HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS
SECTION 2
13
2B. SOFT WATER SERVICE AND REGENERATION
SERVICE
Whenthesofteneris givingyousoftwater,itiscalled
“Service”. During service, hard water comes from
the house main water pipe into the softener. Inside
thesoftenerresintankis abedmadeupofthousands
of tiny, plastic resin beads (FIG. 4). As hard water
passes throughthebed,eachbeadattracts andholds
thehardnessminerals.Thisiscalledion-exchanging.
It is much like a magnet attracting and holding
metals. Water without the hardness minerals (soft
water) flows out of the softener and into the house
soft water pipes.
Afteraperiodof time,theresinbeads becomecoated
with hardness minerals andtheyhave to becleaned.
This cleaning is called regeneration or recharge.
Regeneration is started at 2:00 a.m. by the electronic
timer(seepage15).Ittakesplacein5stagesorcycles.
These are:
FILL
BRINING
BRINE RINSE
BACKWASH
FAST RINSE
1
2
3
4
5
NOTE:
If theClean featureis set toON, additionalbackwash
and fast rinse cycles occur before the fill cycle.
FIG. 4 WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN SERVICE
hard water
IN
soft water
OUT
resin tank
brine valve
salt storage
tank (salt
not shown)
resin bed
REGENERATION
¡ FILL: Salt, dissolved in water, is called brine.
Brine is needed to clean the hardness minerals from
the resin beads. To make the brine, water flows into
the salt storage areaduring thefillstageas shownin
FIG. 5. Fill cycle length depends on how much soft
water making capacity you have used since the last
regeneration. As you use more water, fill time
increases so morebrineis made.Thegreateramount
of brine cleans more hardness minerals from the
resin bed.
FIG. 5 WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN FILL
hard water
IN
soft water
OUT
brine valve
salt storage
tank
fill water
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