Water Softener Issues

I’ve been struggling to solve a problem with my water softener for a few months now. Bottom line is that it seems to work with the exception that water only goes into the brine tank for a few seconds at the end of the regen cycle. It does not fill the tank. As long as I dump water into the tank after each regeneration, all is good.

Here is what I know to this point:
The control valve is a Fleck 5600SE Downflow
Regen cycle steps:
1: Backwash (10 minutes)
2: Brine/Slow Rinse (60 minutes)
3: Rapid Rinse (10 minutes)
4: Brine Tank Fill (15 minutes)

The gears appear to be correctly positioned for each step with the exception of step 4. The gears move into position for step 3, then don’t move again until the timer for step 4 is expired. After the 15 minutes for step 4, the gears move from Step 3 position and pass over step 4 position. As they pass through step 4 position, water flows to the brine tank. This only lasts for 2-3 seconds until the gears reach the service position and the regen cycle ends.

I’ve been through the programming menus and set the timers per above. What I can’t figure out is why the valve does not advance past step 3 until the step 4 timer is expired.

Any help would be appreciated.

Attachments:

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Call Fleck controls systems 1-877-320-8504

How old of system is it? The venturi is the most common issue with water softeners. If will effect water going to the tank. Needs to be cleaned. Is there a float in the tank? Maybe that is stuck. Or could be working just fine and the venturi needs to be cleaned.

Mike W wrote:

How old of system is it? The venturi is the most common issue with water softeners. If will effect water going to the tank. Needs to be cleaned. Is there a float in the tank? Maybe that is stuck. Or could be working just fine and the venturi needs to be cleaned.

X2

Mike nailed it, I bet there is a you tube video out there to assist.

If the brine draw cycle is working and brine is being drawn out of the brine tank it isn’t the venturi. Sounds like a sticky brine valve to me. If the brine valve is sticking it won’t open right away as the cam rotates to press down on the brine valve. Likely the valve is only opening at the very end of the brine fill cycle thus not filling the brine tank with enough water. One way to check is to disassemble the head far enough to be able to push down on the brine valve with your finger. You should be able to push down on the valve and have it pop back up with no sticking. Brine valve is easy to change, but while your at it go ahead and get new piston,seal and spacer kit as well. As long as you are taking it apart to change the brine valve go ahead and rebuild the entire valve assembly.

Hi guys. I installed fleck 5600 a few days ago and I don’t think it is working.
I checked drain flow/draw back and everything seams to work fine. What other solution is there for me.
The reason why I don’t think it works.
1. Feeling the water (I know how soft water should feel in shower)
2. I used test strip on raw water and treated and strip has no difference in color

Thank you everyone

Is the bypass valve on?

Yes it’s on

It should be off, as not to bypass the softener. Maybe that’s what I meant to ask. Sorry

They are in parallel position like || not __ __

I wander if when I screw the head on I dead something wrong. My wife is getting frustrated with my project ???? so I need to fix it as soon as possible or I’m in trouble. Lol

My professional opinion as a plumber is to go buy her a very nice fishing pole. Who doesn’t feel better with a new fishing pole. It will make her day.

Mike W wrote:

My professional opinion as a plumber is to go buy her a very nice fishing pole. Who doesn’t feel better with a new fishing pole. It will make her day.

Agreed! Then, once she leaves him, he won’t need a water softener while he’s living in a van down by the river,,,,,

HRG

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
My professional opinion as a plumber is to go buy her a very nice fishing pole. Who doesn’t feel better with a new fishing pole. It will make her day.

Agreed! Then, once she leaves him, he won’t need a water softener while he’s living in a van down by the river,,,,,

HRG

van down by the river and a new fishing pole if he plays his cards right.

Guys I know we probably would be laughing so hard right now and I apriciate you trying your hardest to cheer me up. But I really need this issue solved. May be someone who really knows fleck 5600 can go through every possible way to find what could stop me from getting soft water.

Is the bypass valve in the service position?

Did you add water to the salt take for 1st regen?

Is the water piping to the softener correct? Water in and out correct? Hot and cold water being fed by the water softener?

Salt in the brine tank?

Ran enough water through the water piping and water heater to get rid of the hard water? Takes 300 gallons through a typical 40 gallon water heater.

Piping to the brine tank has no leaks?

Thats what I can think of so far.

Valves are in correct position
Pipes are all good
It’s socking water from brine tank and recycles water during regen.

Could it be that that pipe in tank itself installed incorrectly?

Did you get a 5600 or 5600sxt? Im also guessing if you ordered it on line some assembly was required. Im not much help with what might of happened there. Ours show up assembled and ready to go. Guess I would just walk back through the installation until the issue is found. We put in about a dozen of these a year. We stick with fleck because of lack of issues with them.

Sounds like you should call the place you bought it from.

Ok thank you for your advices. I will call Monday and will keep you posted.

Yes it’s fleck 5600 with digital controls and came profiled. I got it from amazon by pentair company

Bazsanya,
exactly what did you buy? You mentioned earlier that you were wondering if you installed the head correctly, did you purchase JUST the control head, to replace on an existing tank, or did you buy a complete assembly?

Also, I’m not seeing a digital non-SXT model. Can you post the Amazon link?

HRG

Here is what I’ve got.
Yes it is complete system but I still had to do plumbing and attach head to the tank.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00YFOTWZG

Did you follow start up procedure to the letter? If you opened the inlet valve too fast during initial start up you very well could have lost much of your resin down the drain.

double check your piping from your meter or pressure tank. Inlet is on the right when facing the front on the unit. If unit is drawing brine and refilling brine tank you should have soft water. You mentioned that the softener came “profiled”. Test your water for grains of hardness then double check the softener settings.

Also, as Mike mentioned, if you are just softening the hot water you will have to run quite a bit of water through the heater to exchange the hard water with soft.

Hmm ???? now I think I did turn it on faster than I should.
I have to open it and see on my day off.
Thanks for the tip Nailswi
If this is the case what should I do next?

Got it. I received water hardness kit today. I will try to test water tonight. The kit is “Hach” I hope it’ll tell me more.
I’m using softener for both cold and hot. My water heater though is about 30 years old. I know… don’t laugh.
May be I should run hot water again to empty the tank.

I’ll let you know what is result of test as soon as I’ll do it. And Monday or Tuesday I’m going to check my resin. Hopefully it’s all there :-/

UPDATE:
So I’ve tested water at three different locations.
Raw water = 10gpg
Hot water = 3 to 4 gpg
Cold water = blue or I think at the most 1+gpg

So I think it works but hot and cold for some reason different.

What do you think?

Thanks

Haven’t ran enough soft water through the water heater yet? 40 gallon water heater takes 300 gallons of soft water run through it to get rid of the hard water in it.

Thank you Mike

Sounds like it is working properly. Check your faucet aerators for signs of resin. If you don’t find any I wouldn’t waste the time pulling the head off of the softener to check your resin, unless you are worried about it.