determined. How should I set those?
 

Reach4

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System info (not programmed)
salt lb/cuft = 8 ; A choice ( efficiency vs capacity)
BLFC = 0.5 ; Brine Refill rate GPM
cubic ft resin = 1.5 ; ft3 resin = (nominal grains)/32,000
Compensated hardness = 22 ; including high-hardness compensation
People = 3.3 ; gallons affects reserve calc
Estimated gal/day = 200 ; 60 gal per person typical calc
Estimated days/regen = 8.2 ; Computed days including 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 = 36.0 ; capacity in 1000 grains
H = 22 ; Hardness-- compensate if needed
RS = rc ; rc says use gallons vs percent
RC = 200 ; Reserve capacity gallons
DO = 28 ; Day Override (28 if no iron)
RT = 3:30 ; finishing about 5 am.
BW = 5 ; Backwash (minutes)
Bd = 60 ; Brine draw minutes (could reduce to 50)
RR = 5 ; Rapid Rinse minutes
BF = 8 ; Brine fill minutes
FM = ____0.7 ; https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?attachments/img_fleck5600sxt_flow-png.31592/
(t1.0 is not likely)
 

randomwalk

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Thanks, Reach!

I changed the settings and confirmed that FM = t0.7 is appropriate by filling a 5 gallon jug with water. The meter was accurate using t0.7 instead of t1.0.

Can you tell me the determinants of the BW, BD and RR settings?

Is a longer BW and RR better in that it cleans the resin better, but with the trade off of wasting more water?

What about BD? What is the effect of a longer or shorter BD?

The softener has a drain flow of 2.4 gpm. Is that the rate of water usage during the BW, RR and BD stages?


System info (not programmed)
salt lb/cuft = 8 ; A choice ( efficiency vs capacity)
BLFC = 0.5 ; Brine Refill rate GPM
cubic ft resin = 1.5 ; ft3 resin = (nominal grains)/32,000
Compensated hardness = 22 ; including high-hardness compensation
People = 3.3 ; gallons affects reserve calc
Estimated gal/day = 200 ; 60 gal per person typical calc
Estimated days/regen = 8.2 ; Computed days including 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 = 36.0 ; capacity in 1000 grains
H = 22 ; Hardness-- compensate if needed
RS = rc ; rc says use gallons vs percent
RC = 200 ; Reserve capacity gallons
DO = 28 ; Day Override (28 if no iron)
RT = 3:30 ; finishing about 5 am.
BW = 5 ; Backwash (minutes)
Bd = 60 ; Brine draw minutes (could reduce to 50)
RR = 5 ; Rapid Rinse minutes
BF = 8 ; Brine fill minutes
FM = ____0.7 ; https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?attachments/img_fleck5600sxt_flow-png.31592/
(t1.0 is not likely)
 

Reach4

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Can you tell me the determinants of the BW, BD and RR settings?

Is a longer BW and RR better in that it cleans the resin better, but with the trade off of wasting more water?
BW washes out solids. If there is less to wash out, reduction from the common 10 minutes is OK.
RR reshuffles the resin.
What about BD? What is the effect of a longer or shorter BD?
You want the brine to be drawn in about 15 minutes and the air check valve stops the flow from the brine tank. You want the remainder of the BD cycle to slowly rinse the brine from the resin. The total BD would be about 4 x the amount of time for the brine to be drawn. 3x is usually enough. If fine tuning, you could record the time to draw the brine, and use that to choose BD. Typically BD is 60 minutes rather than attempting fine tuning.

The softener has a drain flow of 2.4 gpm. Is that the rate of water usage during the BW, RR and BD stages?
During BW and RR. BD water use is determined by the injector. There are usually graphs in the service manual.
 

randomwalk

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There's a sticker by the drain line that says "Injector 1". I'm not sure what that means though. How do I tell what injector I have?
 

Reach4

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There's a sticker by the drain line that says "Injector 1". I'm not sure what that means though. How do I tell what injector I have?
That is a #1 Injector - White injector. That is the common injector for 1.5 cuft. You can use the common BD=60, but you could use BD=50 alternatively.
 

NuNovice

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Hi, sorry to revive an old thread, but I was hoping to get some insight on my settings as well:

BLFC = 0.5 ; Brine Refill rate GPM (is this standard? I have a #1 white injection tube)
cubic ft resin = 1.5 ; ft3 resin = (nominal grains)/32,000 --> what is nomial grains?
Compensated hardness = 13 ; including high-hardness compensation
People = 2 ; gallons affects reserve calc
Estimated gal/day = 120 ; 60 gal per person typical calc
Estimated days/regen = ?? ; Computed days including reserve (how do I calculate this?)

DF = Gal
VT = dF1b
CT = Fd
NT = 1
C = 48 --> I've seen in other threads that I should set this as 36 for 1.5cuft
H = 12 --> I've set this as 13 for fluctuations.
RS = rc
RC = 120 --> 2x people I saw in another thread that 60gal/person is typical
DO = 28
RT = 3:00 AM
BW = 5
BD = 60
RR = 5
BF = 12 --> I'm stuck here, I've seen the recommend as 8 or 6, but I'm hoping to understand the formula a bit better.
FM = p0.7
 

Bannerman

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The Capacity setting should be 36,000 grains so as to operate more efficiently. To regenerate 36K grains in 1.5 ft3 resin will require only 12 lbs salt each cycle. Efficiency: 36,000 / 12 = 3,000 gr /lb.

RC = reserve capacity. This will be 1-day usage in gallons. 60 gallons per person is usually a good estimate but your water meter may indicate another consumption rate for your family.

BF = brine fill. For 12 lbs salt, BF: 8 minutes X 0.5 GPM BLFC = 4 gallons water to enter the brine tank. Each gallon will dissolve 3 lbs salt so 12 lbs salt will be dissolved with an 8 minute BF setting.
 

Reach4

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The less salt per cubic ft, the more salt efficient, but more hardness breakthrough.
Revised based on number from https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/help-for-programming-fleck-5810.82673/#post-595983
BLFC = 0.5
cubic ft resin = 1.5
Alternative C and BF pairs:
lb/cuft ; C= ; BF= ; grains/pound of salt

2.000 ; 15.0 ; 2 ; 5011 ;too lean
3.000 ; 20.7 ; 3 ; 4610
4.000 ; 25.1 ; 4 ; 4191; California specifies 4000 or more
5.000 ; 28.7 ; 5 ; 3820
6.000 ; 31.5 ; 6 ; 3503;frequently chosen reasonably softening
7.000 ; 33.9 ; 7 ; 3231; in between the two mos popular choices
8.000 ; 36.0 ; 8 ; 2997; frequently chosen good softening
9.000 ; 37.7 ; 9 ; 2795
10.000 ; 39.3 ; 10 ; 2617; uses more salt
11.000 ; 40.6 ; 11 ; 2461
12.000 ; 41.8 ; 12 ; 2323; uses even more salt

Note that 5600SXT only accepts whole C numbers, so round down.
 

NuNovice

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I was hoping to get responses from the both of you, thank you both very much. very insightful. I can see that I've previously used a ton of salt! I was wondering where my salt was disappearing to... Makes me wonder where these companies are coming up with these numbers.

Is there a way for me to calculate how much softened water I will have based on the specs used?
 

Reach4

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Is there a way for me to calculate how much softened water I will have based on the specs used?
Take the 4th column in my table, and multiply by 1.5. There is a reserve, so the initial value on the display that counts down has the reserve already subtracted.
 

ditttohead

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That is a very complex topic... and it is not usually recommended with a 5600... but the short and simple answer is add 20% to the salt setting, everything else should be close enough.
 

Reach4

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Do i need to mess with any of these settings if I decide to switch over to Potassium?
Try to put the brine tank where there is not a lot of temperature fluctuation.

Watch for salt bridging in the brine tank.

Prepare to pay about 5X$ plus the 20% more for salt.
 

NuNovice

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That is a very complex topic... and it is not usually recommended with a 5600... but the short and simple answer is add 20% to the salt setting, everything else should be close enough.
Using potassium isn’t recommended or changing the settings?
 

NuNovice

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That is a very complex topic... and it is not usually recommended with a 5600... but the short and simple answer is add 20% to the salt setting, everything else should be close enough.

by salt setting do you mean hardness or brine fill?
 

Reach4

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by salt setting do you mean hardness or brine fill?
He is referring to brine fill, although adding 20% to hardness instead would probably give a somewhat similar compensation.
 

ditttohead

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NuNovice

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Why KCL is the real question? Again, this topic is very complex, but here is a short article that goes over just some of the problems. In general, you need to do a "Brine Fill First" if you want to use KCL, cost is ridiculous, and their is rarely any reason to use KCL. https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/52-53
The short story is that I’m fat and my doctor and wife have told me to cut down on salt, so I’d like to do what a can to accomplish that. I realize the total amount of salt absorbed with sodium regenerations is low, but if it means spending money a month, I’ll do it. Heard potassium is good for you too.
 
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