Brown water morning after regeneration cycle

[woodguy00]

Hello again,

Last spring I had we purchased a house in MA. Our well water was lab tested with the following results:

Coliform negative
ph: 7.11
Sodium 38 mg/l
Total Iron .41 mg/l
Manganese .12 mg/l
Total Hardness 277 mg/l
Alkalinity 147 mg/l
Chloride 115
Turbidity 7.1
Free CO2 92 mg/l

The valve on the 12 year old softener in place was no longer working correctly so based on input here we purchased a 1.5 cubic foot unit with a 5600SXT 1/2" valve. My current settings are:

C / 36
H /20
SF / 20
DO / 10
RT / 2:00
BW / 10 min
BD / 60 min
RR /10 min
BF / 8 min with .5” valve

We have four people living at the house and are using a total of 200 gallons per day on average.

The problem I continue to see is that frequently on the morning after a regeneration cycle we will get light brown water. If I run the tub for 5-10 minutes or so it usually goes away but if I'm not first up, my wife is not happy. Once we run maybe 50 -100 gallons, everything is fine until the next regeneration 6-7 days later.

Any thoughts what is going on and how I can fix the problem?

Thanks

Tim

[Akpsdvan]

Take the back wash part of the cleaning cycle and change it from 10 to 15 and change the rapid rinse from 10 to 12 and see what happens over the next week and report back.

[ditttohead]

Turbidity is not good. A softener will help, but it is not designed for that. The problem you are having is likely caused by that. There are a lot more problems, but I would rather see the actual well water test before commenting further.

A simple backwashing Filter ag+ unit may be a good choice, but without a complete water report... Please post the actual report which should have a lot more information. Or e-mail it to me, I can decipher the results to see what else may be going on.

The setting seem close, but you may want to increase your fast rinse time and I would ask that you also check the DLFC button in your unit. Measure the flow rate at the drain during backash or fast rinse, it should be approximately 2.4 GPM. What is your water temperature?

[rjh2o]

Have it regenerate more frequently. Lower the salt dose.
RJ

[woodguy00]

I changed the BW and RR as suggested by AKPSDVAN.

Hopefully the details of lab test are readable:

Analysis Units Recommended Limits Analysis Results

Total Coliform /100ml 0 0
pH pH units 6.5 - 8.5 7.11
Specific Cond umhos/cm 500 531
Nitrite - N mg/L 1 <.004
Naitrate - N mg/L 10 <.01
Sodium mg/L 20 38
Total Iron mg/L 0.3 0.41
Manganese mg/L 0.05 0.12
Potassium mg/L 20 1.4
Calcium mg/L N/A 82
Magnesium mg/L N/A 17.4
Total Hardness mg/L 50-200 277
Alkalinity mg/L 200 147
Sulfate mg/L 250 15.5
Chloride mg/L 250 115
Turbidity NTU 5 7.1
Color APC units 15 10
Free CO2 mg/L 50 91.9

Comments:
Sodium level is not a health hazard
Iron level is not a health hazard
Manganese is not a health hazard but may cause staining and/or give an odor or taste
Water meets EPA standards and is suitable for drinking for parameters tested

[water solutions]

If possible, flush all the resin into a large container and flush out the tanks. I would bet that you would see a lot of dirt and foreign matter in your resin. This can be separated and the resin used again.

If there is a lot of dirt, install a prefilter capable of handling the water flow ahead of the softener.

The brown water may be caused by iron build up and release. Does the water taste salty after the regeneration?

[woodguy00]

I've had the issue pretty much since I bought the new softener system. Could it have gotten fowled so quickly?

I've not noticed a salty taste after regeneration.

[woodguy00]

The regeneration cycle ran last night with the longer backwash and rapid rinse. There was still a bit of brown in the water but it cleared after running water for only a couple minutes.

[Akpsdvan]

Sounds like the increase in the backwash and rinse is the right path.
You might also try pulling the cap down to 32 and increase the hardness to 22.
The idea is too have the system clean a little more often so that there is less build up.

[ByteMe]

This "solution" of regenerating more often with longer backwash and rinse cycles seems to be treating the symptom instead of the problem. Why not try what Dittohead suggested?