Fleck 5600 Control Knob Won't Turn

[rn58luga]

Hi, I woke up this morning and discovered that my brine tank was overflowing. My 5600 water softener was stick on "brine-refill" and I am completely unable to turn the control knob on the front. For now, I have placed the unit in bypass mode which stopped the brine tank refill phase and is now giving me time to research the problem. Our water softener is old. I'm embarrassed to say that it came with our house which we purchased 20 years ago and I've just learned this morning about needing to occasionally replace the piston, seals, and brine valve -- something that I've never done.

Even with the unit in bypass mode, the control knob won't turn. Should replacing the piston, seals, and brine valve fix this problem of being unable to turn the knob? Or is there probably something else going on here?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Reach4]

There are various kinds of 5600, such as the 5600 Econominder. There is a timed-only unit, there is the 5600SXT.

So at what point do you just replace it all with a new 5800SXT system including new resin?

To consider repairing the old unit, identify what it is. Watch a video on rebuild of that unit.

I presume well water with some iron as measured by rust coating in your toilet tanks. Wrong?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[rn58luga]

Thanks for the reply. I've ordered a new 5600 Econominder head and a rebuild kit for the seals and piston. When I removed the 5600 head, parts of the plastic pieces inside were broken.

Thanks

 

[Bannerman]

woke up this morning and discovered that my brine tank was overflowing.

Fleck 5600 softener units, are typically equipped with a safety float and safety valve to prevent the brine tank from overflowing, even if the control valve should become stuck in the Brine Fill stage of regeneration. The safety float appears as follows, located in the brine tank within the brine well. The float limits are movable, thereby permitting the maximimum fill height to be adjusted as appropriate.

The 5600 Seals and spacers are wear components which do require periodic replacement. If the piston's Teflon coating has any missing, scratched or flaking sections, the piston too should be replaced.

When rebuilding the valve, ensure to use a light coating of food grade Silicone grease type lubricant on the seals and 'O' rings. Recommended lubricants include 'Dow Release Compound 7' and 'Chemplex 862'.

The Fleck 5600 employs the clock motor to not only advance the clock, but also to move the piston within the seals/spacers from one position to the next during regeneration. Any mechanical binding or physical obstruction to how the gearing and piston moves, is usually sufficient to stall the timer motor, thereby preventing the controller from advancing to the next subsequent stage of regeneration.

 

[LightBright]

The float in the salt (brine) tank bucket closes up when it hits the bottom after all of the brine water is sucked out so it doesn't suck air and it also can close up if the water level gets too high in the salt tank bucket. This should have prevented it from overflowing. When my Fleck 5600 was rebuilt professionally with new seals and piston, before too long it started requiring a lot of force to turn the control knob. The stiffness started preventing it from rotating to perform a regen. I took it apart so I could get to the main piston and coated it with grease; (food grade silicone grease was recommended). It only took about 20 minutes. It appeared to have some grease on it already and popped right out but was stiff. Afterward it worked normally and I was back in business. The knob isn't supposed to turn anywhere near as easily as a washing machine or dryer knob because there are so many mechanical parts it has to drive (especially the main piston that was greased), but it does glide through the different functions fairly easily now.