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Fleck 5600 Water Softener Setup & Installation

This example is provided as informational only and in no way depicts every installation situation you may encounter. WaterValue.com believes strongly that a licensed plumber or water treatment specialist should install your water treatment equipment. But for the "do-it-yourselfer" or if you are simply curious as to what is involved, this section will provide a considerable amount of information. This article is not intended to replace the Fleck Service Manual or Owner's Manual.

Section 1. Electrical Requirements The Fleck 5600 Econominder (metered / on-demand) water softener control valve is configured for a grounded 120 volt electrical outlet. Be sure you have access to an outlet before choosing the location of your softener. The Fleck 5600 comes with a 5-foot cord. An extension cord may be used as specified in the Fleck 5600 Service Manual.

Section 2. Location Your water softener's location should take into consideration factors such as available space, main water line, a relatively close drain facility and environment. For example, you may want the softener to treat all of the water in your home, but not water used for irrigation outdoors. A plumbing loop may need to be configured for this purpose. Also, water softeners contain water and are subject to freezing which would permanently damage your controller. Finally, you will occasionally be adding salt or potassium chloride to the softener's brine tank. Accessability is important.

Section 3. "Some Assembly Required" Because most of our residential systems ship via UPS Ground service, the media tank will most likely be empty except for a tube running up and down the center of the tank called a riser or turbulator. The resin media will arrive in a separate box or boxes depending on the size of your system. The media will have to be added to the media tank. As illustrated below, (Fig 1)the riser or optional turbulator will be inside the media tank and seated in a depression at the bottom of the tank. It will have a plastic plug inserted into it to prevent the resin media from getting inside the tube, but if the plug is missing, simply cover it with a piece of tape.

Add all of the media included with your shipment (Fig 2). If you also received a bag of washed gravel, add the gravel to the tank first then pour the resin media on top of it. A gravel bed is not necessary with most residential water softeners.

Fig 1. The riser (distributor) remains inside the tank seated in a "dimple" at the bottom. The riser is capped to prevent resin beads from getting inside.	Fig 2. The cation resin will not always spill down inside the tank and may need to be swept inside.

A turbulator (Fig 4) is an option available to you in place of a standard riser (Fig 3). If your water contains high amounts of iron/manganese and you are using iron pre-filtration, or if your water does not contain iron/manganese, a standard riser will perform best for you.

Fig 3. Above is a standard riser distributor.	Fig 4. Above is a turbulator style distributor and its illustrated position in a softener tank.

Section 3. Attach The Control Valve To The Tank. The Fleck 5600 Econominder may come with a cone-shapped, slotted "top distributor basket" (Fig 5) which should be fastened to the bottom of the 5600 control valve. It simply slips into the four slots in the bottom of the valve and a twist will secure it in place.

Before screwing the control valve onto the tank, make certain that the plastic cap or tape is removed from the top of the distributor tube in the tank. Failure to remove this tape or cap will result in no water flow through the system. Also, do not use plumber's tape or "pipe dope" on the coarse threads of the control valve or tank. Pipe joint compound will surely cause leakage.

The top of the tank should be free of any debris from the resin media (Fig 6). If even a minute particle resides on the top lip of the tank or the bottom o-ring on the control valve, a leak will result.

Fig 5. Top distributor basket. This attaches to the bottom of the 5600 and has a hole in the bottom to accept the distributor tube.	Fig 6. The top lip of the media tank must be free of particles and debris for a leak-free fit. Notice that the cap/tape has been removed from the distributor tube.

Now slide the control valve with the top distributor basket over the distributor tube. When the threads of the control valve make contact with the top of the tank, you will feel the distributor tube slide up into place. This tube will be pressed up into the control valve as you firmly screw the control valve down onto the media tank. A good, firm hand-tightening will ensure no leaks. Do not use the control valve's timer assembly for leverage and do not use tools. A firm grasp with both hands at the base of the valve will do. It would be wise to have a helper steady the media tank as you do this.

Section 4. Plumbing, Connections & Fittings. The Fleck 5600 Econominder from Water Value is available for connection to two standard water pipe sizes; 3/4-inch and 1-inch. You can use either a standard Noryl bypass valve and yoke (pipe threaded connector) or choose the optional stainless steel bypass valve (Fig 8). In either case, you should not solder directly to these bypass valves or connectors. The Noryl bypass valve uses a yoke with male pipe threads (Fig 7) and the stainless steel bypass valve is configured with female pipe threads. All soldering should be performed before screwing water lines into the bypass valve. The heat from soldering will damage the internal moving parts of the bypass valves no matter which material they are made of.

Use of pipe joint compound or "plumber's tape" is recommended for these connections to prevent leaks. These are standard water pipe threads, so fittings and a myriad of adapters are available for nearly any water pipe situation/requirement from your local plumbing supply or hardware store. Do not use plumbers tape on the connection between the Noryl bypass valve and yoke. The yoke simply presses onto the bypass valve (Fig 9) and is held in place with stainless steel clips. Once the clips are in place, tighten the screws (not too tight) so that the clips will not move and your yoke will be secure (Fig 10). These clips are the same method used to fasten the bypass valve (both Noryl and stainless steel) to the 5600 control valve. Do not screw anything into or on to the bypass valve while it is connected to the 5600 control valve. This could damage the controller.

Fig 7. Fleck 5600 Noryl yokes. 3/4-inch standard pipe thread on the left and 1-inch standard pipe thread on the right.	Fig 8. Fleck stainless steel bypass valve. 3/4-inch shown with 1-inch available.

Fig 9. Fleck 5600 Noryl bypass valve. Note the stainless steel retainer clips for connecting to the yoke and especially note the flow direction arrows embossed on the valve. Be sure to connect your water pipes accordingly.	Fig 10. The stainless steel retainer clips hold the yoke in place when pressed on to the bypass valve. Do not over tighten these screws. It is only necessary to seat the clips into their slots to prevent leaks.

Shut off the main water supply to your home or building and relieve the pipes of pressure. Make the cuts in your water lines that will best line up with your softener's placement. Use any type of pipe size or material that will conform to your local plumbing codes to connect to the in and out ports of the bypass valve. If using copper water lines, do not solder anywhere near the 5600 or its bypass valve. Solder your pipes and joints and let them cool before connecting them to the bypass valve.

Great care should be taken when connecting your water pipes to the 5600 bypass valve. The direction of water flow must match the arrows on the bypass valves or loss of resin media and clogged water pipes will likely result. When replacing an old water softener, keep in mind that the flow direction could be opposite of what your new softener requires.

Your Fleck 5600 Econominder comes with a drain line fitting. This fitting is plastic but attaches to your control valve with standard pipe threads. Again, this type of connection requires some type of pipe joint compound or tape to prevent leaks.

Water Value provides 50-feet of 1/2-inch drain line (Fig 11) which slips over the hose-barb drain line fitting mentioned above. This drain line will be run to the nearest drain such as a sump pump, drain fixture or sewer drain line. An air-gap of at least 1-inch is required to prevent contact with harmful waste water and possible backup into the softener's control valve. Be sure to check with your local plumbing code requirements. This drain line should be secured along its route to the drain. When regenerating, the 5600 will force water through this line and it will most likely move around a great deal if not fastened securely. Because there will be water in this drain line even when not in use, freezing temperatures could clog it up causing a back-up into your softener's media tank. The drain line should not be exposed to freezing temperatures. Care should also be taken to prevent the drain line from becoming clogged with debris which may also back up the system. Periodic inspection of the drain line should be made to ensure the free flow of waste water from the line. We recommend using a hose clamp to secure the drain line to the hose-barbed fitting (Fig 12) .

Fig 11. Roll of 1/2-inch ID drain line included with the 5600 softener. This line connects to the barbed fitting on the control valve.	Fig 12. The drain line connected to the Fleck 5600 drain fitting. Even though this line will not come off after being inserted on to the fitting, use of a hose clamp is highly recommended.

Section 5. Brine Line Connection. The final connection you will make to the 5600 control valve is the brine line. This connection uses a brass compression fitting which slips over the included brine line. Fleck normally inserts the brass ferrules in each end of the brine line, but they can sometimes be located inside the compression fittings package. The ferrules simply slip into each end of the brine line (Fig 13).

The brine line connection is on the right hand side of the 5600 as you face the front of the control valve. Simply slide the brass compression nut over the brine line and then slide the compression ring over that. Insert the brine line all of the way into the control valve's brass fitting and tighten down the compression nut with a wrench (Fig 14).

Fig 13. The brine line with brass ferrules inserted.	Fig 14. Slide the compression nut on to the brine line then the compression ring. Insert the brine line into the brass fitting on the 5600 and tighten the compression nut.

Section 6. Brine Tank Setup & Connection. All brine tanks from Water Value come with a model 2310 safety overflow float assembly which resides inside of the brine tank's "brine well". The brine well is simply a 4-inch diameter cylinder which runs up and down the inside of the brine tank. The cap on the top of the brine well can be removed by pulling up on it. Inside you will find the 2310 safety overflow assembly (Fig 15). It is attached to the brine well with a small black steel hex-nut. Remove this hex-nut but do not drop it, they are nearly impossible to find once dropped. Put it in a safe place.

The 2310 safety float assembly will now lift right up out of the brine well (Fig 16). You will notice a bright pink tag on the assembly. This tag contains instructions on trimming the float rod to accomodate your brine tank. Follow the instructions on this tag (Fig 17). They basically state that the float rod should be trimmed to 10-inches above the top of the air-check. Measure the current distance from the air-check, (Fig 18) remove the float rod from the assembly by first taking off the top rubber retainer and sliding the float rod out of the actuator arm. Remove the second rubber retainer and measure and cut off the length you need to achieve 10-inches from the bottom of the float cup to the top of the air-check.

Fig 15. The yellow arrow points to the 2310 safety overflow assembly. You will need to remove this from the brine well. Take care to not lose the hex nut that holds it in place.	Fig 16. The 2310 saftey overflow assembly. Note the pink tag and the fact that the float itself is less than 10-inches from the top of the air-check. This float needs to be shortened.

Fig 17. Instructions for trimming the float assembly rod are on this tag.	Fig 18. In this particular example, we will need to remove 6-1/2 inches from the float rod to get the 10-inches required from the top of the air-check to the bottom of the float.

Now replace the first rubber retainer ring and re-insert the float rod back up through the actuator arm. Place the second rubber retainer on to the top of the float rod. It is important to note here that you should leave some "play" in between the two rubber retainers. If the rubber retainers are too close together, they will restrict the up and down movement of the float rod causing it to be ineffective in case of a brine tank overflow. One inch or so between the rubber retainers should be enough (Fig 19).

Place the float assembly back into the brine well. Attach the black steel retainer hex-nut to hold it in place. Position the brine line inlet so that it is facing toward the pre-cut hole in the side of the brine well and the brine tank. Remove the plastic compression nut from the float assembly. It will contain two compression washers, one black and one white (Fig 20). Guide the brine line through the holes in the brine tank and brine well. Slide the plastic compression nut on to the brine line. Now slide the black compression washer onto the brine line with the tapered end facing the plastic compression nut. Slide the white compression washer onto the brine line with the wide end facing the black compression washer. Insert the brine line into the float assembly and screw the plastic compression nut onto it. Hand tighten and then use a wrench. Do not over-tighten and crack the nut, but be sure it's not going to leak either. A vacuum leak here or at the other end of the brine line on the control valve will cause many problems.

Fig 19. The orange arrows indicate the rubber retainers. The yellow arrow indicates the black steel hex-nut (in a safe place).	Fig 20. The brine line with the brass ferrule inserted, the plastic compression nut in place and the black and white compression washers ready to be slid onto the line.

Fig 21. Insert the brine line through the pre-cut holes in the brine tank and the brine well. Pull enough through to work with and slip the plastic hex nut, black compression washer and white compression washer in place as described above.	Fig 22. Slide the brine line all the way into the brine assembly then thread and tighten the compression nut hand-tight. Use a wrench to get a positive seal but do not break the nut.

Your brine tank is now connected and set up. Position the brine tank in its permanent location and add water to it until the water level is 1 or 2 inches above the top of the brine grid. NOTE: This will not be the permanent water level in your brine tank. The control valve will determine the proper amount of water to put into the brine tank. We are adding water to the tank at this time for initial leak testing purposes only.

Section 7. Control Valve Setup. The Fleck 5600 Econominder is a metered or "on demand" control valve which means it measures the amount of water that runs through your plumbing system and schedules and performs media bed regeneration based on your usage. In order to do this, you must "tell" the control valve how many people are using your water and how much hardness or compensated hardess is in your water. You can calculate your compensated hardness for water containing iron here. The Fleck 5600 comes with an excellet Owner's Manual and there is a Service Manual available for you to download in our Documentation area which explains the operation of the 5600 controller in great detail if you have more questions than are answered here pertaining to control valve settings.

First set the time of day on your controller by pressing in and holding the red button on the front of the 5600 and turning the outer wheel until the correct time of day shows up in the window on the dial labeled "Time Of Day". Now you can set your "People" and "Hardness" dial on the right-front of the controll valve. Pull out on the spring-loaded clear plastic dial and line the number of people using water in your home or place of business up with the grains of hardness per gallon in your water. Re-insert the meter cable on the back of the 5600 into the top of the meter dome (Fig 23). Plug in the electrical cord.

Fig 23. The meter cable is not a wire. It rotates the transmission in the control head to track your water usage.

Section 8. Pressurize And Backwash. If you used the included bypass valve with your new softener system, set it in bypass mode and slowly turn on the main water valve to your home until all pipes are pressurized. Now open the bypass valve SLOWLY. You do not want to be surprised by leaks. Let the media tank fill completely and pressurize, then open the bypass valve the rest of the way. Open a cold water faucet which is nearest to the softener and let the air and dirty water (from soldering and plumbing) escape. When the water runs clear, shut the faucet off.

Advance your control valve's dial to "REGEN.". Your 5600 will now begin its initial regeneration cycle. You may not notice anything happen for the first few minutes, but eventually water will start to flow through the controller and drain line. The backwash cycle may take up to 180 minutes. During this time check closely for any leaks in your water pipes, brine and drain line connections. While your softener is backwashing, it is automatically internally bypassed so that this rinse water will not make it into your plumbing.

You are finished! Once the initial regeneration is complete, you may add salt or potassium chloride to the brine tank. The service manual recommends that you keep the salt or potassium level above the water level in the brine tank, but you may add as much chloride as you want. If you have a tank-style water heater, it will still contain untreated hard water, but your cold water lines will begin dispensing softened water right away.

If you do not know how much hardness is in your water, you should test it before setting the 5600 Econominder. You can find hardness and iron water test kits at local stores or pool supply shops.

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