Pros and cons of longer draw/slow rinse, backwash and rapid rinse duration

Users who are viewing this thread

Qutrit

New Member
Messages
24
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Location
Ontario
hello! I’m a new softener user and I, finding this forum extremely educational. I‘m having a bit of a hard time reconciling the settings that the technician who installed my water softener set versus the recommended settings the same company recommends for the same model of softener.

this is an upflow softener using the pentair 5800 XTR2 valve and controller. The water hardness (measured from city supply) is 25gpm. This is a household of two people. Regenerant agent is sodium chloride.

I attached a screen capture of the settings sheet with all the settings for the softener model I have that the installer says I should set.

my settings are, however, different. basically I have a higher salt dosage (7 vs 5 lbs/ft^3) and longer refill (22min), draw(50 min) and fast rinse (10m) times. (Same backwash time). Should I change the salt dosage and the rest of the times?

I would be very grateful if somebody could take a look at the settings they have on the sheet and let me know wnether there’s somethimg wrong with my settings or that the longer durations are associated with the higher salt dosage with respect to this sheet. Any advice as to how to modify this? Are there any important downsides to having longer draw and rapid rinse times?

thank you very much in advance!
 

Attachments

  • EE40EEB4-7301-439D-8F9B-F4BE063FC6AA.jpeg
    EE40EEB4-7301-439D-8F9B-F4BE063FC6AA.jpeg
    146.4 KB · Views: 148
Last edited:

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,798
Reaction score
4,412
Points
113
Location
IL
Longer backwash and rapid rinse take more water.
To know a reasonable brine draw time, I would want to know the injector and the size of the tank or cuft of resin. People seldom go less than 60 minutes for that.

What is the source of your image? Did you do that screen capture yourself?

Since city water, increase Day Override to 30.

For hardness enter 29 grains per gallon (gpg) for high hardness compensation.

Is your tank 9" x 48" with 1 cuft of resin in it? Or is it maybe wider or taller?
 

Qutrit

New Member
Messages
24
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Location
Ontario
Thank you so much for your answer
What is the source of your image? Did you do that screen capture yourself?
I actually asked the installer if they could provide me with the settings for my softener (since I didn’t quite trust the person who installed it and hesitated when he changed the factory default settings) so I was not so surprised when they emailed that screen capture and I saw they didn’t match my settings even.

Is your tank 9" x 48" with 1 cuft of resin in it? Or is it maybe wider or taller?

It is exactly that: 1 cuft media , 9’’ x 48”.

I read here that having 7 lbs/cuft for salt dosage instead of the 5 that the screen capture says is not that bad of an option right? Currently the regeneration cycle does 22 min filling the tank

The blfc size is indeed 0.125 gpm. I attach a picture of the injector here. Let me know if would be helpful to post some more info .

Would you recommend that I alter the draw time and/or reduce the rapid rinse and backwash times? Currently the cycle the softener goes through is tank refill-> 120 min pause -> draw -> backwash -> rapid rinse

Thanks so much again!
 

Attachments

  • 6C250B37-7E46-4591-9DD7-ECDCD25546CB.jpeg
    6C250B37-7E46-4591-9DD7-ECDCD25546CB.jpeg
    81.3 KB · Views: 149
Last edited:

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,798
Reaction score
4,412
Points
113
Location
IL
8 lb/cuft is popular for a little softer water too. For 7.125 lb/cuft of salt, you would want 19 minutes.

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 = 0.125
cubic ft resin = 1

Alternative C and BF pairs:
lb/cuft ; C= ; BF=

4.125 ; 17.1 ; 11
4.500 ; 18.0 ; 12
4.875 ; 18.8 ; 13
5.250 ; 19.6 ; 14
5.625 ; 20.3 ; 15
6.000 ; 21.0 ; 16 # as lean as most are happy with.
6.375 ; 21.6 ; 17
6.750 ; 22.2 ; 18
7.125 ; 22.8 ; 19 #a good choice using 19 minutes
7.500 ; 23.3 ; 20
7.875 ; 23.8 ; 21
8.250 ; 24.3 ; 22 #not that extragant
C column is capacity. Round down.
BF column is brine fill minutes.



5 is a lower salt dose that is aimed at low salt consumption.

Injector 00 is violet. Good match. I would change the Brine Draw to 60. The symptom of having that number too low is some extra salt in the water doesn't get rinsed out, so the first water you use after regen could have some salt in it beyond normal. OK for washing, but not for drinking.

Your system is set up for Fill First, which works fine. Your brine tank spends most of the week empty of water, and the water is injected before the rest of the regen continues.
 
Last edited:

Qutrit

New Member
Messages
24
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Location
Ontario
Thank you so much. This is extremely helpful!

I guess I have one last question: what should I do with the backwash and rapid rinse times. Should I leave them at 10min? Or would it be advisable to shorten them a bit?

Seriously thank you so much for this.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks