New Softener Installed: Guts Telling Me It's Set-Up Correctly

[Stoogesman]

Had a guy install what I can determine by the tank part number is a
48k grain tank. It has a Clack head on it.

He set my hardness to 20, use 10 lb of salt every 1200 gallons, and
auto regenerate every 10 days if the 1200 gallons isn't used.

What has me very confused is the tank is a 48k grain tank. I know this
via the part number on the tank. What also has me confused is the
softener head is set to a 24k grain tank.

Hardness is 2.1 gpg Total ferrous iron is 2.0 ppm Ph is 7.0

House facts:

3 members 2.5 bath High fill washer Lots of laundry done Wash my 3
cars once a week Water newly planted grass areas Water strawberry
garden when dry out


My guts telling me the tank grain setting of 24k is incorrect. Please
school me...!

See pictures of my tank and the amount of resin in it.

4 new items by C “cg”

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[Reach4]

What has me very confused is the tank is a 48k grain tank. I know this
via the part number on the tank. What also has me confused is the
softener head is set to a 24k grain tank.

Hardness is 2.1 gpg Total ferrous iron is 2.0 ppm Ph is 7.0

With a 10x54 inch tank with 1.5 cuft of resin, 24 K would be an OK number if you are using a 4 lb/cuft salt brining.

Do not use 48k in any calculations. With 8 lb/cuft salt, capacity would be 36k. You might be using 6.66 lb/cuft salt, capacity would be about 32k. 10/1.5=6.66.

Hardness compensated for iron would be 12 or 13 grains. With your softener handling that much iron, you will want to to your resin periodically. There is more than one way.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Stoogesman]

With a 10x54 inch tank with 1.5 cuft of resin, 24 K would be an OK number if you are using a 4 lb/cuft salt brining.

Do not use 48k in any calculations. With 8 lb/cuft salt, capacity would be 36k. You might be using 6.66 lb/cuft salt, capacity would be about 32k. 10/1.5=6.66.

Hardness compensated for iron would be 12 or 13 grains. With your softener handling that much iron, you will want to to your resin periodically. There is more than one way.

What should I set the everything to then, instead of current settings?

 

[Stoogesman]

"With your softener handling that much iron, you will want to to your resin periodically."

What did you mean by this?

 

[Bannerman]

Hardness is 2.1 gpg Total ferrous iron is 2.0 ppm Ph is 7.0

So, you installed a softener, really only to remove iron from your well water????

 

[Stoogesman]

I was told my hardness was 2.1 by one person, 4.1 by another. 3.0 by another.

I was told the new softener has an iron removal bedding in it. I believe most of the people in the industry don't know what in God's name they're doing!

 

[Reach4]

"With your softener handling that much iron, you will want to to your resin periodically."

What did you mean by this?

I would treat with Iron Out powder

See https://terrylove.com/forums/index....iron-2-sometimes-3-people.111649/#post-786574 post #6 under "A way to use Iron Out powder to treat your resin periodically to deal with iron. This is not an authoritative procedure, but it should be pretty good. "

There are other ways too. Phosphoric acid and citric acid etc. Search for past posts in this forum.

 

[Stoogesman]

I would treat with Iron Out powder

See https://terrylove.com/forums/index....iron-2-sometimes-3-people.111649/#post-786574 post #6 under "A way to use Iron Out powder to treat your resin periodically to deal with iron. This is not an authoritative procedure, but it should be pretty good. "

There are other ways too. Phosphoric acid and citric acid etc. Search for past posts in this forum.

Thanks!

I had another guy on a forum who's does softener installs for a living suggest the following settings:

Change the tank grain capacity to 40k, set hardness to 10, and regenerate every 4000 gallons, or 10 days. Thoughts?

 

[Stoogesman]

With a 10x54 inch tank with 1.5 cuft of resin, 24 K would be an OK number if you are using a 4 lb/cuft salt brining.

Do not use 48k in any calculations. With 8 lb/cuft salt, capacity would be 36k. You might be using 6.66 lb/cuft salt, capacity would be about 32k. 10/1.5=6.66.

Hardness compensated for iron would be 12 or 13 grains. With your softener handling that much iron, you will want to to your resin periodically. There is more than one way.

So with your suggestion, how many gallons/how often should I regenerate?

To clarify, you suggest the following;

Keep capacity set to 24k. Hardness around 12-13, salt usage, 4lb?

 

[Reach4]

Change the tank grain capacity to 40k, set hardness to 10, and regenerate every 4000 gallons, or 10 days. Thoughts?

Softener computes the initial count down gallons = capacity/(compensated hardness)-(reserve gallons)
When softener counts down to zero, it will regen at the next 2AM.

Keep capacity set to 24k. Hardness around 12-13, salt usage, 4lb?

Here is a table for you. Use between 9 and 12 pounds of salt total, which is 6 to 8 lbs/cuft.

Alternative capacity (C) and brine fill (BF) pairs. Round C down.​	​	​
lb/cuft​	Capacity=​	pounds of salt for 1.5 cuft of resin​
0​	0.0​	0​
2.0​	22.5​	3​
2.7​	28.5​	4​
3.3​	33.5​	5​
4.0​	37.7​	6​
4.7​	41.3​	7​
5.3​	44.5​	8​
6.0​	47.3​	9​
6.7​	49.8​	10​
7.3​	52.0​	11​
8.0​	54.0​	12​
8.7​	55.8​	13​
9.3​	57.4​	14​
10.0​	58.9​	15​

Table based on numbers from https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/help-for-programming-fleck-5810.82673/#post-595983​

 

[Stoogesman]

Softener computes the initial count down gallons = capacity/(compensated hardness)-(reserve gallons)
When softener counts down to zero, it will regen at the next 2AM.


Here is a table for you. Use between 9 and 12 pounds of salt total, which is 6 to 8 lbs/cuft.

Alternative capacity (C) and brine fill (BF) pairs. Round C down.​	​	​
lb/cuft​	Capacity=​	pounds of salt for 1.5 cuft of resin​
0​	0.0​	0​
2.0​	22.5​	3​
2.7​	28.5​	4​
3.3​	33.5​	5​
4.0​	37.7​	6​
4.7​	41.3​	7​
5.3​	44.5​	8​
6.0​	47.3​	9​
6.7​	49.8​	10​
7.3​	52.0​	11​
8.0​	54.0​	12​
8.7​	55.8​	13​
9.3​	57.4​	14​
10.0​	58.9​	15​

Table based on numbers from https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/help-for-programming-fleck-5810.82673/#post-595983​

Thank you!

 

[Bannerman]

Do you have a current lab report for your raw well water to post?

told my hardness was 2.1 by one person, 4.1 by another. 3.0 by another.

Suggest obtaining a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit to perform you own hardness test for both the raw and softened water. All of the hardness amounts you stated, are low enough, most people wouldn't consider a softener to be necessary.

While a softener is capable of removing some iron, iron removal with a softener is simply not an efficient method. Removing 1 ppm iron, will consume the equivalent hardness removal capacity as removing 85 ppm (5 gpg) hardness.

When the well's ferrous iron content is low (<1ppm), if a softener is needed regardless, then the softener will often be used for iron removal, to eliminate any additional expense for a dedicated iron removal system. When the iron amount exceeds 1ppm, then an iron removal system is highly recommended and often necessary.

Ferrous iron clings to the softener resin, which is how the iron is removed. The iron forms a coating on the resin granules, which will interfere with the resin's softening capabilities while also reducing the amount of iron removal as the buildup continues to increase. Regardless of the amount of iron a softener is utilized to remove, regular and ongoing maintenance with acid chemcals will be required, to remove the iron buildup from not only the resin granules, but also the control valve internals.
.