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HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS
SECTION 2
13
2B. SOFT WATER SERVICE AND REGENERATION
SERVICE
When thesoftener 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 abed made up ofthousands
of tiny, plastic resin beads (FIG. 4). As hard water
passes through the bed, each bead attracts and holds
the hardness minerals. This is calledion-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 periodof time, the resin beads become coated
with hardness minerals and they have to be cleaned.
This cleaning is called regeneration or recharge.
Regeneration is started at 2:00 a.m. by the electronic
timer (see page15). It takes placein 5stages orcycles.
These are:
FILL
BRINING
BRINE RINSE
BACKWASH
FAST RINSE
1
2
3
4
5
NOTE:
If the Clean feature is set to ON, additional backwash
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 area during the fill stage as shown in
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 more brine is made. The greater amount
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