Hard water getting through — not softening
Most common cause: Salt bridge in the brine tank. A salt bridge is a hardened crust of salt that forms above the water line, preventing salt from dissolving into the brine. The system goes through regeneration but uses plain water instead of brine — so the resin never recharges.
- Look in the brine tank — if the salt looks solid all the way through, push a broom handle down through it
- You should hit water below a solid crust if a bridge is present
- Break up the bridge and allow salt to fall into the water
- Manually force a regeneration cycle after fixing the bridge
Other causes:
- Hardness setting too low — recheck your water hardness and reprogram
- Resin fouled with iron — if iron-laden water has been running through without pre-treatment, the resin may need cleaning with resin cleaner
- Bypass valve accidentally in bypass position — check the bypass handle
- Resin bed exhausted — resin lasts 10–20 years but can fail earlier with heavy iron or chloramine exposure
Not regenerating automatically
- Check power — is the unit plugged in and displaying a time?
- Check the day override setting — if set too high, it may not have hit the trigger yet
- Verify the meter is counting — watch the gallon display while running water. If it's not counting down, the turbine in the meter may be stuck or fouled
- Check for error codes on the display
Regenerating too frequently
- Hardness setting too high — retest your water and adjust
- Household water use has changed — more people, more use
- Iron fouling reducing effective resin capacity — treat iron upstream
- Resin channeling — water finding a path of least resistance through the resin bed
Water running to drain continuously
This is usually a stuck or worn piston or spacer in the control valve. The 5600SXT piston and spacer kit ($15–$30) is a common repair that restores the seal. This is a DIY-friendly repair — Fleck piston replacement videos are widely available on YouTube.
Salt tank full of water
- Float valve stuck or fouled — clean or replace the brine tank float assembly
- Drain line flow control clogged — remove and clear the drain line fitting
- Safety float not shutting off brine fill — replace the safety float
Error codes
| Err 1 | Motor stall — valve motor unable to complete cycle. Check for obstruction or replace motor. |
| Err 2 | Motor timeout — similar to Err 1, motor taking too long to cycle |
| Err 3 | Power failure reset — informational, not an error. System recovered from power outage. |
Fleck 5600SXT on Amazon →Related pages