Is there any way to tell a water softeners capacity by tank size?

[jonjonbear]

I think I am okay on iron, my iron shows at 0.025 mg/l, sounds almost non existent so it looks like I have that in my favor. The way it is set up now it seems to regen quite often. Not sure how many gallons it uses but the little hose that is connected to the drain absolutely gushes water. I wish I could read that label on the fitting, it faded away..I guess I could get a bucket and test it. I have always been curious how much water this uses per cycle.

John

[Akpsdvan]

I think I am okay on iron, my iron shows at 0.025 mg/l, sounds almost non existent so it looks like I have that in my favor. The way it is set up now it seems to regen quite often. Not sure how many gallons it uses but the little hose that is connected to the drain absolutely gushes water. I wish I could read that label on the fitting, it faded away..I guess I could get a bucket and test it. I have always been curious how much water this uses per cycle.

John

You say that you have the book, on page 26 or so, 9000 control valve assembly there is the number 12 that is the brine, drain assembly...
Unhook the drain line, unscrew the fitting that goes into the injector assembly , there may or may not be a retainer, if there is remove, and then remove that rubber washer... on that washer there is a number , it is a bit of a challenge to read but it will say 2.0 , 2.4 , 3.0.... that number is the gallon per minute back wash that will go through the hole that is in that washer...

[Skip Wolverton]

Jon,
Here it is....A combustion engine a 4 cycles (intake, compression, combustion and exhaust) A softener has 4 basic cycle (backwash, brine, rinse and service.) An engine has a timing and so does a softener. The cycles of the softener are timed to insure proper functions, backwash about 10 min, brine about 60 min, rinse about 10 min. The engine has 2 valves (intake and exhaust). The softener has 1 (brine valve). It does 2 function per say. It draws the brine water into the resin tank and then fills the brine tank with water for the next cycle. So you see a softener is much like an engine.

[jonjonbear]

Jon,
Here it is....A combustion engine a 4 cycles (intake, compression, combustion and exhaust) A softener has 4 basic cycle (backwash, brine, rinse and service.) An engine has a timing and so does a softener. The cycles of the softener are timed to insure proper functions, backwash about 10 min, brine about 60 min, rinse about 10 min. The engine has 2 valves (intake and exhaust). The softener has 1 (brine valve). It does 2 function per say. It draws the brine water into the resin tank and then fills the brine tank with water for the next cycle. So you see a softener is much like an engine.

Hah! Spoken in my language, I love it! :-)

So those timings are pretty standard for most installations? I feared my system was using like almost 200 gallons to regen, but I didn't realize until reading more carefully that half of the cycle and the longest part at that) goes through that .50 gpm brine outlet so I feel a bit better, now just need to pull the drain nipple and see what size/color ring is below it.
Ya'all are great help!
Thanks,

John

[Akpsdvan]

That drain control will be black, but there is a number on one side of it... 2.0,2.4,3.0 etc...

A few more days or so and you will be a pro at this...

[Skip Wolverton]

Hah! Spoken in my language, I love it! :-)

So those timings are pretty standard for most installations? I feared my system was using like almost 200 gallons to regen, but I didn't realize until reading more carefully that half of the cycle and the longest part at that) goes through that .50 gpm brine outlet so I feel a bit better, now just need to pull the drain nipple and see what size/color ring is below it.
Ya'all are great help!
Thanks,

John

During the brine draw the water passes through the venturi which is .33 gpm. So for the 60 min of brining, that's 19.8 gallons used. The .5 gpm is used for the refill. A fill at 4 min will be 2 gallons of water which will desolve 6 lbs salt. It seems so easy now doesn't it? LOL

[Gary Slusser]

Thanks Gary,
But boy I am really confused now..Now I know what it was like trying to explain an auto repair to a not auto person :-)
I followed your calculation, up until the 3000/3. I didn't see that on your page, is that something you did because of my unusual situation? where does the division by 3 come from?

Backwash-8 minutes (purpose of this to remove sediment?)
Brine/Rinse-64 minutes (wow that seems long)(so this sucks the brine solution from the brine tank until the brine tank valve closes, at which time this cycle becomes the rinse?)
Rapid rinse-6 minutes

Brine fill-6 minutes, @.50 per minute, does this mean 3 gallons and 3 lbs of salt? (does this seem light? Did I read you think this should be set at 22.50 based on your 15lb per cf media? Won't this really raise my salt use?)
With my light load, do I need to have a 64 minute brine/rinse? Seems with my small salt draw, that maybe this brine rinse is too long? (tapping for water savings here)

In the first part of your reply you said not to use the 2 person, 3 grain settings because it would use too much water and salt?

Thanks,
John

This should help;
do a regeneration of each tank with the max lbs of salt for the cuft of resin (15 lbs/cuft) [use 23 lbs] and then program it based on [2 people * 60 gals/person/day=] 120 * 3 [gpg]= 360 [per day]* 8 [days] = [3000] 3K [3k=] 3000/3 [gpg, to get how many gallons between regenerations]= 1000 gals - [subtract] those [gals] used per regeneration rounded down to the lower 25 gallons) and say 3 lbs of salt.

I would set the minutes of each cycle position at; 6 minutes [3 pins] for backwash, 46 [23 holes] for brine draw/slow rinse, 4 [2 pins] for rapid rinse and 2 [holes] for refill, and then 2 pins and all holes back to the beginning. The 2 holes refill is 6 lbs but IIRC you can't go one hole because the contact switch finger doesn't do well with one hole or pin but I may be wrong on that. You get 3 lbs per gallon of refill and .5 gpm or 1.5 lbs per minute. The gallons you set on the meter divided by 120 = the number of days between regenerations.

[Bob999]

In my experience the timing of brine fill on the electromechanical version of the Fleck 9000 valve is not very accurate. I suggest that after setting up the timer wheel you disconnect the brine line from the brine tank and measure the actual volume of brine fill.

Secondly, if you aren't able to set the brine fill to the amount you want you can buy a .25 gpm brine fill button so that each hole is nominally 1/2 gallon of water.

[Gary Slusser]

Or he can use the larger volume of salt, about 3 lbs, because the cost of a lb of salt is like $.09 to $.11 and he is regenerating once every 8 days on average. And 46 8 day periods in a year * $.11 = $5.06 a year in additional salt.

[Akpsdvan]

In my experience the timing of brine fill on the electromechanical version of the Fleck 9000 valve is not very accurate. I suggest that after setting up the timer wheel you disconnect the brine line from the brine tank and measure the actual volume of brine fill.

Secondly, if you aren't able to set the brine fill to the amount you want you can buy a .25 gpm brine fill button so that each hole is nominally 1/2 gallon of water.

I have done that,,, changed the brine flow control from .5 to the .25 left the pins the same and cut the gallons in half....