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HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS
SECTION 2
11
2B. SOFT WATER SERVICE AND REGENERATION
SERVICE
When the softener is giving you soft water, it is
called “Service”. During service, hard water
comes from the house main water pipe into the
softener. Inside the softener resin tank is a bed
made up of thousands of tiny, plastic resin beads
(FIG. 7). As hard water passes through the bed,
each bead attracts and holds the hardness
minerals. This is called ion-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.
After a period of time, the resin beads become
coated with hardness minerals and they have to
be cleaned. This cleaning is called recharge, or
regeneration.
Regeneration is started at about 2:00 a.m. (facto-
ry setting) by the timer. It takes place in 5 stages
or cycles. These are:
FILL
BRINING
BRINE RINSE
BACKWASH
FAST RINSE
1
2
3
4
5
FIG. 7 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, soft
water flows into the salt storage area during the
fill cycle as shown in FIG. 8.
The length of the fill cycle is factory set to
providesofteningcapacity for an averagefamily.
You can reset this time when “fine-tuning” the
water softener, pages 18 through 20.
FIG. 8 WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN FILL
hard water
IN
soft water
OUT
brine valve
salt storage
tank
fill water