Water Softener Resin

Amy, you can re bed your current resin tank with new resin. Resin is available from several sources.

Why do you believe you need new resin?

Fleck is a control valve, not a system. Are you having problems with the control valve?

Yes, the control valve is cycling sometimes twice a day. Does not matter what I set it to. The timer is off. I have heard horror stories about FLECK timers.

Back to the tank...I am glad that we can replace the resin bed. I guess we just take it apart, dump it somehow and pour the new stuff in??? How much do we need to put in? I have heard that the tank should be 3/4 full??

It sounds like you have the low end Fleck 5600...

Contact this company ~ http://www.softenerparts.com/

Amy, before you rush off to contact someone about spending money... we should find out what control valve you have.

Also, the resin has nothing to do with the softener regenerating twice, or at all. That is controlled by the control valve on the resin tank.

Does your control valve have an electronic display or is it mechanical dials?

The only mechanical version of any Fleck valve that can regenerate twice in 24 hrs unless a person does a manual regeneration is the twin tank type softener control valves; they have two resin tanks. Some of the electronic versions can, but IIRC not the 5600 SE.

A metered/demand regenerated softener only regenerates when it has to or with calendar override but that is not twice the same day. Well a Clack WS-1 can but...

So maybe you have a water leak and the extra water use is causing the regeneration as it should.

Is your water always soft?

I don't think our water has ever been right. We have never really gotten rid of the smell of well water and never gotten rid of the white residue. Is this due to the softener?

Yes...it is the lower end Fleck 5600. It is all mechanical gears, not electronic. It used to regenerate around 3 am or so....early morning sometime and now I hear it in the middle of the day as well as during the night, so maybe there is a leak...I will check into that.

The gentleman who replaced our pump suggested replacing the resin tank because of the company it came from. Apparently that particular local agent buys them super cheap from some supplier and every time he has replaced them when he opens them up they are only filled about 20% of the way with resin. He says they should be about 3/4 filled with resin. Is he blowing smoke or is there some validity to this tale?

Thank you ALL for your help!

It sounds like you have Hydrogen Sulphide, an element that is common in Florida's well water.
Do you happen to know the Ph of your raw, untreated water?
If you provide test results including total hardness, iron and Ph we can suggest a solution to your problems.

I had a feeling you had a 5600, this is what the current RainSoft valve is built on and it's not very good.
I would never sell a client a 5600, the Fleck 2510SE is a much better control valve for softeners and filters.

The Fleck 5600 is the most popular control valve in the world, period. They are a very dependable valve with limited features but... the problem may be the Rainsoft timer and not the valve body or associated parts, or not the proper volume of resin but I question a competitor's statements when all they do is talk REPLACEMENT instead of fixing what is wrong. Or like h20man's comments "low end". The 5600 is not low end of anything, there are literally millions of them in service and they have a very low failure rate.

Well water doesn't have a special smell to it on its own; city water does, usually it is of chlorine; literally a poison.

You need someone that repairs 5600s to look at your WHOLE softener and find what is wrong with it without talking replacing it before they attempt to fix it. And independent dealer is usually wanting to repair rather than replace. Look in the yellow pages under the heading water, then call those dealers that don't have brand names in their ad. Tell them your story with only the facts and see what it would cost to have them out to fix it. Resin shouldn't be more than $150 per cuft installed; with new gravel underbed if they have to replace it (some can't get the resin out of the tank without taking the gravel too-gravel costs maybe $1 per lb installed [max maybe 25 lbs]).

White residue can be a number of things like.... high sulfates, chlorides, sodium or TDS (total dissolved solids) etc.. A softener does not remove or reduce any of them. So it could be working just fine.

BTW, in 21 years, I've never seen or heard of until now, any dealer add less than the required volume of resin etc.. The stuff doesn't cost enough to make any money by doing that. There are valid reasons why there wouldn't be the correct volume of resin in a tank. One is the attrition rate of worn resins which causes broken and small beads to be backwashed out of the tank.

Being the most popular rarely indicates highest quality and functionality.
The 5600 is the cheapest, low end electronic control valve Fleck makes.
My clients demand better and that's what I deliver.

It is, both mechanical metered and SE electronics versions, the most popular for a number of reasons, the most important is because it works and is much less money than anything other than Autotrol and the big box store brands.

It's nowhere as good as the Clack WS-1 but it is a good valve. The 2510 in any version is overkill for a softener application and it too is not near as good a choice as the Clack WS-1; that you say is cheap and danity.

Lowest priced does not equate to cheap quality.

Let me put this another way... ok ~



It's cheap for a reason... if you think it's good enough for your customers sell it to them.
I happen to care about my customers needs and refuse to sell the 5600.


Amy, I apologize for straying from the issues with your softener.
Please let me know if I can help.

How do we know you are talking about the 5600 when you don't know it from a 5000 and have been telling everyone here for years that Rain Soft went to a "bastardized 5600" when it actually is the 5000?

Anyway, "it's cheap for a reason".... what is the reason IYO?

The Fleck Silver and Gold series valves are based on the Fleck 5600.
They are bastardized FLECK 5600 valves.

Fleck doesn't make a Gold or Silver series, or any other series.

You've been looking at pictures again huh.

I visit these water threads just to listen to the two of you go on.




Thanks for the entertainment.

The made by Fleck RainSoft Silver and Gold series valves are based on the Fleck 5600.
They are bastardized FLECK 5600 valves.

I'll go with what softernerparts says it is; a 5000 or ProFlo. I received a picture of a Rain Soft a few days ago and it has a 5000 mechanical meter timer on it. I can't tell what valve body it has. Do you know what I'm talking about when I say timer and valve body?

Caribou, you're not alone. I'm glad I can help.

Go any way you wish, but two wrongs don't make a right.

I'm wrong about the picture I received, it is not of a Rain Soft softener but... I still go with softenerparts. He's into parts in a big way and I doubt he gets many things wrong.

Do you have any closeup pictures of a RS with the 5600 on it?

Understood.

The RS Silver and Gold series valves are based on the Fleck 5600 valve, it is reconfigured to make a few items proprietary to RS.

I don't have any close up pictures of G&S/5600 on RS, but I have plenty of pictures of RS tanks with 2510SE valves on them...

HTH ~