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This
informational tutorial applies to water
softeners that utilize the Fleck brand of control valves
which require determination of the softener's capacity for
proper setup and operation. Specifically, this information
applies to water softeners sold and supported by Water Value
Company for models 5600,
2510,
9000,
5600
SE, 2510
SE and 9000
SE.
While
the mechanical versions of the Fleck 5600, 2510 and 9000 feature
a simple and clever "people dial" setup device on
their metered controllers, this "alternate method"
can also be used.
The
"system's capacity" as mentioned in the Fleck
service manual is simply the amount of water that will
flow through the softener (in gallons) before the resin media
bed should be regenerated. This capacity value must be programmed
into the Fleck control valve during initial setup. This value
can be adjusted at any time.
Before
determining the system capacity, you will need to know three
things; the number of people using water through this system,
the amount of corrected hardness of your water and the size
of your softener.
Number
Of People: The
number of people using water daily helps to determine the
amount of water used each day. The size of the person does
not matter. For example, an 8-month-old baby will generally
require as much water as a full grown adult. The baby's laundry
needs may even exceed the amount of water used by an adult.
Corrected
Hardness: Corrected
hardness simply means adding 5 GPG (Grains Per Gallon) of
hardness to your water's standard hardness rating for each
1.0 ppm (Parts-Per-Million or mg/L) of iron in your water.
Removing iron with a water softener is fairly common, but
it is advisable to limit a softener's iron treatment capacity
to 3 or 4 ppm. For example: your water has a hardness rating
of 17 GPG and iron of 1.5 ppm. Your corrected hardness rating
would be 17 + (5 x 1.5) = 24.5 GPG. This would be your corrected
hardness value.
Softener
Size: The
size of water softeners supported by Water Value Company is
expressed in either cubic feet of resin media and/or grains.
For the following example, grains is used.
We
can now use the corrected hardness, number of people and system
size to determine your water softener system's capacity.
Step
1: Multiply
the number of people using water each day by the number of
gallons used per person. The water treatment industry uses
a value between 55 and 75 gallons per person per day.
Step
2: Multiply
your answer (total treated gallons per day) by your corrected
hardness, which gives you the grains of hardness removed per
day.
Step
3: The
softener capacity (this is the softener's size, not to be
confused with the system capacity we are to determine), eg.
24,000 grain, 32,000 grain, etc., is to be divided by the
grains of hardness removed per day which gives us the number
of days your system should go between regenerations.
Step
4: Subtract
one day from the number of days your system should go between
regenerations to prevent over-saturating the resin media bed
and multiply that by your treated gallons-per-day. This value
gives you the system's capacity that the control valve should
be set for.
On
mechanical controllers, this value is dialed into the "CAPACITY
GALLONS" arrow on the program wheel. For SE (Simplified
Electronics) the answer is input using the up and down arrow
buttons.
It
is important to note that some households will use more or
less gallons per person than the water treatment industry
typically figures. The water treatment industry wisely uses
values that tend to be "safe". For this reason,
you may believe that your household uses less than 70 gallons
of water per person per day and you may be right, but do not
guess at this important figure as it can adversely affect
the performance of your water softener system.
This
information is for the setup use of Water Value Company customers
who have purchased Fleck
brand water softener systems from us only. This information
was derived from several sources believed to be true and accurate
for the use of our customers. Water Value Company will not
be held responsible for damages, injury or expenses incurred
through use or misuse of this information. Please see the
Terms
Of Use for this web site and its contents.
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