Feeling very out of my league reading through all the posts and looking for some insight. We installed an Amazon-purchased Fleck 5600SXT 48,000 grain water softener almost 4 years ago in FL. Over the past few months noticed water was pretty hard again but with so many other worries, didn't do anything until we had a low water pressure issue which turned into resin seeping into the house (hubby tested every water outlet without putting the system in bypass). Based on recommendations, had a few different companies quote options to rebed or replace the unit and as per other threads, those quotes vary drastically! The rebed comes in between $700 and $1600 with a middle ground of $1000 to rebed with #10 resin, new tube and rebuild the valve with 3 year warranty on the media. A new system comes in between $1900 and $3000+. I know the prevailing thought is replace if the repair is 1/2 the cost to replace but also feeling guilty about adding to the landfill if better quality resin and a more informed regeneration cycle would do the trick. Is rebedding just throwing good money after bad? Or is it worth it, especially having a water softener company do the work to rebuild and set up?
Rebed or replace?
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Yes, municipal.
Eric Wesson
Member
Other guys will likely know better than me, but:
- You probably have high levels of chlorine / chloramine in the muni (good guess, btw) water, which
- has turned the resin into mushy fines that get past the bottom basket screen, and
- has degraded the o-rings inside the softener head, but
- would also have degraded the rubber washers in your faucets. Check one of these; also, get a water quality report from your muni supplier.
Rebuilding the softener head is pretty easy if you're mechanically inclined, and the 5600 is a good head. Replacing the resin is also easy. However, if you are new to all this, and/or unsure of your abilities, best not to undertake. If someone knows what they are doing, repair is a fine option. You probably don't need to replace the dip tube, but reusing the old will save you all of about $10.
The only hitch to repairing or replacing is that you will likely suffer the same fate all over again in another four years. Consider adding chlorine / chloramine remediation (activated charcoal?) before the softener.
It is not necessarily true that the o-rings in the softener head are lost. My impression is that the resin fails first. Thus you might get away with just a resin replacement.
- You probably have high levels of chlorine / chloramine in the muni (good guess, btw) water, which
- has turned the resin into mushy fines that get past the bottom basket screen, and
- has degraded the o-rings inside the softener head, but
- would also have degraded the rubber washers in your faucets. Check one of these; also, get a water quality report from your muni supplier.
Rebuilding the softener head is pretty easy if you're mechanically inclined, and the 5600 is a good head. Replacing the resin is also easy. However, if you are new to all this, and/or unsure of your abilities, best not to undertake. If someone knows what they are doing, repair is a fine option. You probably don't need to replace the dip tube, but reusing the old will save you all of about $10.
The only hitch to repairing or replacing is that you will likely suffer the same fate all over again in another four years. Consider adding chlorine / chloramine remediation (activated charcoal?) before the softener.
It is not necessarily true that the o-rings in the softener head are lost. My impression is that the resin fails first. Thus you might get away with just a resin replacement.
GAC needs replacing too.
Getting new 10% crosslinked resin, which I presume the original was not, should help the resin life.
Consider a cartridge filter after the softener to catch broken resin.
Eric Wesson
Member
Yes, but the cost per cf for GAC is about the same as that of resin, and getting rid of the chlorine has other benefits besides resin life ...
Just how much longer does 10% crosslinked resin last?
Just how much longer does 10% crosslinked resin last?
Bannerman
Well-Known Member
48K grains will signify 1.5 cubic feet (ft3) of resin, which is most frequently installed in a 10" X 54" tank. What size tank is your softener equipped with?
Most online sellers compete mainly on price, so too often, compromises are made to reduce expenses to offer their system for a lower price than other online sellers. Compromises often include:
- utilize a cheap, low quality bottom basket. Since the bottom basket is the primary barrier to prevent resin loss into the home's plumbing system, cheaping out to reduce the system price by $2-$5, is false economy.
- utilizing inexpensive, low quality resin with less than 8% crosslinking. Standard resin has 8% cross-linking which will better tolerate constant chlorine exposure compared to lower crosslink resin. Premium 10% CL will further increase chlorine tolerance.
- not including gravel under bedding, to lower the sellers shipping expense
- with no gravel bedding, utilizing a shorter tank (often 47"), which will cost the seller less and will also further reduce the shipping expense.
If your tank size is less than 54", then you may need to re-bed with only 1.25ft3 resin while including the recommended 15 lbs of bedding gravel for a 10" diameter tank. Gravel, in addition to improving water flow through the resin bed, will also act as a barrier, which, in the case of a compromised bottom basket, will often prevent resin loss into the home's plumbing.
Was resin actually observed within faucet aerators, or in the bathtub? (Bathtub faucets are not usually equipped with aerators)
Since broken resin pieces will be typically flushed away to drain during each softener backwash cycle, resin loss into the home plumbing is not common unless the bottom basket is compromised with no gravel present. Chlorine damaged resin will feel mushy when squeezed between two fingers and will often expand in volume, which will reduce the flow rate through the softener.
Do you know whether your municipal water supplier utilizes chlorine, or chloramine (chlorine + ammonia) for disinfection? More and more water municipal suppliers have been adopting chloramine as the residual strength tends to remain more consistent throughout the distribution system. Unfortunately, Chloramine is also more damaging to soft components compared to plain chlorine, including to 10% cross-linked resin.
Plain chlorine maybe easily removed using a granulated activated carbon (GAC) filtration system prior to the softener. GAC is also effective for removing many other contaminants, including byproducts of chlorination (BPM) which include THMs and HAAs.
As Chloramine is significantly more difficult to remove, a backwashing system containing Catalytic Carbon is recommended. CC offers most of the same benefits as GAC, but is treated to enhance its catalytic action, which will be beneficial for effectively removing ammonia.
Since either carbon type requires sufficient contact time to adsorb contaminants, the recommended flow rate is between 1 and 3 gpm per cubic foot of media. 1.5 ft3 is the minimum recommended quantity for a point of entry application, but a a larger quantity will be beneficial as it will support a higher flow rate while providing increased contact time for enhanced contaminant reduction.
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Good question. You would think there would be tables or graphs on the subject.
One thing I think we can agree on. When you put in new media, let the tank fill slowly. Let the media soak for a period before backwashing. That period is what-- hour, day, what? Whichever media you put in, do some more reading on that topic.
I put 10% crosslinked resin in my softener for well water. I figure if nothing else, it could help during sanitizing. I do take care to limit the chlorine ppm thru the resin during well and plumbing sanitizing.
I agree GAC has some pluses beyond removing chlorine. It removes radon and organic chemicals. But if adding a carbon filter, we don't automatically select GAC. With chloromine, very often used instead of chlorine, a bigger volume of catalytic carbon is recommended. But often those differ. My Centaur Carbon is very different catalytic carbon than generic catalytic carbon. My filter is removing H2S and iron.
So further study is called for, and I guess knowing how much residual chlorine or chloramine you have. If I assume 6% crosslinked resin in that softener via Amazon, even 8% would be an upgrade. So if using a backwashing carbon filter, I think some periodic measurement of the residual is called for.
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Eric Wesson
Member
OP, I was using Granular Activated Carbon interchangeably with Catalytic Carbon. I do not fully understand this media, but I would follow the advice and go with Catalytic Carbon. I did so on my well water to remove H2S. That "CC" was about the same price as my softener resin.
For what it's worth, I am skeptical of gravel. I don't see how the resin doesn't just settle down between the gravel pieces. In the softeners I set up, I have never used gravel and seem to get perfectly fine results. I suspect it is something that sounded like a good idea and people just went along with it - and gravel is certainly cheaper per cf than resin - but I have never confirmed it one way or the other.
For what it's worth, I am skeptical of gravel. I don't see how the resin doesn't just settle down between the gravel pieces. In the softeners I set up, I have never used gravel and seem to get perfectly fine results. I suspect it is something that sounded like a good idea and people just went along with it - and gravel is certainly cheaper per cf than resin - but I have never confirmed it one way or the other.
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Gravel is more dense than resin or carbon. Even if the gravel is added on top, it will settle to the bottom on the first backwash.
The purpose of the gravel is to spread out the flow so that there is not media outside of the flow that is not being utilized.
Also, without gravel, you will have a pattern like the cone of depression in a water well. The resin near the bottom basket will have higher velocity water going by, so there is less contact time in that area as water flows.
Now is this difference worth the extra cost of shipping and gravel? I tend to think so, but I understand a different view.
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