SEMIJim
New Member
Hi All,
We recently had our water softener replaced. The plumber set up the Fleck SXT. As with the old softener, it seems to me to be cycling far more frequently than it should for two adults.
Our water is from a well. The Hach water hardness test kit says the hardness is 18 grains/gal.
Resin tank: 48,000 grains (which appears to be equivalent to 1.5 cu/ft?)
Brine tank: ±four (4) cubic feet
Brine tank connection on the resin tank reads:
.50 GPM
1.5 LB
SALT/MIN.
The hose fitting on the resin tank for the hose that goes to the sump well, reads:
INJECTOR 1
DRAIN FLOW 2.4 GPM
Here are the Fleck SXT settings the plumber configured:
DF: GAL
VT: dF 1b
CT: Fd
NT: 1
C: 37
H: 50
RS: rc
RC: 150
DO: OFF
RT: 2:00
BW: 10
BD: 60
RR: 10
BF: 10
FM: t0.7
That results in 590 gal. between cycles. We use ±100 gal./day, depending.
Right now the brine tank is about half full of salt. I can see water just below the surface of the salt if I move some aside.
At first I thought what the plumber had done was way out-of-whack,
I started plugging in accurate numbers and ended-up with values like nearly 1900 gallons between cycles. I never got so far as calculating the proper BF. In researching that I read about the advantages of cycling less, more often. So I backed-out my changes and decided to ask here.
About that BF calculation: this page says it's
(12 * 1.5)/(0.5 * 2.6) = 14
14 minutes * 0.5 gal/min = 7 gal.
7 gal. * 3 lbs/gal = 21 lbs. of salt.
All of this implies to me that if I set everything up to what things really are, the softener would cycle about once every 16 days or so, and use 21 lbs of salt per cycle. It looks like the brine tanks will hold about 120 lbs salt to be about 1/3 to 3/4 full, so... this would be sub-optimal?
FWIW: Not my doing, nor my choosing, but there's nothing I can do about it. The softener dumps into the sump well which dumps into the septic tank
Lastly: We have a "fair" amount (?) of iron in the water. (Rust staining anywhere water is allowed to sit [e.g.: toilet tanks] or which is regularly exposed to it [house siding hit by in-ground sprinklers].) I mention this because one programming tutorial says you should set a DO of 5-7 if there's "a lot" of rust in the water. ("A lot" is undefined.)
Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Jim
We recently had our water softener replaced. The plumber set up the Fleck SXT. As with the old softener, it seems to me to be cycling far more frequently than it should for two adults.
Our water is from a well. The Hach water hardness test kit says the hardness is 18 grains/gal.
Resin tank: 48,000 grains (which appears to be equivalent to 1.5 cu/ft?)
Brine tank: ±four (4) cubic feet
Brine tank connection on the resin tank reads:
.50 GPM
1.5 LB
SALT/MIN.
The hose fitting on the resin tank for the hose that goes to the sump well, reads:
INJECTOR 1
DRAIN FLOW 2.4 GPM
Here are the Fleck SXT settings the plumber configured:
DF: GAL
VT: dF 1b
CT: Fd
NT: 1
C: 37
H: 50
RS: rc
RC: 150
DO: OFF
RT: 2:00
BW: 10
BD: 60
RR: 10
BF: 10
FM: t0.7
That results in 590 gal. between cycles. We use ±100 gal./day, depending.
Right now the brine tank is about half full of salt. I can see water just below the surface of the salt if I move some aside.
At first I thought what the plumber had done was way out-of-whack,
I started plugging in accurate numbers and ended-up with values like nearly 1900 gallons between cycles. I never got so far as calculating the proper BF. In researching that I read about the advantages of cycling less, more often. So I backed-out my changes and decided to ask here.
About that BF calculation: this page says it's
No idea how to arrive at C or Y, and that page explains it not, but, using their numbers for the two, I end up with
(12 * 1.5)/(0.5 * 2.6) = 14
14 minutes * 0.5 gal/min = 7 gal.
7 gal. * 3 lbs/gal = 21 lbs. of salt.
All of this implies to me that if I set everything up to what things really are, the softener would cycle about once every 16 days or so, and use 21 lbs of salt per cycle. It looks like the brine tanks will hold about 120 lbs salt to be about 1/3 to 3/4 full, so... this would be sub-optimal?
FWIW: Not my doing, nor my choosing, but there's nothing I can do about it. The softener dumps into the sump well which dumps into the septic tank
Lastly: We have a "fair" amount (?) of iron in the water. (Rust staining anywhere water is allowed to sit [e.g.: toilet tanks] or which is regularly exposed to it [house siding hit by in-ground sprinklers].) I mention this because one programming tutorial says you should set a DO of 5-7 if there's "a lot" of rust in the water. ("A lot" is undefined.)
Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Jim
