Hi,
Installed my first softener (5600sxt 64,000 grain) recently and trying to get a good understanding of the regeneration process and the settings on the unit.
I followed a guide from A plus water online and installed the control valve without the upper basket. I've seen some information online that missing this piece could lead to loss of resin during the backwash process. Should I be concerned that this wasn't installed? When I first set up the unit and ran the manual regeneration process I saw some discoloration in the drain line for a few seconds, wondering if this was normal or not. I still have the upper basket and can install it if so.
Should the brine well cover at the bottom be on or off? Does it matter?
I filled the brine tank with my regular hard water for the first regeneration process, was this okay?
Where should I keep the salt and water levels at in the brine tank? I have a 15x17x36 brine tank, I added a 40lb bag of salt with 3-4 gallons of water and the water level is about half way full in the brine tank after the first regeneration process.
I'm also looking into the settings for the regeneration process. A plus recommended I set the capacity to 64 and the brine fill to 13. My BLFC is 0.5gpm. The consensus I've got reading here is that it's inefficient.
I've seen Reach recommend these:
lb/cuft ; C= ; BF=
5.250 ; 37.2 ; 7
6.000 ; 40.0 ; 8
6.750 ; 43.1 ; 9
7.500 ; 46.1 ; 10
8.250 ; 48.9 ; 11
9.000 ; 51.3 ; 12
9.750 ; 53.4 ; 13
I'm planning on going with either 7.500 or 8.250. Is the main idea behind reducing the capacity and brine fill to regenerate more often at higher efficiency? It will also leave the softener with more capacity when nearing the end of its service cycle to reduce hardness leakage (or better performance)? Why is there a drop off with the salt efficiency to regenerate more grains?
I'm assuming I can run into problems if my hardness setting is off from what it actually is... causing the regeneration process to happen either too early or too late. If it's happening too late each time, overtime would I fall behind regenerating the resin inside the tank, lowering the available capacity each time? If it's happening too early, I'd just be inefficient?
I plan on grabbing the Hach-5B kit to confirm my water hardness. My town reports 14-18 grains/gal. I've set mine to 18 for now.
Assuming I test it at 18, should I aim a little higher to compensate?
Installed my first softener (5600sxt 64,000 grain) recently and trying to get a good understanding of the regeneration process and the settings on the unit.
I followed a guide from A plus water online and installed the control valve without the upper basket. I've seen some information online that missing this piece could lead to loss of resin during the backwash process. Should I be concerned that this wasn't installed? When I first set up the unit and ran the manual regeneration process I saw some discoloration in the drain line for a few seconds, wondering if this was normal or not. I still have the upper basket and can install it if so.
Should the brine well cover at the bottom be on or off? Does it matter?
I filled the brine tank with my regular hard water for the first regeneration process, was this okay?
Where should I keep the salt and water levels at in the brine tank? I have a 15x17x36 brine tank, I added a 40lb bag of salt with 3-4 gallons of water and the water level is about half way full in the brine tank after the first regeneration process.
I'm also looking into the settings for the regeneration process. A plus recommended I set the capacity to 64 and the brine fill to 13. My BLFC is 0.5gpm. The consensus I've got reading here is that it's inefficient.
I've seen Reach recommend these:
lb/cuft ; C= ; BF=
5.250 ; 37.2 ; 7
6.000 ; 40.0 ; 8
6.750 ; 43.1 ; 9
7.500 ; 46.1 ; 10
8.250 ; 48.9 ; 11
9.000 ; 51.3 ; 12
9.750 ; 53.4 ; 13
I'm planning on going with either 7.500 or 8.250. Is the main idea behind reducing the capacity and brine fill to regenerate more often at higher efficiency? It will also leave the softener with more capacity when nearing the end of its service cycle to reduce hardness leakage (or better performance)? Why is there a drop off with the salt efficiency to regenerate more grains?
I'm assuming I can run into problems if my hardness setting is off from what it actually is... causing the regeneration process to happen either too early or too late. If it's happening too late each time, overtime would I fall behind regenerating the resin inside the tank, lowering the available capacity each time? If it's happening too early, I'd just be inefficient?
I plan on grabbing the Hach-5B kit to confirm my water hardness. My town reports 14-18 grains/gal. I've set mine to 18 for now.
Assuming I test it at 18, should I aim a little higher to compensate?