Fleck 5600sxt Brine Fill vs Draw (water not soft)

[seanflorida]

I've been dealing with some issues lately where the water just doesn't seem to be soft any more.
Almost a 5 year old setup - 10" (54" tall) 1.5cube resin tank with Fleck 5600sxt and a 80-100lb salt tank (48k grain from AFWFilters/Amazon).
I've recently ran some resin cleaner solution (Prores I think) a few times as I haven't done it in a few years. I don't really have any signs of foul resin - so unsure if its this.
I've cleaned the filter on the draw line and the cartridge.
The settings on the unit says 0.5gpm and 1.5lb/salt on the sticker near the draw line and 2.4gpm on the drain.

What I noticed today is that while my draw time is 60min, it actually runs out of water to draw up in 15mins, leaving the rest of the time doing I'm not sure what. I just changed (today) the fill time from 6 to 12mins which allowed the draw time to pump water up to 30mins, but I suspect settigns are still not correct. After today's regen cycle, it does appear the water looks/feels soft (the water has an airiness to it which I recall see when installed new).

During the draw cycle I can taste salty water on the drain side which I've read is a good sign.
These are my settings:
DF - Gal
VT - df16
CT - Fd
NT - 1
C - 32
H - 14
RS - rc
RC - 250
DO - 12
RT - 3:30
BW - 8
BD - 60
RR - 8
BF - was 6, now 15
FM - P0.7

Thoughts? Is it odd for the BD to have a ton of time left without any water to draw?

 

[Reach4]

Typical is to have the brine all drawn about 25% into the BD. The remainder of the BD cycle is called "slow rinse". During that time, the bolus of salt continues slowly thru the resin, and then gets slowly rinsed out with laminar flow.

If it takes 30 minutes to suck out the brine, I would go about 30*3.5= 105 minutes for BD. Conventional thought would be to go 30*4=120 minutes; that has some extra margin. The drain water saltiness/TSD should be down to almost that of the raw water by the end of the BD cycle.

City water, or well? If well, do you have iron?

BD=15 is 15 pounds of salt per cuft of resin-- a very strong dose. Maybe 8 is worth trying...

Do you know what injector you have?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

the water just doesn't seem to be soft any more.

Suggest testing the softened water with a Hach 5B Total Hardness test kit to determine what the actual hardness level is.

Test also a sample of the raw incoming water from prior to the softener to determine if it continues to be 14 gpg, or if the hardness level has increased.

Has your softener ever undergone a regeneration while there was insufficient salt, or no salt?

the unit says 0.5gpm and 1.5lb/salt on the sticker

C - 32

BF - was 6, now 15

6-minutes Brine Fill X 0.5 gpm BLFC = 3 gallons water entering the brine tank each cycle. As each gallon will dissolve 3 lbs salt, then 9 lbs total salt was being dissolved. The Resin Capacity chart below, specifies 9 lbs salt (6 lbs/ft3) will regenerate 31,500 grains Capacity in 1.5 ft3 resin, not 32,000 grains Capacity as programmed.

Even with the Capacity setting too low by 500 grains, I would expect not all of the 250 gallon Reserve Capacity will usually be fully consumed before each regeneration takes place, so I would normally expect not all of the resin's regenerated capacity will become depleted. In actuality, how much of the Reserve Capacity that is consumed each cycle, will be dependent on how much water is typically consumed each day.

How was the 250 gallons RC setting determined? If 4 people each consuming an estimated 60 gallons/day, then 240 of the 250 gallon reserve could be regularly consumed. If 6 ppl, then more than the 250 gallon reserve allowance is likely to be regularly consumed.

Edit to add:

and a 80-100lb salt tank

A 100 lb capacity brine tank, does not seem large enough for a 1.5 ft3 softener. Is the Brine Tank equipped with a Salt Grid platform at the bottom?

When Brine Fill is completed, how high is the liquid in the Brine Tank while also filled with salt (as observed by viewing down into the Brine Well while the cap is removed)? Even with a 6-minute BF setting, did the liquid rise high enough to cause the safety float to be lifted?

 

[seanflorida]

City water.
I tested the hardness in the house and it is indeed at 0. I'll check when I believe it's not soft any longer.
I'm usually pretty good at keeping salt in, but I'm pretty sure there was atleast a time where there was almost no salt (just the smalls at the bottom).
I can't recall how I derived the RC - do have a house of 4 (2 teens/2 adults), so I believe i looked up the average in this situation. I suspect it's a bit higher come to think of it. How important is that to be dialed in?

I was off on the capacity of the brine tank - I can put almost 5 40lb bags in.
No grid at the bottom. I had 80lbs in and at 6min fill time, the water was just at the top of the salt level.
So if the rule is the brine draw should take 25% of the total time to draw up all the water, than 6mins fill is perfect then.