Water Softener Installation Guide
Installation Guide for the Fleck 5600 Econominder Valve



Overview

This installation guide gives a basic step by step, start to finish procedure for installing a basic water softener. All steps provided herein are for a typical installation only. If you would require additional plumbing to install your softener, simply contact a person or company who is knowledgeable in residential plumbing, to help you install, or to install the unit for you.

Installation of this unit does require basic residential plumbing skills, tools and knowledge. Installing this unit is very simple and will not be a problem to install, given the person doing the installation uses their own common sense along with studying and following of these instructions.

Take your time, carefully read the instructions, look at the service manual, get all of your plumbing parts together before you start, and have an assistant to help you, if possible. Typical installation should take no more than a couple of hours. We have had hundreds of customers install their softener, with little or no problem!!

We have already pre-set your new softener for the hardness of your water for you from either the test results you have sent to us, or from the water sample you sent to us that we tested for you! Now all you have to do is plumb in the unit, plug it in and set the current time of day on the large timer dial on the front of the valve head!!

Pre-Installation

  1. Position your new unit in place, making sure there is a 1 ½" minimum drain opening within 20' of the unit.
  2. The unit requires a ½" ID flexible plastic drain line running from the softener. There will be a fair amount of pressure on this flexible plastic drain line when the softener is in the regeneration mode, so make certain it is secured in place! Also, always leave an air gap between this flexible plastic drain line and where you run it into the waste drain, for the prevention of possible back-siphonage. An air gap space of 1-2" should be plenty! (Local codes should always be followed).
  3. A grounded, 3-prong 120v, electrical outlet is required. The unit comes with a 5' power cord. (Extension cords may be used, per local electrical/building/safety codes).
  4. These units have an operating water pressure range between 35-95psi. (45-55psi is an optimum pressure range).
  5. Locate the softener in a dry, level protected area where it cannot freeze!
  6. You can also place the larger tank, (the brine tank for salt or potassium chloride), up to 20 feet from the softener mineral tank. So, make it easy on yourself and position it where it will be easy to access when filling the tanks with salt. (When the softener is going to be installed within 20' of an attached garage, we always set the brine tank in the garage, so the customer doesn't have to carry the salt in the house to fill the brine tank. They can fill the salt tank right in their garage!!
    *IMPORTANT* IF you decide to set the brine tank in your garage, remember that the water in the brine tank will not freeze but the small plastic water line running from the softener to the brine tank will. So make certain the garage is warm enough to prevent this line from freezing!
  7. Make a list of all the plumbing fittings you will need to completely install the unit to make it ready for operation. (There shouldn't be very many).
  8. Assemble all tools needed to install the unit. Start your Installation!!
Installation

  1. Turn off the main water shutoff valve.
  2. Open all plumbing fixtures in the house including all outside faucets in order to drain the lines of all the water you possibly can.
  3. Cut and remove a 3" section of water line where the unit is to be installed if you have a typical straight in and out, ¾" copper pipe installation.
  4. Remove the ¾" brass yoke from the back of the valve, by loosening the two small stainless steel clamps on either side of the rear valve assembly. Pull it off the back of the meter. *NOTE*(If you ordered our optional ¾" brass bypass valve assembly, then remove it instead of the brass yoke).
  5. Leave the meter in place which is still attached to the back of the 5600 valve body by an identical set of these stainless steel clips.
  6. If there is a bypass valve assembly already in place in your home, then simply utilize the standard ¾" brass yoke to make your plumbing connection to and from the water line.
  7. We do not recommend applying intense heat, such as that used for soldering copper pipe to your new 5600 valve/meter assembly. So:
    1. Purchase two common ¾" male thread to ¾" sweat, copper adapters.
    2. Solder a 3" to 5" piece of ¾" copper pipe into each adapter.
    3. Once you have the pieces of ¾" copper pipe soldered into these adapters, simply wait until they are cool enough to touch, then apply Teflon tape or pipe joint compound to the male threads of each one, and securely thread them into the ¾" brass yoke, (or the optional ¾" brass bypass valve assembly), before you re-attach either of them onto the back of the 5600 valve/meter body assembly.
      **(Important!! DO NOT thread the copper adapters into the brass yoke or bypass valve while the yoke or bypass valve is connected to the 5600 Valve/Meter assembly! You may exert too much pressure on the meter while securing the copper adapters, causing damage to the valve/meter housing!)
    4. Again, after securely threading the ¾" adapter into either the ¾" brass yoke or the ¾" brass bypass valve assembly, re-attach the brass yoke or bypass valve back onto the valve/meter assembly and secure it there with the two small stainless steel clamps.
  1. Now position your softener in place for final water line installation, making sure the bypass valve is set in the "BYPASS" position.
  2. FIRST, measure and cut the lengths of pipe you need to plumb the main hard water line into your softener unit. Then do the same for the soft water line that will exit from the softening unit, back out into the house. *NOTE* The hard water line will enter the LEFT SIDE HOLE in the brass yoke or bypass valve assembly as you look directly at the two holes on the rear of the unit. The unit will also be marked either on the back of the valve body itself with the word "IN" and "OUT", and/or on the top of the body of the bypass valve assembly with arrows showing the direction of water flow into and out of the valve. Remember, that as you are looking at the rear of the unit, the hard water line from your house enters the unit on the LEFT. The soft water flowing from the unit into your house, is on the RIGHT. Now your Water Softener is connected to your house!!
  3. Now, slowly turn the main water valve to your house back on allowing all of the water lines to slowly refill. The water will gently push the air out of the lines through all the plumbing fixtures you opened earlier. Start by turning off all outside faucets first, once water is flowing out of them again, steadily. Then do the same with every plumbing fixture inside your home. In just a few minutes, the air should be out of your water lines with full water pressure to your house restored. The hard water will be bypassing your water softener at this time.

Final Installation Steps and Setup

  1. There is a black plastic, drain hose barb, located on the lower, backside of the 5600 valve. Make certain this black plastic fitting is securely threaded into the valve body and that the threads have been coated with either Teflon tape or pipe joint compound. You should easily be able to see if the fitting has tape or joint compound on the threads. If you do see tape or joint compound on the threads of this fitting, then you can proceed to carefully push the ½" ID flexible plastic drain line fully onto this plastic barbed end. If this fitting is loose, and/or doesn't have any tape or joint compound visibly present, simply unscrew the fitting and apply some of either material to the threads, and then re-thread the fitting back into the valve body. Be careful not to over tighten the fitting! Just snug it up a bit!
  2. Carefully push the ½" ID plastic drain hose completely over the barbed end of the fitting. Run the opposite end of this drain hose to the house drain you are going to use for your softener. Mount the end of the flexible drain hose at the house drain, leaving an air gap of at least 1", (Follow local plumbing codes), and securing it. When the unit is in the regeneration mode, water will flow out of this drain line with a fair amount of pressure, especially during the "rapid rinse phases" of the regeneration process, and the line may sometimes "jump" a little when changing cycles.
  3. Next, connect your brine tank to your softener. One end of the ¼" brine line tubing will be connected to your brine tank and the opposite end needs to be connected to your 5600 valve. Slide the Brine Line Flow Control (BLFC) Fitting Nut and the BLFC Ferrule over the loose end of the ¼" brine line. Insert the BLFC Tube Insert into the end of the brine line tubing. Push the loose end of the brine line tubing into the BLFC Fitting located on the side of the 5600 valve body, and tighten the fitting nut securely.

Filling the Softener with Water

  1. Slowly open the bypass valve from the "Bypass" position, towards the "Service" position. Let the unit fill up with water slowly. This will take only a few minutes. Once the sound of running water has stopped and the softener is full, open the bypass valve completely to the service position. You now have soft water!
  2. We have already pre-set the softener to regenerate, according to your water hardness, so you don't have to worry about this setting.
  3. Pour about 5 gallons of water into the bottom of the brine tank to dissolve the salt, which will make brine for the softener to use when it is ready to regenerate for the first time.
  4. The large knob on the front valve should be in the "Service" position. Slowly rotate this knob clockwise just a few "clicks" at a time, stopping at each setting for a minute or so, to clear the air out of the valve, and to fill the brine line with water. Once you have completed turning this knob one complete revolution and it is set back to the "Service" position, the unit is now ready for use!
  5. Finally, plug the softener in the electrical outlet and set the current time of day by pressing in on the "Red" button located on the front of the valve face, and then rotating the large geared wheel until it shows the proper time in the small window at the bottom of the knob dial. The unit will regenerate at 2:00am, on the morning after the meter has measured the pre-set amount of water for regeneration. Check for leaks and fill the brine tank with salt! We recommend using the very clean "Solar Salt" or block type salt in all of our units.

Notes

  1. Even though you now have soft water, your water heater is still full of hard water. Through normal use, this water will be replaced with soft water in about 2-4 days.
  2. Be sure to cut back on your detergent, soap and shampoo usage! Generally, you should be able to cut your soap use in half! This savings helps to offset the cost of the softener salt!
  3. Hard copper pipe generally comes in two thicknesses. Use the thicker "L" type copper pipe rather than thinner "M" type copper pipe.
  4. Follow your local plumbing and building codes when installing our softeners.