I have a typical 32k Fleck 5600SE softener (CA-10 resin, 0.5 gpm brine, 2.0 gpm drain). I know how to calculate the brine refill time (step 4) and the gallons treated before re-generating. But how do I calculate the backwash, brine/slow rinse and rapid rinse times (step 1,2 and 3)?

I know the backwash time should be based on how clean my city water is, so I'm just looking for some sort of generalized guide. Steps 2 & 3 should be based on how many lbs. of salt I'm using, shouldn't it?

 

Typical settings should be 10 min backwash, 60 min brine/slow rinse and 10 min fast rinse

 

My guess is that you bought it online, who did you buy it from?

Why haven't they given you the settings?

Didn't they help you size it? A 32k is good for a basic 2 bathroom house with 1-2 people living there.

What salt dose are you planning to use?

 

Yes, these are the default settings for the 5600SE, along with 12 minute brine tank refill.

What I'd like to know is how to calculate the step 2 and 3 settings if changing the salt dosage in step 4.

 

My guess is that you bought it online, who did you buy it from?

Why haven't they given you the settings?

Didn't they help you size it? A 32k is good for a basic 2 bathroom house with 1-2 people living there.

What salt dose are you planning to use?

How many people, what is the hardness, any large tubs or showers with more than one regular head?

Are you going to use potassium or regular salt?

Do you want to regenerate once every few days or on a weekly basis?

If you answer those questions, the typical settings are the factory test defaults, they should be adjusted to fit your requirements.

 

Lets assume softener was sized correctly and already correctly programmed to regenerate once a week using regular salt.

Now if water usage pattern changes, softener must be reprogrammed if one wants to keep the regenerations to once a week. Information for calculating the salt dosage (brine refill time) and amount of water treatable for a certain k capacity is already available on the internet.

The information I'm looking for is how to calculate the brine slow rinse and rapid rinse times in relation to the salt dosage and the DLFC.

 

Try this link.
http://www.pentairwatertreatment.com...del+5600SE.htm

 

This is just the programming manual for the 5600SE. I already have this; it came with the softener. It shows how to program the 5600SE, but doesn't show how to calculate the numbers you punch into it.

 

OK I read the steps. Step2 is for regen type. Set 7-1 for a timer unit and 7-3 for a metered one
Step 3 is grains of capacity yours is a 32k if you use 15lb salt
Set for 20,000 at 8lb for efficience.
Step 6 is for refill (salt usage) so 1 gallon water disolves 3lb salt. to use 8 lb salt you need 2.5 gal water. 2.5/.25 blfc size= fill time of 10 min. So if you have a .5 blfc the fill time is 5 min.
I sure hope this helps you.

 

Thanks for your effort, Biermech. Unfortunately, you just told me all the steps that I already know how to calculate. The 2 steps that I don't know how to calculate are the brine/slow rinse and the rapid rinse times. For example, if I reduce the regen to use only 6lb of salt, do I still do 60 minutes of brine/slow rinse? Do I still do 10 minutes of rapid rinse?

I could leave those as they are, but I think I'll be using more water than neccessary.

 

That's what I thought at first. Guess I was reading into your question. Yes you leave those settings at 60min/10min. I don't know of any calculation to reduce these numbers. You could play with them but I can't see you saving over a gallon or 2. Not worth the trouble.

 

The settings you see are factory defaults. All cycle positions use capacity, so getting them wrong impacts the salt dose because they use capacity and that impacts whether the softener will consistently produce soft water between regenerations. There's no assumptions in that.

The backwash and such times have little to do with the salt dose but they do use some. The salt dose dictates the K of capacity and that dictates the service run, or when and how frequently it regenerates. That dictates the length of time of the backwashes and final rinse etc.. All those times are using hard water, and some capacity.

The water use efficiency is dependent on these times and the salt dose dictates the salt efficiency.

Answer my questions above and include your hardness and any iron, all that info dictates the length of time of those cycle positions. IOWs, they are specific to your application, that's why they aren't found in any manual; it's up to the dealer to come up with the data based on your situation and you can help others here if you name the dealer that didn't go over all this with you before you bought from them; or after the purchase.