High Water in Brine tank... Fleck 5810 Error Code 4

[Asker123]

So I go to my basement this morning and found ER 4 blinking on my softener. New 5810 SXT was installed and first ran on Nov 9 and Regen every 10 days . Not a good sign given the reputation of this valve.
I looked into the manual. Fail Safe Error ; Valve has failed to find position in one minute. ; Unplug the unit and plug it back in. If error continues, call technical support.
I did that. Valve made a loud running kind of sound as it makes at the beginning of Regen and the started showing right time and alternately blinking the time but unlike usual time when it displayed the gallons remaining, it is displaying blank.
The faucet sign on the left is not blinking means its not set for a regen etc.
My last regen was Jan 17 and it went smooth and I got 645 gallons after that regen. I remember checking things on Sunday . It was at 345 gallons and things were good.
Another weird thing I noticed that my Brine tank is all of a sudden has lots of water. It is at a level where it has touched the float in the brine tank so seems like float has moved up to stop the water.
At the end of regen last Tuesday, everything was normal . I add Salt after every regen so I had indeed checked on Wednesday, everything was nromal. How come all of a sudden valve added water in the Brine Tank. Please help what to do now.

My settings are mentioned in this thread below

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/is-my-softener-drawing-brine-right.101894/#post-733543

 

[Reach4]

Everything is normal now, if I read correctly, but you are wondering why this event happened.

I had a ER 4 event with different symptoms that occurred more than once, but in my case, the thing was in continuous backwash during the funny mode.

In diagnostics, you can read the software version. Mine was SV=3.0. I tried various things, and even had the valve on a UPS for a while. The cure was to get a new circuit board with SV=3.7. Is the "5 year warranty" going to do you any good? It did not in my case. But my 5810SXT has been working fine since my board swap in June 2020.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Asker123]

problems
1) Display is not showing Gallons left anymore. It is showing blank lines
2) Water is very high . It is over the salt now. Earlier it used be few inches below salt. Float has stopped the Water. Should I remove the Water from the Top. How will next Regen happen?
3) Why did valve added water in the Brine tank all of a sudden after 5 days of last successful regeneration on Tuesday Jan 17. I am sure it did not regenerated again. Regen time is 12 Noon We are at home and heard nothing. I am trying to find out what could have gone wrong as it might occur again. My software version written on sticker is 4.0

 

[Reach4]

These things can break pistons. I don't know if that could explain your symptoms. That piston breaking is why they discontinued the 5810, but parts will remain available for a good while. They only sell the pistons kitted with a new seal/spacer unit.

You can trigger an immediate regen by holding in the "extra cycle" button for 5 seconds. The troubleshooting section of the service manual has things to check for brine too high or not drawing brine. You can step thru the cycles, and a second poke of that button during backwash will terminate the backwash, and move you right to brine draw.

 

[Asker123]

OK I will force regen on Thursday . Our water usage is normal and if everything was to be correct it would auto regen around Thursday anyway.
Still wondering.. I was there at the end of regen on Tuesday . It withdrew brine properly and at the end during BF for 25 mins it filled up water correctly. Next day I checked again. Salt level was good. Water level was good. It should have stayed like that. What can be reason that the valve will start filling in water in the Brine tank so much so that the float had to work.
Could it be that towards the end during BF, it actually never stopped adding water into the tank and just slowed it down after 25 mins so I did not notice even the next day and in 5 days, I have an overflow situation.
trying to find root cause.

 

[Reach4]

I think you are saying that after a regen, the water/brine level is normal. Then over time, the level rises to where the safety float stops the filling. I also think you are saying that the softener continues to soften nicely, though you may have some extra salt in the house water after a regen.

This could be better than what I feared. I think the brine valve slowly leaking could cause that.

 

[Asker123]

Before Regenerating, Do I need to take the extra water out? It is slightly above the float now.
I did not want to waste the Brine and thought that I will do a regen and the brine will go down then I will skip the Brine Fill to bring the water level down.
If the Float raised and closed the Water entering into the Brine tank, it is the same path that brine goes from tank to the softener. RIght?
If Float has closed water in , will the Brine return path is also not closed? Do I need to reduce water below the float else do I risk brine draw to be not working?

 

[Reach4]

If you regen without removing liquid, the slow rinse might leave more salt residual in the water.

Your plan to pull brine out, skip thru the BF cycle, and then restore the saved brine later down the brine tube, would save salt.

In the service manual, there are diagrams on page 22. The diagrams can be hard to follow.

It looks to me as if the brine valve slowly leaks while in service, water will be slowly introduced into the brine tank. Similarly, if the brine valve is closed, no water can go into the brine tank. What do you think?