Repair or Replace 8 year old Softener

[Hud]

I own 8 year old Fleck 5600SXT 24,000 that seems to be dying. I purchased it 'new' but have some doubts as to the integrity of the vendor. I think he might be one of those guys who 'refurbishes' old machines and sells them as new, either way after 8 years he is nowhere to be found.
The capacity of the machine seems to dropping about 20% every 4 years, I have had to reduce the recharge cycle from 1150 gallons in 2013, to 950 in 2017, and now to 800 in 2021. Now even at 800 soft water is hit or miss. City water w/ Chlorine .6; hardness 16, no iron, salt set to 6 lbs. Also lot of dark brown stuff inside the valve.
Because I do not know the true history of my system I trying to decide between new resin and rebuild the head or just replacing the entire system.
If I decide to replace with a new system using a Fleck 5810, can anyone recommend a good vendor either on the internet or near St. Paul, MN.
Gary

 

[Reach4]

City water w/ Chlorine .6; hardness 16, no iron, salt set to 6 lbs. Also lot of dark brown stuff inside the valve.

With chlorinated water, resin degrades. 10% crosslinked resin is more resistant to the chlorine.

Don't know about the brown stuff. Some softener sellers don't provide gravel. Gravel is good.

You would certainly clean both parts of the injector and the injector screen during your maintenance.

If you get a new system, you will probably want to upgrade to at least a 10x54 inch tank which holds 1.5 cuft of resin.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ditttohead]

How many people in the house? In general, a Fleck 5600 can be rebuilt 3-4 times without a problem. Bulletproof valve and if it is only 8 years old, it is just getting started. New high quality resin... you say 24,000 grains, what size is your tank?

 

[Hud]

How many people in the house? In general, a Fleck 5600 can be rebuilt 3-4 times without a problem. Bulletproof valve and if it is only 8 years old, it is just getting started. New high quality resin... you say 24,000 grains, what size is your tank?

Two people in the house, average 75 gallons/day total inside home. The tank is 8x44. I rebuilt the valve about 2 years ago, the screen and internals had a dark brown coating on everything. Made me think the valve was older and perhaps the unit had been iron fouled. When you say high quality resin are you referring to 10%?
Thank you for the input.

 

[ditttohead]

8x44 is a undersized, replace the system. Completely undersized. Can you get a real water report?