Fleck 5600SXT Water Softener Settings & Programming Guide
Programming the Vtrol control head for a water softener requires setting the correct valve type, control mode, and regeneration cycle times. This detailed walkthrough covers every menu option. The Vtrol control head is a Fleck 5600.
Why Correct Programming Is Critical
The Vtrol control head controls when and how your softener regenerates. Incorrect settings mean the system either regenerates too often, wasting salt and water, or not often enough, allowing hard water to break through and damage appliances.
Vtrol control head Control Head
The Vtrol control head by Crystal Quest is an automatic control head used on water softeners and whole house filtration systems. The Vtrol control head is a Fleck 5600. It manages regeneration cycles via a metered or time-clock schedule, features a backlit digital display for easy programming, and supports a snap-on bypass valve for maintenance isolation. Built on a proven platform, the Vtrol control head is a reliable residential control valve backed by Crystal Quest.
Step-by-Step
Complete Walkthrough
Power Up and Hard Reset
0:20Start by plugging in the control head. If you need to reset all settings to factory defaults, unplug the unit, press and hold the regeneration button, then plug it back in while continuing to hold the button. This clears any previous programming and gives you a clean starting point.
Tip: Always perform a hard reset on a new installation to ensure no residual settings from factory testing carry over.
Plug In the Control Head
Connect the power supply to the Vtrol control head. The display will illuminate once power is connected.
Hold the Regenerate Button
Disconnect power, then press and hold the regenerate button on the front of the control head.
Plug In While Holding
While still holding the regenerate button, plug the control head back in. You'll see "HR" appear on the top left of the display with dashes running across the middle. Once you let go, the hard reset is complete.
Setting the Time to 12:01 PM
1:00
After the reset, the display will prompt you to set the current time. Set it to 12:01 PM initially, this places the clock in a lockout window that prevents an accidental regeneration cycle from triggering while you finish programming. Hold the up or down arrow key to change the time, then tap the regenerate button to lock it in.
Entering Configuration Mode
1:30
Once at 12:01 PM, press and hold both the up and down arrow buttons simultaneously for about five seconds until the first configuration screen appears. The display will show "DF" on the top left with a pencil icon indicating you're in edit mode. Press the down arrow to advance through settings.
Display Format and Valve Type
2:00
The first configuration option sets the display format, choose GAL for gallons. Next is Valve Type, the most important setting. For a standard water softener, select DF1B (Downflow, Single Backwash). This is the standard setting for most whole house softeners and includes all regeneration cycle phases.
Tip: DF1B is the correct setting for the vast majority of residential water softeners. Only change this if your system specifically requires a different configuration.
Control Type and Tank Configuration
3:30
Set Control Type to TC (time clock) for scheduled regeneration on a fixed interval. For Number of Tanks, set to 1 for a single-tank softener system. The Vtrol control head does not support twin alternating configurations.
Regeneration Time
4:30
Set the regeneration start time to 2:00 AM. You get no water production during regeneration, so schedule it during low-usage hours. If you have multiple treatment tanks in series, offset softeners by 90 minutes and filters by 30 minutes to prevent simultaneous regeneration.
Backwash and Brine Draw
5:30
Set Backwash (BW) to 10 minutes, this reverses flow through the resin bed to flush out trapped sediment. Set Brine Draw (BD) to 60 minutes, during this phase, the control head draws a concentrated saltwater solution from the brine tank into the media, where an ion exchange releases hardness minerals and sends them out the drain.
Rapid Rinse and Brine Fill
6:30
Set Rapid Rinse (RR) to 10 minutes, this returns the control head to normal downflow but routes all water to the drain, flushing any remaining brine out of the resin bed. Set Brine Fill (BF) to 12 minutes, this sends water back into the brine tank to replenish the salt solution for the next regeneration cycle.
Tip: Recommended softener settings: BW 10 min, BD 60 min, RR 10 min, BF 12 min. These work for most residential softener configurations.
Running a Manual Regeneration
8:00
After programming is complete, press and hold the regeneration button to manually start a regeneration cycle. This lets any air inside the tank out and makes sure the system is refreshed and ready to start filtering. Watch it progress through backwash, brine draw, rapid rinse, and brine fill.
Setting the Correct Time
9:00
As the final step, set the clock to the actual current time. Hold the up or down arrow key until the time starts flashing, adjust to the correct time, then tap the regenerate button to lock it in. The system will now regenerate automatically at the designated time.
Reference
Understanding the Settings
The Vtrol control head uses a series of codes on its digital display to identify each setting. Here is what each code means, what options are available, and which setting is recommended for a standard whole house water softener.
Display Format
Sets the unit of measurement for flow and capacity tracking on the display.
Standard imperial measurement used in the United States.
Metric measurement used internationally.
Valve Type
Determines the regeneration cycle sequence your control head will run. This is the most important setting, selecting the wrong valve type will cause the system to skip critical regeneration steps or run unnecessary ones.
Standard setting for most whole house water softeners. Water flows down through the media during service, and the regeneration cycle includes one backwash phase.
Adds an extra backwash phase between brine fill and rapid rinse. Used when media requires more aggressive flushing.
Normal downflow operation but disables brine draw and brine fill entirely. Use this for whole house filter systems that do not have a brine tank.
Reverses service flow direction and runs brine draw before backwash. Designed for high-efficiency softeners and commercial systems, not typical for residential use.
Upflow service direction with brine draw and brine fill disabled. Used for specialized upflow filter configurations.
Fully customizable cycle programming. Only used when the control head comes pre-programmed by Crystal Quest for a specific application.
Control Type
Determines how the control head decides when to trigger a regeneration cycle.
Regenerates on a fixed schedule based on the number of days you set. Simple and reliable, the system backwashes at the same interval regardless of water usage.
Uses a flow meter to track water usage. Once the system reaches its set capacity, it regenerates immediately. Ideal for variable-usage households.
Same as Flow Immediate, but waits until the programmed regeneration time (e.g., 2:00 AM) after reaching capacity. Prevents mid-day regeneration.
Similar to Time Clock but allows you to select specific days of the week for regeneration rather than a fixed interval.
Number of Tanks
Sets how many media tanks are connected to this control head. The Vtrol control head does not support twin alternating configurations, so this should always be set to 1.
Regeneration Time
The time of day when the control head starts its regeneration cycle. You get no water production during regeneration, so schedule it during low-usage hours. Default is 2:00 AM. If you have multiple tanks in line, offset each softener by 90 minutes and each filter by 30 minutes to prevent simultaneous regeneration.
Backwash
Reverses water flow through the tank, water goes down the main riser and up through the media, lifting and flushing trapped sediment and debris out the drain line. This is the first phase of the regeneration cycle and cleans the media bed before brine draw begins.
Brine Draw
During this phase, the control head draws a concentrated saltwater solution from the brine tank into the media. An ion exchange process occurs inside the tank, the salt displaces the hardness minerals (calcium and magnesium) that have accumulated on the resin, sending them out the drain line. This is the core regeneration step for water softeners.
Rapid Rinse
Returns the control head to normal downflow operation, water flows down through the media and up the riser, but routes all output to the drain instead of the service line. This flushes any remaining brine solution and loose contaminants out of the tank before the system goes back into service.
Brine Fill
The final phase of regeneration. The control head sends water back into the brine tank to replenish the salt solution for the next regeneration cycle. The amount of time determines how much water enters the tank, too little means a weak brine solution next cycle, too much risks overflow.
Transcript
Read the video transcript
Transcript
Read the video transcript
Hey everyone, I'm Kevin from CrystalQuest. Today we're going to be programming our 5600 control head for our whole house water softener. Let's get into it. Hey guys, if you haven't already, go check out our video on how to install your control head onto the media tank and how to plum it to your rest of the system. But today, we're going to be focusing on programming it.
So, we're going to go ahead and take out our power supply and plug it in. Before getting into programming, if at any point you want to restart, you can run your control head through a hard reset. First thing we're going to have to do is disconnect the power going to our control head, whether that's at the wall or at the side. Next, we're going to hold on the regenerate button while we plug our control head back in. While you're holding on the regenerate button, on the top left of your screen, you'll see an HR, which stands for your hard reset, and then a few dashes going through the middle.
Once you let go, your hard reset is done. Now that our control head's plugged in, we're going to go ahead and change the time to 12:01 p.m. And that's just a lock out so that you don't accidentally change any of the settings. To do this, you hold either the up or the down arrow key, and that'll change the time of day. And to lock the setting into place, you'll hit the regenerate button.
Once the settings locked into place, the screen will flash between the time of day and how many days until your next backwash cycle. Once you're at 12:01, you're going to hold both the up and the down arrow keys for about 5 seconds until your first screen pops up. On the top left, it's going to say DF, which stands for display format. The bottom left is going to have a little pencil which means you're editing the settings. And in the middle you'll have two settings which we will say G A L that stands for gallon.
And if you push the bottom arrow you'll see LTR which stands for liter. Today we're going to select gallon because we're in the imperial format. The next screen that shows up on the top left will say VT, which stands for valve type. The first setting that appears will say DF1B, which stands for downflow one backwash. That's the standard setting that we're going to use, but we can go through our other ones to see what else our control head can do.
Our next setting says downflow two backashes. That means we get an extra backwash between our brine fill and our rapid rinse. Our next setting is filter, which is a normal downflow setting, but it will disable our brine draw and our brine fill. Our next setting is upflow brine draw first. This is for high efficiency softeners and commercial systems, and this won't really apply to many whole house systems.
Our next setting will be upflow filter. And like in the name, it's going to be the opposite of our downflow setting where water will go down through the main riser and up across the media. And then filter will disable our brine draw and our brine fill. Our next setting says other, and this is for fully customizing your control head and won't really be used unless it comes pre-programmed by us. Our next setting will bring us back to downflow single backwash.
And this is the setting we're going to use because this is the standard setting for most whole house softeners. Our next setting says CT, which stands for control type. That's how a valve keeps track of how it's backwashing. The first setting on here is TC, which stands for time clock. This is a setting we're going to use for today, but we're going to go through the other ones to see what else we can do.
FI stands for flow or metered immediate. In this setting, your control head will be running with a flow meter attached to it, and once it reaches its fixed capacity, it'll go through its backwash cycle. FD stands for flow or meter delayed and this is just like the flow immediate but it has to reach a time factor before it goes through its backwash. Our next setting will say day and it's similar to TC but instead of tracking by hour you can track by days individually. And lastly, we'll cycle back through to our TC and select this setting.
Our next screen on the top left will say NT, and that stands for the number of tanks, how many tanks are actually installed onto your control head. And it won't really apply unless you have a twin alternating system, which isn't an option available for your 5600. So, we're going to go ahead and just set it to one. Your next screen says RT, which stands for its regeneration time. The key thing about this is you don't get any water production during its backwash.
So, you want to make sure it's backwashing at a time you won't need any water. It comes preset at about 2:00 a.m. And that's a good time to keep it because a backwash for a softener takes about an hour and a half. If you have other tanks in your line, you want to make sure you offset the backwash times also. So, your softeners take about an hour and a half and your regular filters take about a half an hour.
So, if your first tank is set to regenerate at 2:00 a.m., the next one in line will be an hour and a half after at 3:30. This next screen says BW and that stands for backwash. What this does is it'll change the flow of water through your tank to go down your main riser and up through the media, sending all of the water out the drain. We're going to set this for 10 minutes and go to the next setting. The next cycle will say BD or brine draw.
And during this cycle, what your control head does is it draws a saltwater solution from your brine tank into the media. While this is happening, an ion exchange is occurring inside of the tank, releasing all the hardness off of your media and sending it out of your drain line. We're going to set this for 60 minutes. Our next cycle will say RR or rapid rinse. During this cycle, our control head goes back into normal operation where water will be coming down the media and up through the riser.
But instead of coming out of your production line, all the water is going out of your drain to flush out any contaminants. We're going to set this to 10 minutes and go to our next Our last setting is going to say BF, which will stand for our brine fill. And that's how long we're going to have our control head send water back into our brine tank. This we're going to set at about 12 minutes. Once you set your brine fill time, it'll take you back out to the home screen where it'll display the time of day and how many days left until your next regeneration.
If you want to go ahead and hold the regenerate button to manually start a regeneration cycle for your media tank. This will let any air inside of the tank out and make sure it's refreshed and ready to start filtering. Last step you want to make sure is you set it back to the correct time of day by holding either the up or the down arrow key until your time starts flashing. And then to lock it into place, you just tap on your regenerate button. And there you go.
Thanks for watching. If there's any questions that you have that we didn't discuss in this video, feel free to leave a comment below, call us, or visit our website at crystalquest.com. Thank you.
