Clean Water Systems Fleck 5600-SXT Installation And Startup Manual
Clean Water Made Easy
www.cleanwaterstore.com
Fleck 5600-SXT Softener
Installation & Start-Up Guide
Thank you for purchasing a Clean Water System! With proper
installation and a little routine maintenance your system will be
providing filtered water for many years.
Your new system comes with a printed Fleck Service manual,
which along with this start-up guide will help guide you in the
installation and start-up of your new system. The Fleck service
manual covers other types of systems as well such as water
softeners and filters, so there may be information in your Fleck
service manual that does not pertain to your system. Please
review this start-up guide entirely before beginning to install
your system and follow the steps outlined for best results.
Questions?
Call us toll-free: 1-888-600-5426 or 1-831-462-8500
Email us: support@cleanwaterstore.com
See more information on our website: www.cleanwaterstore.com/resources
Clean Water Made Easy
www.cleanwaterstore.com
Table of Contents
Packing List ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
Pre-Installation ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Best Practices for Piping & Drain Installation ........................................................................................................ 3
How Your Softener Works ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Installation Instructions ......................................................................................................................................... 7
Attaching the brine line tubing to the brine tank & the Fleck 5600-SXT brine valve ............................................ 9
Maintaining Your Softener 5600-SXT System ..................................................................................................... 13
Replacing Brine Valve, Injectors and Screen ....................................................................................................... 13
Brine Valve Replacement ................................................................................................................................ 13
Injectors/Screen Replacement ........................................................................................................................ 14
Troubleshooting the Fleck 5600-SXT Softener .................................................................................................... 14
More Troubleshooting Tips ................................................................................................................................. 16
Brine Solution Not Being Sucked In During Regeneration .............................................................................. 16
System Not Backwashing Adequately ............................................................................................................. 17
System Not Programmed Correctly – PROGRAM SETTINGS ........................................................................... 17
Brine Tank Not Filling With Enough Water ..................................................................................................... 17
Filter Tank Does Not Sit Level on the Floor ..................................................................................................... 17
Fleck 5600-SXT Softener Installation & Startup Guide
Packing List
All models will come with:
Quantity Description
1 Fleck 5600-SXT backwash control valve & bypass valve
1 Pipe connector kit (either 1”or ¾”)
1 Black brine tank
1 Media funnel
You will also receive one of the following groups of items depending on the size of your system.
Model Size: 24K Grain Softener:
Quantity Description
1 8” x 44” filter tank with distributor tube
1 3/4 cubic foot box of softening media (resin)
Model Size: 32K Grain Softener:
Quantity Description
1 9” x 48” filter tank with distributor tube
1 1 cubic foot box of softening media (resin)
Model Size: 48K Grain Softener:
Quantity Description
1 10” x 54” filter tank with distributor tube
1 1 cubic foot box of softening media (resin)
1 ½ cubic foot box of softening media (resin)
Model Size: 64K Grain Softener:
Quantity Description
1 12” x 52” filter tank with distributor tube
2 1 cubic foot boxes of softening (resin)
Model Size: 80K Grain Softener:
1 13” x 54” filter tank with distributor tube
2 1 cubic foot box of softening media (resin)
1 ½ cubic foot box of softening media (resin)
*NOTE: All Fine Mesh Resin Softeners will come with a box of gravel (does not include SST60 resin)
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Fleck 5600-SXT Softener Installation & Startup Guide
Pre-Installation
1. Review your packing list and make sure you have received all the parts before beginning installation.
Please ensure that all parts are included before scheduling a plumber or installer to come to the site.
2. If you are going to be turning off the water to the house and you have an electric water heater, shut
off the power to the water heater before beginning installation in case water heater is accidentially
drained.
3. Pick a suitable location for your filter system on a dry level spot where it won’t be exposed to freezing
temperatures. A minimum of 20 PSI is required. Maximum pressure is 90 PSI.
4. Get all of your plumbing parts together before beginning installation. Installation typically takes 3 to
5 hours. However after installation the Softener must be allowed to run through a complete
backwash and rinse cycle (also called ‘regeneration’). You don’t have to be present for this first
backwash necessarily, but it does take 90 minutes.
5. After the system is installed and running, your water may be discolored, or full of sediment or rust,
particularly if this is older piping that has been exposed to iron or manganese for some time.
Typically this clears up over a day or two, but can persist for weeks if the pipe is old galvanized iron
pipe that is corroded.
Best Practices for Piping & Drain Installation
1. See typical installation (see Fig 1). The softener is installed after the pressure tank.
2. Make sure to connect the inlet pipe to the Fleck 5600-SXT inlet and the outlet to the outlet (see Fig
2). As you face the Fleck 5600-SXT control from the front, the water enters on the right and exits on
the left. From the back (see Fig 2) the water enters on the left. The inlet and outlet are attached to
the bypass valve which is marked with arrows as well.
3. Make sure there is a working gate or ball valve before the Fleck 5600-SXT Softener and also one after
as shown in the diagram. The pressure gauges are optional and not necessary but a hose bib (which
is a faucet that you can attach a garden hose to) is strongly recommended after the softener before
the second ball valve. This makes it easy to rinse your new softener on start-up and gives you a place
to test the water before it enters your household plumbing.
4. If you will be using copper piping, do not sweat the copper pipe directly on to the Fleck 5600-SXT
control valve. Avoid heating up the Fleck 5600-SXT control valve plastic with the torch.
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Fleck 5600-SXT Softener Installation & Startup Guide
5. You do not need unions to install your Fleck 5600-SXT control. If you need to remove it, the Fleck
5600-SXT has quick-release couplings that make it easy to put the softener on by-pass and remove
the filter system from the piping.
6. The drain line tubing (not supplied) is connected to a drain from the drain outlet using flexible ½” ID
tubing. Note that the drain can run up above the Fleck 5600-SXT control and into a drain, it does not
have to drain down, as the filter backwashes under line pressure from your well pump. Most
plumbing codes require an air-gap connection, so that if your sewer or septic tank backs up, it cannot
cross connect with the drain tubing.
How Your Softener Works
See Fig 1. In the softener, the water enters the top of the tank and flows down through the media and up the
distributor tube. Hardness minerals are drawn to the resin beads in the softener. During backwash, the
water flow is reversed and water flows down the distributor tube and up through the media, lifting and
expanding the softening media, and removing any trapped particles in the media. After the backwash stage,
salt brine automatically drawn in from the brine tank and slowly rinses through the softening resin for 1 hour,
which allows the hardness minerals to be swapped out with harmless sodium or potassium ions. This entire
automatic process, called ‘regeneration’ takes about 90 minutes. Typically the softener filter is set to
regenerate every 14-21 days, during the middle of the night when no water is being used.
Fig 1
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Fleck 5600-SXT Softener Installation & Startup Guide
Fig 2 - Typical Softener Fleck 5600-SXT piping installation with ball valve and hose bib after the filter along
with pre- and post-filtration if necessary:
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