Fleck 9100SXT Set up and tuning Help

[Riddleyo]

Hello,

Thank you so much to the experts on this forum answering newbie's questions as they have taught me more than any other resource so far.

I have recently installed a new Fleck 9100SXT Twin Tank "96k" grain system in my home set up with well water. It has been operating for the past 4 months providing me with very soft water. A bit salty but soft (I'm the only one who notices). I have a family of 5: 2 adults, 2 toddlers, and 1 infant. However, I have the following issues that I was hoping you experts can help me fix:

1.) Loss of resin in drain. My water softener drains into my sump pump. I have noticed resin beads accumulating in my yard where my sump pump drains out. I shined a flashlight on my tanks as suggested by "BannerMan" in another thread and I noticed both tanks have a resin level that is only about half way up the tank. When I ordered my system, I did not elect to order a "Upper Basket". I am thinking it was a mistake. Why am I losing so much resin? My DLFC is stated to be 2.4 gallons per minute. My well supplies water to my house via a 3/4" copper pipe. I used 1" PEX tubing to route that through a whole house water filter and then to a stainless bypass valve on the water softener. Is this too much flow blowing out my resin?

2.) Regens happen during the day instead of 2:00am and cause a noticeable loss of water pressure. Would rather deal with a little hard water than be taking a shower and the flow slows to a trickle!

3.) Excessive salt consumption. I used my water suppliers settings and I am consuming way too much salt. I think my Brine Flow is too high based on my calculations, again thank you "BannerMan" for helping somebody in another thread.

Advertised capacity: 96k total grains, Twin 48grain, 1.5cu ft3 tanks
Stated capacity in the manual: 30,000 grains
Current Programmed Settings:
DF GAL
VT dF1b
CT FI
NT ---2
TS U1
C 24 (Should this be 36 like BannerMan said in another thread? Or 30 to match my manual's capacity?)
H 28 (I have a hardness of about 27 grains per gallon per my water test below)
BW 10
BD 50
RR 6
BF 9
FM P0.7
BLFC 1.5 gpm
DLFC 2.4 gpm

Here are my back of the envelop calculations:
If my system is taking 9 minutes to fill the brine, and my BLFC is 1.5gpm, that is 13.5 gal per brine fill. 3lbs per salt per 1 gal of brine = 40.5lbs salt per regeneration. That is a huge amount of salt that I am using. Should I reduce my BF down to 3, which would give me around 13.5 lbs of salt per regen?

Here is my water testing results just for added info:
Total hardness: 457 mg/ml
Calcium hardness: 278 mg/ml
Magnesium hardness: 179 mg/ml
TDS: 588 mg/ml
Chloride: 108 mg/ml
Sulfate 20.3 mg/ml
Nitrate: 6.050 mg/ml
Nitrite: ND
Arsenic: < 0.003 mg/ml
Iron: < 0.025 mg/ml
Lead: < 0.003 mg/ml
VOC: ND
Coliform Bacteria: ND

Please let me know if you guys have any suggestions.
Thank you

 

[Reach4]

1.) Loss of resin in drain. My water softener drains into my sump pump. I have noticed resin beads accumulating in my yard where my sump pump drains out. I shined a flashlight on my tanks as suggested by "BannerMan" in another thread and I noticed both tanks have a resin level that is only about half way up the tank. When I ordered my system, I did not elect to order a "Upper Basket". I am thinking it was a mistake. Why am I losing so much resin? My DLFC is stated to be 2.4 gallons per minute. My well supplies water to my house via a 3/4" copper pipe. I used 1" PEX tubing to route that through a whole house water filter and then to a stainless bypass valve on the water softener. Is this too much flow blowing out my resin?

2.4 is not too much. You should probably either measure the flow, or check the markings on the DLFC.

2.) Regens happen during the day instead of 2:00am and cause a noticeable loss of water pressure. Would rather deal with a little hard water than be taking a shower and the flow slows to a trickle!

That's an easy one. CT = Fd.
Correction: I now think that CT - FI is the only right way. Sorry.

3.) Excessive salt consumption. I used my water suppliers settings and I am consuming way too much salt. I think my Brine Flow is too high based on my calculations, again thank you "BannerMan" for helping somebody in another thread.

Note: BF dropped to 4 with that 1.5 BLFC, and could even be 3 minutes with a small change to C. I have not read about a 1.5 BLFC. You should probably check that too. If you check and the BLFC is really 1.5, check back.

Here are some possible settings if the BLFC is really 1.5 gpm.
=================================
System info (not programmed)
salt lb/cuft = 8 requested ; A choice ( efficiency vs capacity) (Actually 9 due to rounding)
BLFC = 1.5 ; Brine Refill rate GPM (For real? Check it)
DLFC = 2.4 ; Drain (backwash and RR rate GPM)
cubic ft resin = 1.5 ; ft3 resin (each tank)
Compensated hardness = 18 ; including any compensation
People = 5 ; Does not matter for settings, just forecast
Estimated gal/day = 300 ; 60 gal per person typical calc
Estimated days/regen = 3.87 ; Computed days with reserve

Fleck 9100SXT Settings:
DF = Gal ; Units
VT = dF1b ; Downflw/Upflw, Single Backwash
CT =FI=Meter Immediate,Fd=Delayed regen
NT = 2 ; Number of tanks
C = 36.0 ; capacity in 1000 grains per tank
H = 31 ; Hardness-- compensate if needed
RS = rc ; rc says use gallons vs percent
RC = 0 ; Can use 0 for no reserve
DO = 28 ; Day Override (shorter with iron)
RT = 2:00 ; Regen time matters after DO days or CT=Fd
BW = 5 ; Backwash (minutes)
Bd = 60 ; Brine draw minutes
RR = 5 ; Rapid Rinse minutes
BF = 3 ; Brine fill minutes
FM =P07 usually t0.7 ; flow meter,see https://goo.gl/UbWJWW

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

In reviewing the Service Manual for the 9100SXT, I see no listing for a 1.5 gpm BLFC, only 0.25, 0.5 & 1.0 gpm.
There is however a 1.5 gpm DLFC flow restrictor available.

To regenerate 36,000 grains capacity per 1.5 ft3 tank, only 12 lbs salt will be needed each regeneration cycle. (36,000 / 12 = 3,000 grains per lb Hardness Removal Efficiency)

Perhaps your manual may be stating the resin has a maximum usable capacity of 30,000 grains per cubic foot. For each of your 1.5 ft3 tanks, this would be 45,000 grains total capacity. To regenerate that capacity will require 22.5 lbs of salt per regeneration cycle which will be inefficient (45000 / 22.5 =2,000 grains/lb).

As your Total Hardness is 457 ppm, that will be 26.7 grains per gallon + hardness compensation multiplication factor of 1.2 = 32 gpg hardness setting.

 

[Reach4]

As your Total Hardness is 457 ppm,

Oops. I read calcium hardness, and thought that meant calcium equivalent hardness. I will edit my post above to reflect that.
==============================================
If the BLFC is really 0.5 gpm, as we suspect
Revised based on number from
https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/help-for-programming-fleck-5810.82673/#post-595983
BLFC = 0.5
cubic ft resin = 1.5

Alternative C and BF pairs:
lb/cuft ; C= ; BF= ;
6.000 ; 31.5 ; 6 ;
7.000 ; 33.9 ; 7 ;
8.000 ; 36.0 ; 8 ; Suggested C=36.0 BF=8 if BLFC is 0.5
9.000 ; 37.7 ; 9 ;

 

[Bannerman]

As the label for 0.5 gpm BLFC also specifies 1.5 lbs salt/min, that is likely what Riddleyo interpreted to be 1.5 gpm.

 

[Riddleyo]

Thank you both for your replies. I reached out to my parts dealer and they confirmed that the "BLFC 1.5 GPM" written in my manual is a mistake and it was meant to be 0.5 GPM.
Thank you Reach4 and Bannerman for the education. I will update my settings to your recommendations and update this thread on the performance over the next week or two!!!!!

THANKS!!!!!!!!!