What's the purpose of the "Rapid Rinse"?
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What's the purpose of the "Rapid Rinse"?
In a standard water softener (Fleck 5600) regen cycle, what does the "Rapid Rinse" do? It comes after the Brine Rinse and before the Settle Rinse.
I understand all the other cycles except this one.
I understand all the other cycles except this one.
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Ion exchange residue
Sometimes unused salt (NaCl/KCl) if the systems is over brined, but usually residual calcium, magnesium, iron and other metallic ions that haven't rinsed out yet as well as chloride compounds that sometimes are formed spontaneously during regeneration like calcium chloride.
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Gotcha. Thanks for the info.
One last question: under what conditions would calcium chloride form during regeneration? We have an ongoing and terrible problem with water spots, even though the softener seems to be working fine (the water "feels" plenty soft), and tests at close to zero PPM of total hardness.
We've ruled out a flow problem (the spotting occurs regardless of flow rates), and we're wondering where in the heck these spots are coming from. Could it be calcium chloride?
Edit: By the way this is municipal water in central California (which is hard but otherwise relatively good, i.e. no iron problems etc). Fortunately we're not dealing with well water.
One last question: under what conditions would calcium chloride form during regeneration? We have an ongoing and terrible problem with water spots, even though the softener seems to be working fine (the water "feels" plenty soft), and tests at close to zero PPM of total hardness.
We've ruled out a flow problem (the spotting occurs regardless of flow rates), and we're wondering where in the heck these spots are coming from. Could it be calcium chloride?
Edit: By the way this is municipal water in central California (which is hard but otherwise relatively good, i.e. no iron problems etc). Fortunately we're not dealing with well water.
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precipitation / water spots
Calcium Chloride precipitation is a relatively rare condition. Calcium sulfate is far more common and can precip. if your system is built using both anion/cation media in the same tank (ixStream/Alpine/WaterQuest etc...) and the influent hardenss exceeds 5gpg.
Spotting can be caused by an incomplete rinse after regeneration, which allows the regen. byproducts to enter your home. Do you ever notice a bitter or salt taste in the water in the morning after regeneration ?
Where are the spots most noticeable ?
Spotting can be caused by an incomplete rinse after regeneration, which allows the regen. byproducts to enter your home. Do you ever notice a bitter or salt taste in the water in the morning after regeneration ?
Where are the spots most noticeable ?
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I don't know about bitter or salty taste, as we never drink this water.
Spots are most noticeable on the chrome fixtures in the kitchen and bathrooms. Although spotting occurs on pretty much whatever the water touches.
I think I should give the whole story here. This is a rented house, and the softener was in bypass when we moved in last year. We had it serviced (apparently it just needed a media change), and it worked fine for a few weeks. Then we started noticing the hard water returning sooner and sooner after each regen. We first tried decreasing the capacity setting from 800 to 700 gallons (it's a metered Fleck 5600) but that didn't help. Then we increased the salt usage meter from 9 lbs first to 10 lbs, and that helped somewhat but didn't fix the problem, and then to 11 lbs, which has provided (finally) consistently softened water.
So just from the sound of it, I think you're right on the money. Maybe we just have too much salt in the media tank?
Spots are most noticeable on the chrome fixtures in the kitchen and bathrooms. Although spotting occurs on pretty much whatever the water touches.
I think I should give the whole story here. This is a rented house, and the softener was in bypass when we moved in last year. We had it serviced (apparently it just needed a media change), and it worked fine for a few weeks. Then we started noticing the hard water returning sooner and sooner after each regen. We first tried decreasing the capacity setting from 800 to 700 gallons (it's a metered Fleck 5600) but that didn't help. Then we increased the salt usage meter from 9 lbs first to 10 lbs, and that helped somewhat but didn't fix the problem, and then to 11 lbs, which has provided (finally) consistently softened water.
So just from the sound of it, I think you're right on the money. Maybe we just have too much salt in the media tank?
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The media tank is 10x40 and 1 cu ft. Untreated water hardness ranges from 22-24.
This morning we called the guy who did the media change last November and he said it's probably an alkalinity issue with the source water. He lives in the area and apparently other people are having the same problem with water spotting. The Mardel 5-in-1 test strips we use show very high alkalinity levels, almost off the color chart, and the readings are the same for both softened and unsoftened water. He couldn't offer any ideas about how to fix the problem.
Anyway thank you very much for your time.
This morning we called the guy who did the media change last November and he said it's probably an alkalinity issue with the source water. He lives in the area and apparently other people are having the same problem with water spotting. The Mardel 5-in-1 test strips we use show very high alkalinity levels, almost off the color chart, and the readings are the same for both softened and unsoftened water. He couldn't offer any ideas about how to fix the problem.
Anyway thank you very much for your time.