Home water pressure restricted by Fleck 5600sxt softener

[Trident1]

Home water pressure getting worse last couple months. 3 story house but equally bad all floors. Washing machine right next to softener not getting flow either. I bypassed Fleck 5600sxt (which we’ve had for 5 years no problems) today with the Noryl bypass and water pressure back to normal in house. There is obviously a physical or air problem somewhere in the 5600. Showers down to a trickle so need to try something. Salt use has been normal and on city water (but is is pretty hard). I’m not too good mechanically but if there’s something easily checked I could do that.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[TOTOtalitarian]

Wow, so many past participants on this forum, is there no old timer that can help solve this problem?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Home water pressure getting worse last couple months. 3 story house but equally bad all floors. Washing machine right next to softener not getting flow either. I bypassed Fleck 5600sxt (which we’ve had for 5 years no problems) today with the Noryl bypass and water pressure back to normal in house. There is obviously a physical or air problem somewhere in the 5600. Showers down to a trickle so need to try something. Salt use has been normal and on city water (but is is pretty hard). I’m not too good mechanically but if there’s something easily checked I could do that.

Thanks for any ideas.

Odd. I think you are saying that the pressure drop has been gradually increasing for quite a while. The symptoms sound like the media is stuck together. I would think this would indicate the backwash has been inadequate. One way for this to happen would be an overly-restricted drain line. If your tank is 10x54 inch, expect 2.4 gpm backwash. If you can direct the drain line into a 5 gallon bucket, during backwash that bucket should fill in about 125 seconds.

With chlorine damage to the resin, I would tend to think the beads get broken up. Maybe these fragments are gumming up a top basket, rather than being backwashed washed out.

But anyway, I suspect the resin needs replaced with new 10% crosslinked resin. Usually the resin is regular size, but check your documents to make sure it was not extra fine resin. If the resin is stuck together, it could be hard to get the old resin out.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

If you bypassed the water softener I suggest you leave it on bypass or you are gonna
have a mess on your hands sooner or later...

You must have high chorine levels that are swelling up the mineral bed..
and eventually it will rise up in the tank and explode into your plumbing system

you might need a carbon filter to take out the chlorine and chlormines

.This Clack unit was only 7 years old and went bad on us and water could not pass through it

 

[Bannerman]

Flow restriction through a softener, is almost always a result of chlorine damaged resin. While constant chlorine exposure will degrade any type of softening resin, chloramine (chlorine + ammonia) now utilized for disinfection by many municipal water suppliers, will degrade resin and internal softener seals much more rapidly than plain chlorine.

While chlorine damaged resin will usually not be extreme enough to result in the swelled resin expanding out from the top of the tank once the control valve is removed as depicted in Master Plumber Mark's previous photo, a sample of chlorine damaged resin obtained from the top of the tank will typically feel mushy when squeezed between two fingers as apposed to firm and defined as it should, similar to beach sand. Once damaged, the entire resin bed will require replacement.

Agree with Mark's suggestion to utilize a carbon filtration system to remove the chlorine/chloramine and other contaminants before the softener.

For point of entry applications, a downflow backwashing carbon system containing 1.5 cubic feet (ft3} of GAC (granular activated carbon) is the usual minimum media volume recommended for removal of plain chlorine as well as disinfection by-products.

Since chloramine is more difficult to remove, 2 ft3 Catalytic Carbon is the usual recommended minimum media volume.

As the most effective flow rate through either type of carbon media is 1-3 GPM per ft3 of media, a larger amount of either type of carbon will extend the water contact time with the media to further increase contaminant removal while the flow rate is moderate, but will also permit a higher flow rate to fixtures while continuing to effectively remove/reduce most contaminants.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Flow restriction through a softener, is almost always a result of chlorine damaged resin. While constant chlorine exposure will degrade any type of softening resin, chloramine (chlorine + ammonia) now utilized for disinfection by many municipal water suppliers, will degrade resin and internal softener seals much more rapidly than plain chlorine.

While chlorine damaged resin will usually not be extreme enough to result in the swelled resin expanding out from the top of the tank once the control valve is removed as depicted in Master Plumber Mark's previous photo, a sample of chlorine damaged resin obtained from the top of the tank will typically feel mushy when squeezed between two fingers as apposed to firm and defined as it should, similar to beach sand. Once damaged, the entire resin bed will require replacement.

Agree with Mark's suggestion to utilize a carbon filtration system to remove the chlorine/chloramine and other contaminants before the softener.

For point of entry applications, a downflow backwashing carbon system containing 1.5 cubic feet (ft3} of GAC (granular activated carbon) is the usual minimum media volume recommended for removal of plain chlorine as well as disinfection by-products.

Since chloramine is more difficult to remove, 2 ft3 Catalytic Carbon is the usual recommended minimum media volume.

As the most effective flow rate through either type of carbon media is 1-3 GPM per ft3 of media, a larger amount of either type of carbon will extend the water contact time with the media to further increase contaminant removal while the flow rate is moderate, but will also permit a higher flow rate to fixtures while continuing to effectively remove/reduce most contaminants.

In the picture you see that I posted , I took the clack head off and this stuff immediately rose out of the top of the unit
like it was under pressure..... I was very Impressed....

WE have found in our city that some places seem to be ok and other areas seem to have issues with chloramines...
Around our town their are injection points (wells) where the chloramines and other additives are put into the system and
the chemicals disperse from that point out into the surrounding areas..... I have told customers that they very near
the injection points and they are getting a much stronger dose of the chemicals in their home before it dissipates and
thins out into the community..... We have hot zones around town and I know where they are

I normally install a 2 cubic foot backwashing carbon filter before the water softener because it cost only about
50 bucks more than the smaller units and it is supposed to be good for around a million gallons of water instead of just
half that capacity with the smaller sizes... before it needs to be serviced...

I figure I will be dead before then...


getting all this crap out of the plumbing system is Tons of FUN....

 

[Bannerman]

customers that they very near the injection points and they are getting a much stronger dose of the chemicals in their home

A strong dose of either chemical, will result in more rapid resin degradation compared to weaker doses. This is why the lifespan of resin treating municipal water cannot be predicted.

Because the swelling is a result of the breakdown of the resin's crosslinking, 10% cross-linked resin will better tolerate constant chlorine exposure for longer duration compared to standard 8% C-L resin. Many big box and online marketed softeners are equipped with resin with less than standard 8% cross-linking. There have been prior forum posters that experienced resin failure issues within a few years or even months after installing their softeners.

I normally install a 2 cubic foot backwashing carbon filter before the water softener

Activated Carbon is an amazing filtration media that is capable of reducing/eliminating many types of contaminants through adsorption.

Unfortunately, activated carbon is mostly ineffective at removing chloramine. To effectively reduce/eliminate chloramine will require Catalytic Carbon, which is activated carbon that is doped with Nitrogen compounds at high temperature This substantially enhances the carbon's ability to decompose chloramine, converting the chloramines to harmless chloride. CC is also more effective at eliminating H2S odor from well water.

Although Catalytic Carbon will be substantially more costly than regular GAC, it will also have a comparable capacity to filter a large volume of water over many years, as you stated.

 

[Reach4]

https://lamotte.com/total-chlorine-low-range-test-strips-2963lr could be used to test the approximate chlorine or chloramine level.

WaterWorks™ 2 Free & Total Chlorine Test Strips (Pocket Packs)

WaterWorks™ II Free & total Chlorine test strips combine a wide range of detection with our patented Free Chlorine indicator. Shop Now!

sensafe.com

I have not used either of these.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

A strong dose of either chemical, will result in more rapid resin degradation compared to weaker doses. This is why the lifespan of resin treating municipal water cannot be predicted.

Because the swelling is a result of the breakdown of the resin's crosslinking, 10% cross-linked resin will better tolerate constant chlorine exposure for longer duration compared to standard 8% C-L resin. Many big box and online marketed softeners are equipped with resin with less than standard 8% cross-linking. There have been prior forum posters that experienced resin failure issues within a few years or even months after installing their softeners.


Activated Carbon is an amazing filtration media that is capable of reducing/eliminating many types of contaminants through adsorption.

Unfortunately, activated carbon is mostly ineffective at removing chloramine. To effectively reduce/eliminate chloramine will require Catalytic Carbon, which is activated carbon that is doped with Nitrogen compounds at high temperature This substantially enhances the carbon's ability to decompose chloramine, converting the chloramines to harmless chloride. CC is also more effective at eliminating H2S odor from well water.

Although Catalytic Carbon will be substantially more costly than regular GAC, it will also have a comparable capacity to filter a large volume of water over many years, as you stated.

Sorry.... The catailic carbon is what we use ....just did not explain myself correctly