Going through a lot of salt, 5600SXT Setting Check

[ankur496]

Hi all,

I've been going through a lot of salt (3 40lb bags in less than a month) for a 3 person (2 adults and a baby) household.
I'm suspecting I've gotten programmed the Fleck 5600SXT inefficiently. Please let me know where I may have gone wrong.
I called the city water department and they said the range for hardness is 14 - 20. Iron isn't an issue in the area.
For completeness, I have a Fleck 5600 SXT 32,000 Grain with a 1cuft tank and it has a paddle wheel. Pictured Here

Here are my current settings:
DF GAL
VT df1b
CT Fd
NT 1
C 24 (x1000)
H 19
RS SF
SF 10
D0 14
RT 2am
BW 10
BD 60
RR 10
BF 6
FM P0.7

Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide and thank you for the help

 

[Bannerman]

Assuming your softener is equipped with a 0.5 GPM BLFC, then your 6-minute Brine Fill setting will cause 3 gallons water to enter the brine tank which will result in 9 lbs salt being dissolved each cycle. Although 8 lbs is sufficient to regenerate 24,000 grains usable capacity, reducing the BF setting from 6-minutes to 5 will reduce the fill amount to 2.5 gallons. Since 2.5 gallons will dissolve only 7.5 lbs salt, that will be insufficient to regenerate 24K gr Capacity.

Assuming the stated hardness range is accurate, and since you didn't measure hardness at your location, recommend setting the hardness setting to 20 gpg since you don't know the actual hardness of the water arriving at your location. An average hardness number is not relevant since your softener could actually be removing 20 gpg, in which case, more resin capacity may be depleted than is to be regenerated each cycle.

Estimating the 2 adults each utilize 60 gallons per day X 20 gpg = 2400 grains per day softening load/day.

24,000 grains Capacity being regenerated per cycle / 2400 load = 10 days - 1-day Reserve Capacity = an estimated regeneration frequency of 9-10 days.

Since each regen cycle will consume 9 lbs salt, then 9 lbs salt should be consumed every 9-10 days, or ~30 lbs/month.

If we estimate the baby requires the same amount of water each day as an adult, then 24,000 gr Capacity / 3600 gr load = 6.66 days - 1 day reserve = an estimated regeneration frequency of 5-6 days.

30 days/month / 5 days = 6 regeneration cycles X 9 lbs each = 54 lbs salt/month which is a major discrepancy from the 120 lbs you stated.

As an initial check, ensure your softener is plumbed correctly, with the soft water supply to the home fixtures plumbed to the leftmost fitting (left when standing in front, facing the controller). If the unit is plumbed in reverse, then hard water consumed during regeneration, will be flowing through the meter, so the controller will incorrectly calculate a greater amount of soft water has been consumed compared to the soft water that has been actually consumed.

 

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[ankur496]

Thanks for your reply. What I learned through going into the diagnostics is that when all the water is off, there is a flow rate of 0.5 gpm being used, so I likely have a leak I don't know about :/
This is no longer a water softener problem and is now a general plumbing issue, unfortunately.