New Fleck 5600sxt Softener Setup Problems

[John38]

Replaced my 25 yo Fleck softener with a new system and can not get it to work the same as the old one.
The new one is a 64K also and has 1.5cuft purolite C100E resin with .5cuft Tannin resin. Has .5 blfc and 2.5 drain flow, with 18x33 brine tank. I also have a Filox system for iron.
Tested the water from the WELL with test strips prior to set up and the results were.
Hardness 50-70 ppm
Iron 7 ppm
Chlorine 5 ppm
Alkalinity 80-120 ppm
PH 10 ppm.
I guess my problem is I am not sure if I have the settings on my Fleck valve correct and I have tried different combinations, that has created other problems. My latest settings are:
C 32
H 120
RC 100
DO 5
RT 4:00
BW 12
BD 60
RR 12
BF 7
There are three people in the house but use very little water about 30 gal per day all three, that's why RC 100.
H120 seems high but I got some higher readings on the iron and hardness at one time so I left it on the high setting. My previous system recycled about one a week and used about 25lbs of salt every two weeks. This system seems to eat salt. One problem I have is the .5 BLFC valve seems to release mor water into the brine tank. After 7 min and I end up with 15 inches of water and it should be half that or even less or 3.5 gal.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Bannerman]

What is the quantity of iron after the Filox filter? The appropriate iron reduction system should be removing the iron so the softener will not need to deal with iron, but if the iron from the well is actually 7 ppm, it seems likely there will be a considerable quantity of iron exiting a Filox filter. What size is the Filox filter?

Each 1ppm of ferrous iron that does pass through the Filox filter, will be equivalent to 85.5 ppm hardness or 5 grains per gallon hardness capacity consumption

The recommended hardness measurement method is a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit which will measure hardness in grains per gallon. If your well's hardness is actually 70 ppm, then this will convert to only 4.09 grains/gallon. Softeners are programmed in gpg, not ppm.

The Anion resin to remove tannins will work best after hardness is first removed. The recommended treatment order is: Well > Iron Removal system > Softener > Tannin Reduction system.

Suggest disconnecting the brine line at the top of the brine tank, advance the controller to Brine Fill, and measure the quantity of water flowing from the open brine tube in 60-seconds. Perhaps a 1 GPM flow restrictor had been installed even as the BLFC label may specify 0.5 GPM.

The appropriate drain flow rate for a 12" diameter softener tank is usually 3.5 GPM, but the drain rate may need to be higher depending on the incoming water temperature. What is the temp of your well water?

As it is well water, where is the 5ppm chlorine coming from?

Always advisable to obtain a comprehensive lab test for the raw well water prior to upgrading/replacing any equipment. Perhaps an alternate iron reduction method will be more effective to remove the considerable quantity of ferrous iron prior to the softener.
National Labs offer a Standard Well test package which will provide the accurate info needed. http://watercheck.myshopify.com/?aff=5

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

PH 10 ppm.

Typo here I think.

The new one is a 64K also and has 1.5cuft purolite C100E resin with .5cuft Tannin resin.

Hmm. I am not familiar with that, or what brining would be appropriate.

If you only use 30 gallons per day on average, I would set RC to maybe 50 or 60.

The number of gallons that the softener computes to deliver is (C*1000)/H-RC. After that counts down to zero, the regen happens at 2AM (default).

Your settings are in the range that makes sense, but you may be over-compensating H. As a test, I would set H to something smaller, and then watch the actual hardness. After seeing when hardness starts to break through too much, recompute a new C. For example, if you set H to 50, and the hardness starts coming through when half of the initial gallons remain displayed, then you would know that your compensated H=100 was about right.

Now when you change C, I think the controller re-calculates the gallons to go. So maybe make the change when the softener was about ready to regen, and then trigger a regen.

Another thing to consider is the Filox. That takes a really big backwash gpm. If you are not getting good bed expansion during backwash, you would want o address that. If your tank is natural tan color, in the dark you can shine a bright light through, and look at the shadow of the media. If the shadow gets 30% taller during backwash, that is called 30% bed expansion. If meda does not expand during backwash, then that Filox filter is not going to do its job.

 

[John38]

What is the quantity of iron after the Filox filter? The appropriate iron reduction system should be removing the iron so the softener will not need to deal with iron, but if the iron from the well is actually 7 ppm, it seems likely there will be a considerable quantity of iron exiting a Filox filter. What size is the Filox filter?

Each 1ppm of ferrous iron that does pass through the Filox filter, will be equivalent to 85.5 ppm hardness or 5 grains per gallon hardness capacity consumption

The recommended hardness measurement method is a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit which will measure hardness in grains per gallon. If your well's hardness is actually 70 ppm, then this will convert to only 4.09 grains/gallon. Softeners are programmed in gpg, not ppm.

The Anion resin to remove tannins will work best after hardness is first removed. The recommended treatment order is: Well > Iron Removal system > Softener > Tannin Reduction system.

Suggest disconnecting the brine line at the top of the brine tank, advance the controller to Brine Fill, and measure the quantity of water flowing from the open brine tube in 60-seconds. Perhaps a 1 GPM flow restrictor had been installed even as the BLFC label may specify 0.5 GPM.

The appropriate drain flow rate for a 12" diameter softener tank is usually 3.5 GPM, but the drain rate may need to be higher depending on the incoming water temperature. What is the temp of your well water?

As it is well water, where is the 5ppm chlorine coming from?

Always advisable to obtain a comprehensive lab test for the raw well water prior to upgrading/replacing any equipment. Perhaps an alternate iron reduction method will be more effective to remove the considerable quantity of ferrous iron prior to the softener.
National Labs offer a Standard Well test package which will provide the accurate info needed. http://watercheck.myshopify.com/?aff=5

The Filox filter is 1.5cuft and I don't have a point after it to check the water for Iron so I will have to get the parts and do that. I was going to check the BLFC for accuracy so you just confirmed what I intended to do and the method. Don't know about the chlorine, perhaps I read the test wrong so I will do it again. The iron filter is after the well and before the softener. Don't know the temp of the water, this is Florida so it's high. I will check all this out and get back.

 

[John38]

Typo here I think.
Hmm. I am not familiar with that, or what brining would be appropriate.

If you only use 30 gallons per day on average, I would set RC to maybe 50 or 60.

The number of gallons that the softener computes to deliver is (C*1000)/H-RC. After that counts down to zero, the regen happens at 2AM (default).

Your settings are in the range that makes sense, but you may be over-compensating H. As a test, I would set H to something smaller, and then watch the actual hardness. After seeing when hardness starts to break through too much, recompute a new C. For example, if you set H to 50, and the hardness starts coming through when half of the initial gallons remain displayed, then you would know that your compensated H=100 was about right.

Now when you change C, I think the controller re-calculates the gallons to go. So maybe make the change when the softener was about ready to regen, and then trigger a regen.

Another thing to consider is the Filox. That takes a really big backwash gpm. If you are not getting good bed expansion during backwash, you would want o address that. If your tank is natural tan color, in the dark you can shine a bright light through, and look at the shadow of the media. If the shadow gets 30% taller during backwash, that is called 30% bed expansion. If meda does not expand during backwash, then that Filox filter is not going to do its job.

Yes I could change the RC and would give me more usable gallons, right know it's at 166. The Filox tank is black but I will try to look thru. I am going to get a hose bib so I can check out and see how much the iron content is after the Filox tank. I will post all this after I get it done. I am also going to check the BLFC valve for gallons also. Thanks

 

[Reach4]

If you just sanitized the well, there could be chlorine left. Otherwise, there should be no chlorine.

 

[John38]

No I didn't sanitize it. Just the softener with cup of bleach when new. I did read it wrong it's 0.5 not 5.

 

[Bannerman]

I did read it wrong it's 0.5 not 5.

You said you tested the water directly from the well. If you didn't sanitize the well, there should be NO residual chlorine detected.

Lab test now strongly recommended.

 

[John38]

You said you tested the water directly from the well. If you didn't sanitize the well, there should be NO residual chlorine detected.

Lab test now strongly recommended.

I tested it again and there is nothing. The first test the top reading was 40 and now I tested it again where the strip only goes to 10 as the top reading. I found nothing, I think on the first test the difference in color between .5 and 0 is so negligible that I probably say the color of the water on the strip. I also went to a Florida Dept of Environmental Protection of the underground water in our area. They have been doing this for the last five years because of a cluster scare. I think they tested for everything imaginable, anyway Chlorine was O ug/l.