r/WaterSofteners

I've been noticing that my shower water feels more silky when it has recently regenerated but as the cycle goes on the water becomes less silky to the point of not feeling silky at all. When I test the water at this late stage of the cycle with my pool test kit I get 10 ppm or about .5 grain. Does 10 ppm hardness make that much difference that you can feel it? Does it indicate hardness break through and I should adjust my softener settings? The softener is a Clack 48 grain and is less than 2 years old. Current settings are capacity 40K, salt 13 lb.

Can someone with Fleck experience please review these settings for me?

We just installed a 32k grain softener with a carbon filter before due to high chlorine.

Our water hardness is 9.8 gpg, family of 4. Water is city water so treated, but the city does pull from a well (may be irrelevant). 

DF GAL
VT dF lb
CT Fd
NT 1
C 20
H 10
RS SF
SF 20
DO 16
RT 2:00
BW 6
BD 50
RR 6
BF 4
H 10
SF 20
FM PO.7

Just changed out my resin a few months ago, made a huge improvement with stability, I’m having one problem, about a day or 2 before it regenerates,it runs out of soft water. The hardness is set at 34gpm.
Thanks for anyone that give me their 2 cents.

Our house only needs a 32,000 or 40,000 grain system. I see some larger systems that are just a few dollars more. I assume it's just more resin. Are there advantages/disadvantages in getting a larger system?

In fact, it got a bit harder.

Ok, here is a rundown of everything I have done.

A month or so ago we noticed our water was not as soft as it had been. We have lived here for 3 years and the house is now 10 years old. Everything worked fine until a couple of weeks ago. In the 3 years it was working, I added a bag of salt (Diamond Crystals Bright and Soft) about once a month.

So when it started having issues, I started researching water softeners because I knew nothing about them as we didn't have one growing up as we didn't need it. The first thing that popped up was a resin issue. It was 10 years old and the water here is very hard 240ppm/14gpg and it said that is about the limit. So I changed it with this:

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Softener-Replacement-Exchange-Cation/dp/B079P7QCJF/ref=sr_1_5?c=ts&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.53VyHllDku-5n5RLjEv2-Vf2N0GK5gZh8iKmoHUhGxPa33vRvnLEQXTjipd6I6c9-bQZhjaIez3i6_Bl9TzlIK--TicmW3Hg8OUD8JZ_pbk6TQakBEaVXLY53DD7g2iCLe3qDSzdEuy7pUYZx2GFWcmtW-bLgFhn4WrYqZgGpQOPlISkUCtrRBN4XkpjyD1pxfuiMq9NeNCX7VXt7RKBlOLxvVj1WC1V-uQBVvK0EVAo45kZ6WebcxT0c7a9NtpD33W3aJPnTGPUJ_c2qbRXIOZsi1oW6hdIuhPh5J3QoTQ.T7a3Y5cfu7m7MceH54vIDVUcsGHB3Bhut6n9-lD4MfM&dib_tag=se&keywords=Water%2BSofteners&qid=1777603703&s=kitchen-bath&sr=1-5&ts_id=6810592011&th=1

Everything looked good. I did reuse the downtube and the thing at the bottom. I also put a few inches (it was there before, so I put it back) of small washed gravel 1/4"- and then the resin. I also cleaned the brine tank.

When I went to manually regen, the dial on my Fleck 5600 Econominder was VERY stiff. But it seemed to go into regen and rotate all the way back around to Service. My water was still hard. So I did some more research and learned the a stiff 5600 can mean it needs a rebuild. No thanks, so I bought a new 5600 SXT and installed it today. I got it installed this morning before work and then did a manual regen when we went to dinner.

I had previously posted that I thought I got a deal on the 5600 SXT, but it turns out it did not come with a turbine meter, but was told I could manually regen. So I did.

I was watching it before we went out to dinner and it did the 10 minute backwash and was starting to drain the brine tank as we left. Got home and it was filling the brine tank. Thought success.

Nope. Water is as hard, or actually harder that it was before. I am testing it with a Bluelab PPM meter that I just calibrated. It seems to work as it measures my RO water at 0 and the alkaline water in the water dispenser at . So the meter is working.

I did a quick test at the kitchen sink and let it run long enough to have flushed the line and it was 260/270 ppm. I went to take a shower and let the cold water run for 10 minutes and tested it from the shower head and it was still 260/270. It had been 230/240.

Everything seems to working fine and I have no idea what to do next short of calling a water company. For what I have spent (and will spend on a turbine meter and cable), I could have bought a whole new system at Home Depot.

I have read that sometimes it can take 2-3 regen cycles to get the water soft, so maybe that's it. I plan to run it again tonight and test again in the morning.

I am just tired of itching.

Thanks for any insight. I know this was lot, but I wanted everything I did listed in case I did something wrong.

2 bath house on city water, 3 people most of the time unless my other kid is home from collage. water bill says we use about 100 gallons a day. water hardness is 10 - 12 using the strips.

from everything I've read it looks like 32000 unit would be fine. but should i up size to the 48000 its not that much more $$.

New construction townhouse. Main water line comes up from floor in copper, goes through a water meter(appears to be), then transitions to PEX manifold. Main shutoff is a lever valve on the blue PEX top left in the photo.

Where should I cut in the softener inlet and outlet on this copper run or somewhere else? Posting pics below.

https://preview.redd.it/vvqcjmrmmfyg1.jpg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=757c5b589f7981c8200c07a0178854005fdeaf9d

https://preview.redd.it/yc5y4nrmmfyg1.jpg?width=3213&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed60085b8556632f450dc60d858b9a39cdf61460

Thanks!