Fleck (Pentair)
Fleck 5600SXT Upflow Service Manual PDF
Upflow and downflow are separate documents with different programming chapters. Confirm which configuration your valve is before following either.
Fleck 5600SXT Settings
The Fleck 5600SXT has two programming modes, and most guides only teach the one with the warning on it. Feed water hardness, day override, regeneration time and the reserve all live in User Programming Mode, which Pentair documents without any dealer caution. The 12:01 PM master sequence is for the configuration parameters — and that is the one the manuals tell you to call a dealer about first.
What can you set, and what do you need first?
This decodes the parameter list against your configuration. It will not give you a value to type in, because Pentair publishes none — it tells you which parameters your unit will show, what each one depends on, and where it lives.
Confirm the control is a 5600SXT before changing anything
The mechanical Fleck 5600 and the digital 5600SXT are different controls with different programming. Nothing on this page applies to a 5600 with a mechanical timer. Read the label on the control itself: the SXT has a backlit digital display with Up, Down and Extra Cycle buttons.
What is blocking a safe answer
- The control has not been identified as a 5600SXT.
Next steps
- Look at the control itself, not the tank or the brand sticker.
- If it has a mechanical dial and no digital display, this is not your page.
What this does not establish
- Nothing about your settings, because the parameter list depends on the control.
- Which brand of finished softener your valve is fitted to. Pentair sells this valve to system builders, so the name on the tank does not identify the control.
The two modes, and how to reach each
This is the most consequential thing on the page, so it is stated exactly as the manuals do.
| Mode | How the manual says to enter it | What it holds | Dealer caution? |
|---|---|---|---|
| User Programming | Press Up and Down together for five seconds while in service, with the time of day not at 12:01 PM. | DO, RT, H, RC or SF, and CD. | None in either manual. |
| Master Programming | Set the time of day to 12:01 PM, press Extra Cycle to leave time-setting, then press and hold Up and Down together until the programming icon appears. | The full configuration — DF, VT, CT, NT, TS, C, H, RS, SF, RC, DO, RT, cycle times, FM, K. | Yes. Both manuals say to contact your local professional water dealer first. |
Reachable in User Programming Mode
If you came here to change a hardness number or a regeneration time, this is your list. It is short on purpose.
| Code | Parameter | What it means | Documented range |
|---|---|---|---|
| H | Feedwater Hardness | The hardness of the water entering the softener, in grains per gallon. | 1 to 199 |
| RC | Fixed Reserve Capacity | A fixed reserve volume that does not move when capacity or hardness change. The manual states it cannot exceed half the calculated system capacity. | 0 to half the calculated capacity |
| DO | Day Override | The maximum number of days between regenerations. A metered system regenerates regardless of use once this many days have passed. OFF disables it. | Off to 99 days |
| RT | Regeneration Time | The time of day a delayed, manually queued or day-override regeneration starts. | No range published |
A range is what the control will accept. It is not a recommendation, and Pentair does not publish one — see the note on defaults below.
The configuration parameters
These sit behind the master sequence. The last column is the part most guides leave out: what you need to know about your own installation before the value can be chosen at all.
| Code | Parameter | Documented range | What you need before choosing a value |
|---|---|---|---|
| DF | Display Format | GAL or Ltr | Nothing beyond a preference. |
| VT | Valve Type | dF1b, dF2b, Fltr, UFbd, UFtr, Othr | How the valve was physically built — the manual states some valve types require specific subcomponents, and changing this setting does not change the hardware |
| CT | Control Type | Fd, FI, tc, dAY | Whether a flow meter is fitted at all |
| NT | Number of Tanks | 1 or 2 | Nothing beyond a preference. |
| TS | Tank in Service | U1 or U2 | Nothing beyond a preference. |
| C | Unit Capacity | The manual prints "1-999,900 gallons (100-9,999,000 Liters)" here while instructing grains of hardness for a softener. Unresolved — check the unit shown on your own display before entering a value. | The volume of resin in your tank; The grain capacity that resin is rated at, at the salt dose your system uses; Which unit your control actually expects, because the manual contradicts itself on this point |
| RS | Reserve Selection | Safety factor or fixed reserve capacity | Nothing beyond a preference. |
| SF | Safety Factor | 0 to 50 per cent | Nothing beyond a preference. |
| BW | Backwash time | 0 to 199 minutes | The tank diameter and the drain line flow control fitted to your valve |
| BD | Brine Draw time | 0 to 199 minutes | The injector fitted to your valve and the resin volume |
| RR | Rapid Rinse time | 0 to 199 minutes | The tank diameter and the drain line flow control |
| BF | Brine Fill time | 0 to 199 minutes | The brine line flow control rate; The salt dose your system is designed around, in pounds per regeneration |
| FM | Flow Meter Type | t0.7, P0.7, t1.0, P1.0, t1.5, P1.5, P2.0, GEn | The meter actually fitted to your installation |
| K | Meter Pulse Setting | No range published | The pulse rate published for your non-Fleck meter |
Some of these will not appear on your display at all. Capacity, hardness and reserve show only on metered control types; tank-in-service only on a two-tank system; the meter pulse setting only when a generic meter is selected. The manual states plainly that some items may not be shown depending on timer configuration — so a missing parameter is not a fault.
Why there is no recommended settings table here
Independent guides publish complete “recommended” value sets for a nominal 32,000 or 48,000 grain system. We looked for a Pentair source for anything like that and did not find one. Both manuals publish acceptable ranges and a caution to contact a dealer; neither publishes a recommended parameter set tied to a stated tank size, resin volume and configuration.
That absence is recorded in our ledger as an unknown rather than filled in with a plausible-looking table. The values that matter — capacity, brine fill time, backwash time — depend on the resin volume, the salt dose the system was designed around, the injector and the flow controls fitted. Those are properties of your installation, not of the model number.
One correction worth making explicitly, because it is a real hazard: there is no salt dosage parameter on this control. Salt use is a consequence of the brine fill time, BF, and the brine line flow control fitted to your valve.
The manual contradicts itself about the units for C
This is not our uncertainty; it is in Pentair's own text, on one page, in both manuals.
- The Master Programming chart labels the parameter Unit Capacity (Grains).
- The body text says to enter the capacity of the media bed in grains of hardness when configuring a softener system.
- The range printed immediately beneath that instruction reads “1-999,900 gallons (100-9,999,000 Liters)”.
Grains and gallons are not the same quantity, and nothing in either document reconciles them. So this page does not publish a range for C. Naming one would mean choosing a unit the manufacturer did not, and a capacity entered in the wrong unit is out by orders of magnitude — a softener that regenerates constantly, or one that never does.
What to do instead: read the unit your own control displays alongside the value, and check it against your installer's paperwork before changing anything. The discrepancy is logged in our sources and corrections ledger and will stay there until a manufacturer source settles it.
Reading the unit without changing anything
Diagnostic Programming Mode is read-only, and it answers a lot of questions before you touch a setting: FR current flow rate, PF peak flow rate since the last regeneration, HR hours in service, VU volume used, RC the calculated reserve capacity, and SV the software version.
If you are trying to work out whether the meter is registering flow at all — which is the first thing the manual asks after error code 2 — this is where you look.
What this page does not do
Where to go next
- For an error code on the display, or a symptom sorted by whether it is owner work, see Fleck 5600SXT troubleshooting.
- For the hardness arithmetic itself — ppm to grains per gallon, and where iron changes it — the general settings calculator shows its working and is brand-neutral.
- To work out what capacity a household actually needs, use the grain capacity calculator.
The two Pentair service manuals
Both were read in full on 4 September 2026. Use the one matching your configuration: the parameter list is the same in both, but the page numbers and the cycle cam are not.
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Fleck (Pentair)
Fleck 5600SXT Downflow Service Manual PDF
Upflow and downflow are separate documents with different programming chapters. Confirm which configuration your valve is before following either.
Sources checked
Each link goes to the manufacturer or organisation that published it. We do not host copies.
- Pentair Residential Filtration Fleck 5600SXT Upflow Service Manual (42683 Rev J) PDF
- Pentair Residential Filtration Fleck 5600SXT Downflow Service Manual (42684) PDF