Water Softener Installation Problems Fleck2510SE

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My newly installed 2510se overfilled the brine tank last night on its first recycle.
I'm not sure why it recycled except maybe it was doing the 14day override thing because .

Anyway, I must have adjusted the float a bit to high becuase I had spillage onto the floor (hadn't gotten around to installing the overflow drain yel...Ooppps!!

My system is a Fleck2510se 64K softener and the brine tank is a small 11" by 11" by 36" (I think I should have gotten larger but floor space was at a premium).

So, what dictates how much water goes back into the brine tank? Is it by minutes only or does the 2510se measure gallons into the tank?
If by minutes only then it would seem that water pressure would have a lot to do with how much water went back in there. I suppose it can count gallons being put in but then why did it overflow? I guess I should have gotten a larger brine tank just for this sort of thing.

Thanks for your help.

Robert Snyder

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Robert, who did you buy the softener from and what do they have to say?

The SE is not prone to this type of problem.
What are your current settings?
Are you sure it is drawing brine from the salt tank?
Did it come with a brine tank overflow preventer?

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Bought from QualityWatertreatment.com
They have been very responsive and I am awaiting a response from him as well on this.

Settings are as follows:
U-1 (us)
7-3
3130 gallons till regeneration
2AM delay
A14 (14 day default regeneration)
step 1-10
step 2-60
step 3-10
step 4-12
5OFF
flow meter size F126 (2510se)
0-1
LF60

When first set up yesterday the brine tank was empty.
At 2am it recycled (even though we hadn't used our gallons yet).
This morning the rug is wet (brine overflowing out the unfinished overflow drain
Overflow valve was set to pink tag instructions with 10" vrom botttom of float to top of bottome tank strainer. I may have had it 1/2" too long which would explain the overflow if they were cutting it that close with 10".]

Just now I accidentally got it in recycle mode and before I could shut it down it sucked about 1/2gallon of brine into the softener. (hope the cloths dont turn white when they dry from the salt in the washing machined that was running at the time.??

H2O_MAN wrote:

Robert, who did you buy the softener from and what do they have to say?

The SE is not prone to this type of problem.
What are your current settings?
Are you sure it is drawing brine from the salt tank?
Did it come with a brine tank overflow preventer?

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The settings look good, let us know what the seller has to say.

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About every few weeks over the last 3-4 years, I answer an email or post from a customer of theirs. Their set up, programming and installation instructions are very poor. They are much more into making sales than providing correct and detailed instructions.

Without a lot more information, no one (including h20man) can say with any accuracy if those numbers are anywhere near correct. Looking at them, they seem to be the factory default settings. Your chances of winning the lottery are better than those settings working well for your softener, family size, water quality and peak demand water use.

Let us know what they say about your salt water damaged floor, what caused this overflow... and what settings they tell you to program it with.

From what you have described, you didn't cause the problem and it has nothing to do with the float height but, at 10", the float isn't set correctly.

The 2310 valve did not shut off as it is supposed to when the water raises the float. Well that assumes the float rod didn't hit the inside of the salt tank lid or the brine well cap, or the elbow overflow and stop before the 2310 could close.

One of those settings controls the volume of water in the brine tank. And IF the number is correct, then IMO your softener is too small for your needs AND, so is the salt tank.

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Thansk Gary for your response.
My stats are:
18gpg hardness
.06g/ml iron
system is 64K with fleck 2510se
Family of 6 (I choose slightly large I think)
brine tank is 11X11X36 (I wish I had bought a larger one now)

float is adjusted per the factory pink tag inside the tank that showed 10" from bottom of float to brine pickup at base of tank. I may have had mine at 10.5 inches which may explain the problem. Also, the float is pretty HARD off (meaning the float is as high as it will go and the rod is cut off to not interfere.

Why did this thing put in more water than the tank could hold?
Why did it recycle the first night even when the gallons were not depleted?
Does the 2510se count gallons into the brine tank or just minutes and how does it know how much water will go in since different pressures would result in different gallons???

QWA said that I probably hit the "extra cycle" button and it added water to the brine tank prior to its normal cycle that would account for too much water going in.

OH, I dont blame QWA for the salt water on the floor (Its a back porch and I dont think it was more than a gallon or so). I did not hook up the spill drain and that was my fault...Lazy, tired from sweating copper all day).

THanks for any help

Quote:

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They are Quality Water Treatment.com

I am Q W A... Quality Water Associates.com

The factory tag is wrong and should be thrown away, disregarded, forgotten etc.. You don't use the info without it causing problems. It should not be sent with the softener or, the message should be changed to DO NOT READ.

Yes to the Extra Cycle button being pushed.

You need them to tell you why the unit did this and how. HOW is very important.

I think there is something wrong with the 2310 valve ect. and I say the control valve is not programmed correctly.

How many gallons or days between regenerations?

What is your grains/lb salt efficiency?

It didn't regenerate, although it went through the motions, because it didn't get any salt/brine water to regenerate with and... if it is programmed for Pre refill, it wouldn't have regenerated properly either.

The tank overflowed because it can't hold all the water the control valve wanted to put in it, especially with salt in the brine tank.

The 2130 valve is supposed to prevent the tank from overflowing, yours didn't. That means it probably won't the next and subsequent times either....

The vast majority of owners do not put a piece of drain line on the brine tank drain fitting, and they rarely if ever have any overflow.

The volume of water put in the brine tank is dictated by the number of minutes the control valve allows water to flow which depends on the salt dose in pounds of salt. That water flow is timed and flow controlled (regardless of the water pressure). The salt dose lbs dictates the k of capacity in the volume and type of resin used.

What else if anything did they tell you?

Didn't they tell you the salt dose or capacity (as is usual)? Or did they tell you "the default settings work fine" (as usual)?

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kb9nvh wrote:

My newly installed 2510se overfilled the brine tank last night on its first recycle.

Gary Slusser wrote:

The 2310 valve did not shut off as it is supposed to when the water raises the float.
Well that assumes the float rod didn't hit the inside of the salt tank lid or the brine well cap, or the elbow overflow and stop before the 2310 could close.

Gary Slusser wrote:

I think there is something wrong with the 2310 valve ect.

The 2130 valve is supposed to prevent the tank from overflowing,

Confused :wink:

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Gary Slusser wrote:

They are Quality Water Treatment.com

I am Q W A... Quality Water Associates.com
Sorry about the slipup!! :-)

The factory tag is wrong and should be thrown away, disregarded, forgotten etc.. You don't use the info without it causing problems. It should not be sent with the softener or, the message should be changed to DO NOT READ.
Well, that sucks since I cut my float rod to size already

Yes to the Extra Cycle button being pushed.

You need them to tell you why the unit did this and how. HOW is very important.
I"m confused, does the float restricting the water from the 2510se, when it reaches the safety level, cause the 2510 to stop flowing brine water?

I think there is something wrong with the 2310 valve ect. and I say the control valve is not programmed correctly.
Well, there's no place on the 2510se to program salt dose, only times per the four steps

How many gallons or days between regenerations?
It was set to the default 833 but I have since set it for 3125 gallons

What is your grains/lb salt efficiency?
64000grain unit, hardness 18gpg, iron 0.06g.ml, What do we need to know to determine salt efficiency?

It didn't regenerate, although it went through the motions, because it didn't get any salt/brine water to regenerate with and... if it is programmed for Pre refill, it wouldn't have regenerated properly either.
Seems like maybe this thing expected there to be a dose of salt ready so it did its thing sucking up nothing for the regen and then it did the brine tank refill which was too much water for my little tank and my float was set too high and did not stop the flow

The tank overflowed because it can't hold all the water the control valve wanted to put in it, especially with salt in the brine tank.
I can set the brine refill to less than 12 minutes but then will the salt dose be enough????

The 2130 valve is supposed to prevent the tank from overflowing, yours didn't. That means it probably won't the next and subsequent times either....
Yep, I'm afraid of this...drain line to better place this time (2510se by the way not 2130)

The vast majority of owners do not put a piece of drain line on the brine tank drain fitting, and they rarely if ever have any overflow.

The volume of water put in the brine tank is dictated by the number of minutes the control valve allows water to flow which depends on the salt dose in pounds of salt. That water flow is timed and flow controlled (regardless of the water pressure). The salt dose lbs dictates the k of capacity in the volume and type of resin used.
I dont think I have a salt dose setting, only minutes

What else if anything did they tell you?
I"m calling him tonight and we will see. I'll let you know tomorrow

Didn't they tell you the salt dose or capacity (as is usual)? Or did they tell you "the default settings work fine" (as usual)?
They said it was all preset except for the gallons between regneration and the default regen days which is set to 14)

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No, just repeating myself because he seems to have missed that point the first time I mentioned it.

How about you helping him figure out whats wrong, assuming I don't know what it is.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

No, just repeating myself because he seems to have missed that point the first time I mentioned it.

How about you helping him figure out whats wrong, assuming I don't know what it is.

I think he is in good hands Cool

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I am a little confused (2510se issue aside).
I've been told that the brine float is only there as a safety and is not part of the refill system and should never come into play unless something goes wrong.

Seems like you are saying that the backpressure from the float will let the valve know that the tank is full and the valve will stop trying to send water to the brine tank.

So, is the brine float part of the system or not?? Confused

Gary Slusser wrote:

No, just repeating myself because he seems to have missed that point the first time I mentioned it.

How about you helping him figure out whats wrong, assuming I don't know what it is.

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Assuming they supplied the correct brine float overflow preventer and
that you installed and adjusted it properly it should have worked.

What solutions have been offered by the seller?

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H2O_MAN wrote:

Assuming they supplied the correct brine float overflow preventer and
that you installed and adjusted it properly it should have worked.

What solutions have been offered by the seller?

Here's what he said yesterday:
**************************************
Chances are you hit the extra cycle button once to many when
programming, happens all the time. If you added 5 gallons of water to
the tank at the end of installation then chance are the system did not
pull it out when it recycled leaving you with a excess amount of water
in tank, this would also explain the float not activating to stop the
water do to it would be coming in on top of the float. The float is for
safety only, does not dictate water level. Put system in step 2 position
and watch water in brine tank it should drop fast and there should be no
air bubbles in brine line. If it does not pull fast then you have a bad
connection where the line hooks to the float. Pull line off, there well
be to ferrules. The black one beveled end faces towards the nut and the
white one cuped end faces the black Farrel as the slip end faces the 90
on the float assembly, slip tube in 90 and tighten down and watch water
to see if it draws quickly.
*******************************************
I"m Calling him tonight to work through it all while he's on the phone. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

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You could siphon all but a few inches of water out of the brine tank - press the cycle
button and see what happens as it goes through a full regeneration on it's own . . .

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H2O_MAN wrote:

You could siphon all but a few inches of water out of the brine tank - press the cycle
button and see what happens as it goes through a full regeneration on it's own . . .

I would do that but what happens when the wife and kids are using water in the house during that time?
Do they get salt water or is the system bypassed?

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kb9nvh wrote:

H2O_MAN wrote:
You could siphon all but a few inches of water out of the brine tank - press the cycle
button and see what happens as it goes through a full regeneration on it's own . . .

I would do that but what happens when the wife and kids are using water in the house during that time?
Do they get salt water or is the system bypassed?

The system needs full pressure to function ~ Go to a movie, the mall, a walk ... Cool

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By the way, to both you guys...
Yesterday I accidentally got the thing running an manual mode and before I could figure out how to stop it it had pumped maybe a gallon of brine out of the brine tank. It sits now about 6 inches below the overflow (where it was right at the overflow the morning of the big salt water flood).

H2O_MAN wrote:

kb9nvh wrote:
H2O_MAN wrote:
You could siphon all but a few inches of water out of the brine tank - press the cycle
button and see what happens as it goes through a full regeneration on it's own . . .

I would do that but what happens when the wife and kids are using water in the house during that time?
Do they get salt water or is the system bypassed?

The system needs full pressure to function ~ Go to a movie, the mall, a walk ...

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OK, talked to the guys Kid last night and he was pretty unhelpful. We walked through the settings and did the obvious stuff like seeing if the valve could suck brine OUT of the tank.

Anyway, I removed the overflow valve and checked its operation by trying to blow through it when the float was in the up and down position and it seemed to block flow fine if the float is in the UP position. So either it got jammed in the on position or my blowing method is not sufficient to check it out.

I have a few questions noting that I have the 2510se:
Could someone explain in detail what each of the 4 recycle steps do?

How much water/brine is to be left in the brine tank between recyclings?

IF water is used in the house during recycling does it mess up the sequence and allow brine water into the house? Or does the house just get hard water?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Also, does anyone have any advice on a booster pump. I want to increase my city pressure from 39psi to 60 or 70psi.

Todd Snyder

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You guys abandon me?????
Sad

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Water Softener Installation Problems Fleck2510SE

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