Bill,

You need a 2.0 cu. ft softener. Based on your estimated water use it will regenerate every 8-9 days (with the C100 resin. With lower quality resin you will get 6-8 days), depending upon the salt dosage you choose. The sweet spot for a balance between water and salt usage is a salt dose of 6 lb salt per cubic foot of resin. However, many people prefer the softer feel provided by a dose of 8 lb/cu ft. The higher dose will use ~9 lb more salt per month.

Things like TDS and sodium will change the resin capacity to a degree and/or increase hardness leakage. If they are high, a higher salt dosage may be necessary to get the desired softness. pH and alkalinity alter resin life expectancy and if they are outside of an acceptable range may warrant additional treatment prior to softening or choosing a more robust resin.

In your case, pH and alkalinity are fine. TDS will increase leakage by a factor of 3 - this means you may want to go with a salt dose rate of 8 lb/cu ft. The combination of high hardness and sodium will decrease resin capacity by 3%. If you do end up purchasing the C100 resin, it will have a capacity of 25300 grains per cubic foot at a 6 lb/cu ft salt dose instead of the 26000 if would have in cleaner water conditions. At an 8 lb/cu ft salt dose, capacity drops from 29000 to 28100 per cu ft. The factors for water conditions were taken directly from the manufacturers specification sheet for the resin.

Thank you aliceinwonderland. If I were to put an activated carbon tank in the system is it better before the softener or after? On the Fleck softener is the timer or metered solution a better choice. I understand if I use a timer then I could run out of soft water before the regen.

On city water a carbon tank should be installed upstream from the softener so the chlorine that would otherwise damage the resin over time is removed first. Then you can downgrade to an 8% crosslinked resin.

Metered. Definitely. It will not only prevent running out of soft water, but also prevent extraneous regenerations.

Aliceinwonderland

I installed the softener this weekend. I am asking for help setting it up for the best salt/water use. I put a 8x35 carbon tank up stream from the softener. And got the softener with 8% crosslinked resin. The settings that are recommended are.

NT = 1

C = 64000

H = 26

SF = 15

DO = 14

RT = 2:00

BW = 10

BD = 60

RR = 10

BF = 19

FM = t0.7

I think I read I would change the brine fill to change the salt dose, is that correct?

Why would it not be the brine draw?

Also since there is a safety factor of 15% would I assume that takes care of the wiggle room on regen.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Brine draw is actually brine draw plus slow rinse. The softener will pull all of the water out of the brine tank and then continue to slowly run water through the softener to rinse. That is why brine fill controls the salt dose.

For a salt dose of 8 lb salt per cu ft of resin, set:

C = 56000

BF = depends upon the size of your BLFC (brine line flow control orifice - there will be a small ~1" x 1" sticker that will have the size. If the BLFC is 1.0 gpm, set BF = 4. If BLFC is 0.5, set BF = 8. If BLFC is 0.25, set BF = 16. If BLFC is 0.125, set BF = 32 and increase BD to 75.

Alice,

Thank you for your assistance, the BLFC is .5 so I set BF to 8. Also did you mean Rapid rinse instead of slow rinse? I assume it is BD plus RR that makes up the brine draw. How do you calculate those two based on your brine fill? Interested in learning how this all fits together.

No, I meant precisely what I said. Brine draw, then slow rinse. Rapid rinse is RR in the controller, which is a separate setting. You want the slow rinse first to maintain plug flow and avoid mixing, to essentially push the brine through intact. This accomplishes two things: 1) It keeps the strongest possible brine in the softener for the longest amount of time possible, and 2) It provides a more thorough rinse.

To calculate the brine fill: Every gallon of water will dissolve ~3 lb of salt.

8 lb salt/cu ft resin * 2 c ft resin * 1 gallon water/3 lb salt * 1 minute/0.5 gallons water

I just noticed I wrote 8 lb/cu ft dose but calculated settings for an 6 lb/cu ft salt dose in my previous post. For an 8 lb/cu ft dose, set BF=11. Sorry about that. I should have double-checked. Good thing you asked the question!

Brine draw and rapid rinse times are based on the resin manufacturer recommendations for the amount of water needed to rinse a given column diameter and bed depth. Manufacturer's specify a range and the choice within that range depends upon water conditions.

Oh, so the slow rinse is not a setting it is part of the brine draw? So how do you know how much time to set BD to and how do you determine the Capacity to set the controller to? I get how you come up with 11 for BF. At 8lbs salt dose for each cubic foot, two cubic feet is 16 lbs, divide by 3 lbs salt per gallon is 5.3 gallons of water, to get the time to get 5.3 gallons at .5 per min is 5.3 divided by .5 = 10.6 minutes. With my 8% crosslinked resin is 22500 grains per cubic ft a good number to use for the calculation at 8lbs salt? So 225 gallons per day x 26 hardness = 5850 grains per day. If I have 45000 grains in my softener then 45000 divided by 5850 is 7.7 days before a regeneration. Are my numbers correct? If I am missing any thing please fill me in. Thanks again this has been a good learning experience.

Brine draw time is set according to resin manufacture recommendations for slow rinse plus the time it will take to draw the brine. Without knowing the specific resin, the time is set to err on the high side.