Fleck 5600SXT Programming

[mjdamore]

I recently installed a 5600SXT control unit (ask me how great Sharkbite stuff is!). The programming went fine except that all online recommendations for the BD (brine draw) setting said to leave at the 60 minute default. It takes about 12 minutes to suck out about 5 gal so that would leave the unit sucking air for 48 minutes. Anyway, I forced a regeneration and indeed that's what happened (air suck) so I jumped to the next step, RR (rapid rinse) and all went OK after that. The BF (brine fill) setting is recommended between 4 and 12 minutes so a 60 minute BD will always get an air suck. Sounds wrong to me. What am I missing? Also, the entire forced regeneration took less than an hour. Is that what to expect? Is the regular (metered) regeneration the same length? I would have expected all this to be longer based on the experience with my old softener.

[rjh2o]

The brining cycle also includes a slow rinse cycle. A typical brine draw rate will be .25-.5gpm, depending on the capacity of the softener, so if your system has a .5 gallon per minute flow restrictor, at 12 minutes, that would be 18#'s of salt. The other 48 minutes is the slow rinse cycle. In the brine tank is a float assembly. Within in this float assembly is an "AIR CHECK". This is a small ball at the bottom of the float that seats when the water is depleted from the salt tank. When this ball "seats" in the float it prevents air from being drawn into the system.
The refill cycle time and height setting of float determines the amount of water needed to dissolve the proper amount of brine for regeneration.
IE: 12min refill @ .5gpm = 18lbs of salt (3lbs of salt per gallon of water).
This can be adjusted for higher efficiency depending on water chemistry and usage.

RJ

[mjdamore]

I just bought the control unit and installed it on my existing system. The brine tank does not have a float assembly. What I guess I'll have to do is to see by trial & error how the BF & BD match up time-wise, i.e., is the amount of water put into the brine tank with BF set to 15 the same as the amount of water sucked from the brine tanke when BD = 15. I'll get them close with a little overage on the BF side (and check periodically to prevent overflow). I know I could get a new brine tank and overflow assemply but I'm up against it financially.

I'll have to recheck my settings for a slow rinse cycle since all I've seen so far is RR. I'm pretty much OK on figuring out how much salt I need and is used.

Since the last thing that happens in the regen cycle is a BF, there's water in the brine tank that is dissolving the salt so there's no need for a wait time for dissolving as there was on my old system which did the BF 1st.

My bottom-line concern is that the forced regen cycle was so quick it didn't seem to allow enough time for the resin/salt interaction to take place. Perhaps my old system was just taking too darned long.

Thanks for the advice but I think I have a ways to go before I feel comfortable with this new control unit.

[Akpsdvan]

I just bought the control unit and installed it on my existing system. The brine tank does not have a float assembly. What I guess I'll have to do is to see by trial & error how the BF & BD match up time-wise, i.e., is the amount of water put into the brine tank with BF set to 15 the same as the amount of water sucked from the brine tanke when BD = 15. I'll get them close with a little overage on the BF side (and check periodically to prevent overflow). I know I could get a new brine tank and overflow assemply but I'm up against it financially.

I'll have to recheck my settings for a slow rinse cycle since all I've seen so far is RR. I'm pretty much OK on figuring out how much salt I need and is used.

Since the last thing that happens in the regen cycle is a BF, there's water in the brine tank that is dissolving the salt so there's no need for a wait time for dissolving as there was on my old system which did the BF 1st.

My bottom-line concern is that the forced regen cycle was so quick it didn't seem to allow enough time for the resin/salt interaction to take place. Perhaps my old system was just taking too darned long.

Thanks for the advice but I think I have a ways to go before I feel comfortable with this new control unit.

Get the right float assembly, some thing like the 2310 float assembly from Fleck.
Sounds like you had the Autotrol valve with that little ball in the plastic sight deal on the side of the valve... the two systems use different float assemblies.

[mjdamore]

I thought the float valve in the brine tank was supposed to stop an overflow. How would it help when the brine tank gets filled for 12 minutes but then gets emptied for 60 minutes? Sure I should have he valve.....but how does it solve the problem?

[Akpsdvan]

The valve with the number of spaces and the cam control the time that water goes into the brine tank, the float assembly is the back up so that it does not over flow.
The brine draw and slow rinse are part of the same cycle.... just as simple as that, the first part is the remove the brine from the brine tank and then the slow rinse does just that rinse out the brine from the media over a 45 minute or so time frame.
The control that you had before stopped air from getting in with in the valve, the 5600 uses the float assembly from letting air in when there is no more brine to remove.

[mjdamore]

Aha! So the 60 minute brine draw cycle is about 12 minutes to suck out the brine and the rest of the time for the brine solution to react with the mineral coated resin. Until I get a valve is it OK for me to let the system suck air?

[Akpsdvan]

Not a good idea, when it goes into the brine refill there will be air going to the brine tank and also runs the chance of resin getting into the injector and into the house water lines.

[mjdamore]

Actually it would be sucking air from the brine tank into the resin tank.....does that make a difference. If I had a float valve for the brine tank that would simply be block the hose opening completely so nothing would be be sucked through, right?

[Akpsdvan]

It makes a difference ....
Do it right and you should not have any challenges down the road with the unit, keep playing around and it will give problems down the road.
You need a float assembly, the one that I use is the 2310, like this one 170594107041, you will find it on the E site...
The float will be long, but the gray tube can be cut so that is hangs just below the over flow of your tank, and then the cam will control the flow to the brine tank from the 5600.. the time will tell the cam to move and let the piston close.

[rjh2o]

Just go buy a ***** 2310 float assembly like Akpsdvan stated or end up getting air in the softener and pumping the resin to drain. Then you will HAVE to buy a float AND re-bed the softener. Being cheap only costs you more money!
RJ

[mjdamore]

Sounds persuasive. I will follow your advice. I found the float assembly and it refers to it as a safety valve to prevent overflow but it also says something about a C500 air-check assembly to which it attaches. I guess I need both. Please advise and thanks for your help so far.

[Akpsdvan]

The float assembly that is on the E site is complete, it has the air check, that is the ball in that gray part at the bottom of the pick up tube. The ball will cover the hole when the brine water gets low enough for the ball to set in the hole and stop air from getting into the media tank.

[mjdamore]

Don't know what the E site is. Perhaps you can't name specifics on this site because it would be an endorsement.

[Akpsdvan]

Let me see if this will work... the item number is 170594107041
The site is E by the Bay....