New Fleck 9100SXT Water Softener - Settings help, please.

11 years ago

I just installed a new Fleck 9100SXT (24000 grain) water softener and am looking for some help with the settings. I'd like to make the most efficient use of both salt and water.

There's two of us in a 1 1/2 bath home. We have mostly water saving appliances. We had a complete test of our well water done prior to the softener purchase. Here's the results:

pH 8.13
Iron 0.013 mg/l
Alkalinity in Water 259 mg/l
Carbonate Bicarbonate as CaCO3 259 mg/l
Specific Conductance 629 umho/cm 0
Chloride 5.88 mg/l
Fluoride 0.42 mg/l
Sulfate 26.5 mg/l
Nitrate plus Nitrite as N H 10.7 mg/l
Nitrate level is above the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level of 10 mg/L. Contact your local County Sanitarian for
assistance.

Total Coliform by Presence/Absence Absent
E.coli by Presence/Absence Absent
Herbicide -(Present/Absent) No Detect
Calcium 46.7 mg/l
Magnesium 43.7 mg/l
Total Hardness as CaCO3 296 mg/l
Hardness, Grains / Gallon 17.3 gpg
Sodium 22.8 mg/l
Copper 0.021 mg/l
Lead Arsenic Uranium 0.005 mg/l
Pesticides (Present/Absent) No Detect
No analytes were detected at or above the labs established minimum detection limits
Volatile Organic Compounds NO DETECT

We've installed a ceramic filter for our (and our pets) drinking water due to the borderline high nitrates. The internet water softener seller didn't provide much in the way of settings help and my research hasn't turned up much I'd be confident in using. I used this forum a lot when researching my purchase and am hoping I'll get some good help now that the install is complete. Thanks in advance.

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Comments (7)

User
11 years ago
Dual-tank softener - correct?

What does the BLFC sticker say? This should be a small sticker, approx 3/4" x 3/4" located on/near the brine inlet to the valve. It should have a number like 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 or 1.0. This is the flow rate of brine into the brine tank when it is filled after regen and is necessary to set the brine fill time.

Did you receive a manual with your softener?
What did your softener vendor tell you to do for setup?
Have you made any programming changes at all?
User
11 years ago
If your 24k 9100SXT softener has .75 cu ft of resin in each tank you're only getting an SFR of 7 gpm. Did you test your water/well system for SFR?

Are you going to correct the nitrate problem and the high pH?
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Actually I do understand how the float works. You said it yourself that the float comes into play to prevent overflowing of the brine tank if the control valve fails. So if the valve did fail, then the float should stop the water flow but it does not and the water drips out the area around the threads holding the float assembly to the brine tank and the hole for the clear tubing. . So the float safety failed since it allowed the water level to rise much higher than the float. Second, is that I have been down this road twice before and if I empty the tank, clean the inlet tube and air check valve etc then its fine. It happens if the tank runs basically out of salt leaving just the white soft undissolved salt on the bottom. But if during the brine sucking phase the air check is clogged or the intake is clogged thus preventing any brine from being sucked out then the water level will not drop but when it goes back to fill the tank the volume of water gets compounded and eventually reaches the level of the float . I do agree that many of the site do not give all the info. although I really did not find any that did not give you a formula of how to size the softener. What I see that can be misleading is that many aren't showing grain capacity needed based on a seven day requirement but more are only 5 days. I did find one that I had gone to before for some info that did calcuate for 7 days. http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/water_softener_sizing.htm It also uses 75gal per person vs. the more realistic 60 you gave. In their sizing they say you need a 64,000 grain capacity. I get this. In your original post you said I needed 42000 grains to be treated each week. What I then can't understand is why is your recommendation for almost double the capacity for 2.5 cu ft thus a 80,000 grain water softener? This what I am trying to understand.
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Greetings! Here it is the day after installation. First, the positive news: Installed the Fleck 5600 SXT yesterday. Everything through the last programming step appeared to have gone per the manual's instructions along with the modifications that you suggested - e.g., changing the Capacity to 20K, BF to 4, etc. Second, the "not so good" news: Based on the manual's statement that "The resin is already charged so initial regeneration is not required" and the fact that the window of the control unit after the programming was finished showed, in addition to the time, "810" I did not add water or salt to the brine tank. Plus, since the number of gallons had dropped from 810 to only around 750 by bedtime, had thought it would be around a week before the first regeneration took place so I planned to add salt and water either today or tomorrow. It was a surprise, then, to hear a faint sound coming from the garage after 2 am this morning. Finding that the softener was in a regeneration cycle without water/salt in the brine tank, I pulled the plug to stop the process. After plugging it in today, I was ready to re-program the unit but found that although it had been sitting unplugged much of the night, the unit had retained both the time of day and the point of the regen cycle when the unplugging took place. Upon re-plugging it in, it finished the last few minutes of the cycle after which the window readings showed the correct time and, once again, the "810" that it started out with yesterday. Questions: 1. I did add salt/water today. Are the programmed values still in effect despite the unplugging/re-plugging of the unit or must changes be made? 2. Does the initial 810 gal amount appear to be a correct number? 3. Why did it regenerate last night despite the reading of around 750 gal. in the window late at night? 4. Henceforth, will the displayed number of gallons be a reliable guide to use in determining approximately when the next regen will be taking place? (Assuming that it's less than the 8-day cycle that was set in the program) Appreciate your help ... as always.
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MickMontana
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the replies. I was away from the computer last night - thus the delayed response.

The BFLC sticker reads 1.5gpm

The vendor supplied a skimpy, generic install sheet and nothing about settings (the perils of buying on the WWW)

I do have the manuals for the valve and it explains what the settings are but doesn't really go into determining what to set them at. It refers you to your professional for that.

I made a few changes based on a guide I found on the Internet - it too was a little skimpy on how to determine setting values.

We do have the .75 cubic feet of resin per tank setup. The SFR is more than adequate for our well.

We've addressed the nitrate level with a ceramic filter at our drinking supply that removes >85%. Since the PH was in the normal range (higher side) and our water tastes good it wasn't addressed.

I know there are a lot of settings to go through on the water softener and it's a lot to ask of someone to walk us through each so if anyone can point us to a detailed guide online somewhere that would be great. I just want to make sure it is set up specific to our situation.

Thanks again.
User
11 years ago
I could be mistaken, but I think you may be looking at the DLFC (drain line flow control) rather than the BLFC (BRINE). Does the sticker say "drain" on it? 1.5 gpm is the correct drain flow, but would be an odd brine flow for the size softener you have. Please confirm.
MickMontana
Original Author
11 years ago
Oops. The 1.5gpm was the DLFC. The brine flow is marked .5. Thanks aliceinwonderland.
User
11 years ago
I don't have a manual for the 9100sxt so you will have to use the one you have to ensure you make sure you make the correct changes.

DF: GAL (gallons)
VT: St1b
CT: This you need to decide. When one tank runs out of capacity, do you want it to regen immediately, or wait until a convenient time. Immediate: Fl. Time of your choosing: Fd
NT: 2
TS: (no change)
C: 15.8
H: 17.4 if it will let you set decimals, if not, 18.
RS: SF
SF: If you chose immediate regen - 5. IF you chose delayed regen - 15
DO: 7
RT: time of your choosing if you chose delayed regen
BW: 10 minutes
BD: 60 minutes
RR: 10 minutes
BF: 3 minutes

Day of week settings: make sure it is ON for every day.
CD: doesn't matter
FM: should be a turbine meter, most likely t0.7 for 3/4" (You will have to ask your supplier if you are uncertain of the size)
K: no change
MickMontana
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, alice. I've made the suggested changes.

New Fleck 9100SXT Water Softener - Settings help, please.

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