Res-Up Feeder
Automatic resin cleaner feeding for water softeners
A Res-Up Feeder holds liquid resin cleaner in a small reservoir inside the salt tank and moves it toward the brine well, so the softener draws a measured dose every time it regenerates. There is no timer to set and no pump to wire. A wick does the metering.
Two Feed Rates, Told Apart by the Tubing
Yellow tubing
Res-Up Feeder S6304
0.40fl oz / day
The standard residential rate, and the one most softeners get.
Yellow tubing marks the 12 cc daily delivery. It suits smaller resin beds, lighter iron loading and softeners that regenerate often enough to spread the cleaner across several cycles a month.
- Also sold as WF05N and RU-F12
- 12 cc a day, around 12 fl oz a month
- 3 pint reservoir, topped up every few months
- Mounts beside the brine well in a standard salt tank
Clear tubing
Res-Up Feeder S6305
1.00fl oz / day
Two and a half times the daily feed, for high iron or a larger bed.
Clear tubing marks the 30 cc daily delivery. Reach for it when a cubic foot of resin regenerates only once or twice in two weeks, or when the water carries enough iron that the lower rate cannot keep ahead of it.
- Also sold as WF10N and RU-F30
- 30 cc a day, around 30 fl oz a month
- 3 pint reservoir, topped up every few weeks
- Same reservoir and bracket as the S6304
| Specification | S6304 (yellow) | S6305 (clear) |
|---|---|---|
| Model number | S6304 | S6305 |
| Also listed as | WF05N, RU-F12 | WF10N, RU-F30 |
| Feed tubing | Yellow | Clear |
| Reservoir | 3 pints | 3 pints |
| Average delivery | 0.40 fl oz (12 cc) per day | 1.00 fl oz (30 cc) per day |
| Cleaner per 30 days | About 12 fl oz | About 30 fl oz |
Both models use the same three pint reservoir and the same bracket. Once a feeder is sitting in the tank, tubing color is the only thing that identifies it, which is worth a look before ordering a replacement.
How the Feeder Works Without Power
Cleaner sits in the reservoir mounted inside the brine tank. A primed wick and a length of tubing carry it toward the brine well at a controlled rate, and the softener pulls it in along with the brine during regeneration. Nothing pushes the liquid. The feed depends on the tube outlet sitting lower than the bottom of the reservoir.
That leaves nothing to program and no battery to change. Older Clack literature calls this a programmed feeder, which meant matching the feed arrangement to resin volume, contamination and regeneration frequency, not typing settings into a controller.
It also means a yellow feeder and a clear feeder are not interchangeable. Both bolt into the same place and hold the same three pints. One delivers two and a half times what the other does.
Which Feed Rate Fits Your Softener
Feeder choice depends on resin volume and iron loading, then on how often the valve actually regenerates. The application chart pairs bed size and contamination level against the number of regenerations in a 12 day period.
| Resin bed | Conditions | 1 / 12 days | 2 / 12 days | 3 / 12 days | 4 / 12 days | 5 / 12 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2 cu. ft. | Light | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 1/2 cu. ft. | Medium | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 1/2 cu. ft. | Heavy | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 3/4 cu. ft. | Light | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 3/4 cu. ft. | Medium | Clear | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 3/4 cu. ft. | Heavy | Clear | Clear | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 1 cu. ft. | Light | Clear | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 1 cu. ft. | Medium | Clear | Clear | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| 1 cu. ft. | Heavy | Clear | Clear | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
Modern softeners regenerate on measured water use rather than a fixed 12 day clock, so read the columns as regeneration frequency instead of a calendar. The principle survives the change in terminology. A longer gap between regenerations means more cleaner has to accumulate to make each one count.
Above one cubic foot of resin, or on a bed that is already badly fouled, size the feeder from the softener specification and a water analysis rather than from tank dimensions.
Res-Up Feeder Reviews
Funky design but fairly easy to install and as long as the wick works, it should last a long time.
MadMax
Easy to install and works as intended.
Mary Maker
Been in the water treatment business for years and use this device for years love it recommend it to anybody has a water
Bret & Krystal Procise
I never in 35-40 years had the need to “clean” the resin and on a constant basis with Res-up automatic feeder Removal of Iron buildup on my conditioner as much as 2parts per million
Amazon Customer
Fill it and forget about it. Helps your softener preform to its fullest potential.
Jordy
Works well, good quality, easy to install.
Carol Ralph
Installing a Res-Up Feeder
Mount the bracket beside the brine well
Lift the salt tank lid and set the feeder next to the brine well. Two 1/4 inch holes go through the tank wall below the rim, and a 5/8 inch opening goes through the brine well cap for the feed tube.
Prime the wick before anything else
Fill the reservoir with plain water, enough to cover the wick and the filter stone tube, and leave it to soak for at least 15 minutes. Pour the water out afterward and stand the stone upright at the bottom of its well. A dry wick will not start feeding.
Run the tube into the brine well
Pass the free end of the tubing through the hole in the brine well cap. Its outlet has to sit below the bottom of the reservoir, because that drop is what moves the liquid.
Fill to the marked line
Add Res-Up or ResCare cleaner up to the fill line molded into the side of the reservoir, then close it. Going past the line does not raise the feed rate.
Leave it a few hours
Automatic feeding starts within several hours of filling. Nothing gets switched on, and nothing needs checking again until the level drops.
Installation means drilling
Both mounting holes and the tube opening are permanent. Check the layout under the lid before the drill comes out, particularly on cabinet style softeners where the brine well sits close to the valve and clearance above the salt is tight.
Refilling and How Much Cleaner It Uses
At its nominal rate an S6304 works through roughly 12 fl oz of cleaner in 30 days, and an S6305 gets through roughly 30 fl oz in the same period. Both figures come off the published feed rate. Neither is a refill date.
Nothing warns you when the reservoir runs low. Checking the level whenever you check the salt is the habit that works, since both live under the same lid.
Fill to the line rather than past it. A feeder that has run completely dry, or one fitted with a new wick, needs priming with water again before automatic delivery resumes.
Temperature and installation both affect a passive wick, so real consumption drifts either side of the published figure. Look in the tank instead of counting days.
Res-Up, ResCare and What Goes in the Reservoir
The feeder meters. The cleaner does the actual work.
Res-Up is an acidic resin cleaner, 10 to 30 percent phosphoric acid, with a pH below 1. Drawn into the softener during regeneration, it loosens iron and other deposits off the resin beads and helps clear buildup from the internal surfaces that handle brine.
ResCare liquid cleaner runs in the same feeder. Its own feeders come in roughly half an ounce and one ounce per day versions, with the higher rate intended for high iron water, which is the same split the two Res-Up rates use.
Household acids and improvised mixtures do not belong in the reservoir. A matching feed rate says nothing about how a chemical behaves against softener resin, valve seals or the feeder materials. Res-Up should also not be used with Gel Zeolite.
Handling the cleaner
Res-Up is corrosive and causes burns. Dangerous fumes form if it is mixed with other products, so it goes nowhere near bleach or any other tank additive. Wear gloves and goggles or a face shield when refilling, stay out of the mist, and wash up afterward.
Keep it in the original labeled container, away from food, alkaline products and aluminum. It attacks metals. Never decant it into a drink bottle or any unmarked container.
Iron, Well Water and What Cleaning Cannot Fix
Why resin fouls
A softener trades hardness onto thousands of resin beads, then strips it back off with concentrated brine. Iron behaves differently. It settles around the beads and inside their microscopic pores, and brine does not reach far enough in to carry all of it back out.
What stays behind cuts into the exchange capacity the softener actually has available, and leaves deposits on the parts that handle the regeneration solution.
Signs a bed is fouling
Hardness comes back sooner than it used to between regenerations. Iron starts appearing in water the softener used to handle. Salt use climbs without the treated water getting any better.
None of that proves fouling on its own, and reduced flow in particular has plenty of other causes. Confirm the valve completes its cycle and that brine is genuinely leaving the salt tank first. A blocked injector looks a lot like a fouled bed.
What it does not replace
Salt, for a start. The softener still needs its normal regeneration salt. Correct brine draw, valve programming and drain flow sit outside anything a cleaner can influence.
Cleaner also cannot revive resin that has oxidized, fractured or reached the end of its life. Where iron runs high or iron bacteria are present, treatment ahead of the softener does the job instead. If staining returns quickly despite correct feeder use, test the raw water rather than raising the dose.
Built by Clack Corporation
Clack began in 1944, when Bill Clack and his father Willis opened a small water softener exchange business in Madison, Wisconsin. The company moved from servicing local water treatment into manufacturing and distributing components for the wider industry, and now supplies residential, commercial and industrial systems from Windsor, Wisconsin.
The feeder reflects that background. No electronics, no dosing assembly to fail, and a design built around a chemical you replace rather than hardware you service. The Windsor address is printed on the side of every reservoir.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Res-Up Feeder is an automatic liquid resin-cleaner dispenser installed inside a water softener’s brine tank. It meters Res-Up or ResCare cleaner into the brine well so the solution is available during regeneration. The system uses a passive wick and tube rather than electricity, batteries, or an electronic pump.
Res-Up Cleaner helps remove iron and other deposits that can build up on ion-exchange resin and internal softener components. Salt regeneration restores the resin’s hardness-removal capacity, but brine alone may not completely remove iron fouling. Regular cleaning helps preserve usable resin capacity and maintain normal softener performance.
The main difference is feed rate. The S6304, also listed as WF05N or RU-F12, uses yellow tubing and delivers approximately 0.40 fl oz (12 cc) per day. The S6305, also listed as WF10N or RU-F30, uses clear tubing and delivers approximately 1.00 fl oz (30 cc) per day.
The correct feeder depends on resin-bed size, iron loading and regeneration frequency. The 0.40 oz/day S6304 suits many standard residential applications. The 1.00 oz/day S6305 provides 2.5 times the average daily feed and is used where water contains more iron, the resin bed is larger, or regeneration happens less frequently.
Yes. This style of automatic feeder is commonly used with either Res-Up or ResCare liquid resin cleaner. Use only a cleaner intended for water-softener resin and follow the chemical manufacturer’s current instructions rather than substituting household acids or other improvised solutions.
No. The feeder supplements normal regeneration and does not replace salt. The softener still requires its normal regeneration brine. Res-Up or ResCare cleaner is added to help remove deposits that ordinary salt regeneration may leave behind.
Cleaner is stored in a small reservoir mounted inside the brine tank. A primed wick and tube move the liquid toward the brine well at a controlled rate. Because the system works passively, there is no motor, timer, electrical connection, or battery to maintain.
The feeder mounts inside the water softener’s brine tank next to the brine well. The reservoir remains separate from the bulk salt, and the feed tube enters the brine well so cleaner can be introduced into the regeneration solution. Installation normally requires mounting the bracket and making an opening for the feed tube.
Refill frequency depends primarily on the feeder model. At its nominal rate, the S6304 uses about 12 fl oz of cleaner over 30 days. The S6305 uses about 30 fl oz over the same period. Actual consumption can vary, so the cleaner level should be checked whenever the salt tank is inspected rather than relying on a fixed calendar date.
It can help clean iron and other removable deposits from resin that is still physically serviceable. A heavily fouled bed may need an initial direct treatment before the automatic feeder is used for ongoing maintenance. Cleaner cannot repair resin that has degraded, oxidized, fractured, or reached the end of its service life.
It is particularly useful where a softener treats groundwater containing dissolved iron. Iron can gradually foul conventional ion-exchange resin even when the softener continues to regenerate normally. The feeder helps control this buildup, but it does not replace a dedicated iron-removal system when iron levels or other water conditions exceed the softener’s capabilities.
No. Resin cleaner cannot correct a blocked injector, failed brine draw, incorrect valve programming, restricted drain line, or another mechanical problem. If the softener is not completing its regeneration cycle properly, that fault should be diagnosed separately.
Res-Up is a concentrated acidic cleaner and requires appropriate handling. Avoid skin and eye contact, wear suitable protective gloves and eye protection during refilling, and follow the current product label and Safety Data Sheet. The cleaner should remain in a properly labeled container and be kept away from incompatible materials.
The original Res-Up Feeder is manufactured by Clack Corporation, a U.S. water-treatment manufacturer based in Wisconsin. Clack traces its history to 1944 and produces components used in residential, commercial and industrial water-treatment systems.
The feeder is designed as a reusable maintenance component rather than a single-use treatment. Service life depends on installation conditions and the condition of the tubing, wick and reservoir. Keeping the assembly clean, maintaining the correct cleaner level and replacing worn feed components when necessary allows the feeder to remain part of the softener’s regular maintenance system for years.
Keep the Resin Clean
Iron keeps arriving whether or not the softener is keeping up with it. A feeder folds resin cleaning into the regeneration the valve already runs, which beats measuring a dose into the brine well every cycle.
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