GE PNSF39Z01 Owner's Manual page 7

About the water softening system.
Service
Soft water
OUT
Salt storage
tank (salt
not shown)
Brine
valve
Automatic Hard Water Bypass During Regeneration
Fill
Soft water
OUT
Salt storage
tank
Brine
valve
Fill water
When the water softening system is providing soft
Hard water
IN water, it is called "Service." During service, hard
water flows from the house main water pipe into the
water softening system. Inside the water softening
Resin
system resin tank is a bed made up of thousands of
tank
tiny, plastic resin beads. As hard water passes
Resin
through the bed, each bead attracts and holds the
bed
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 from the water softening system and to the
house pipes.
After a period of 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 AM
(factory setting) by the water softening system timer,
and consists of five stages or cycles. These are FILL,
BRINING, BRINE RINSE, BACKWASH and FAST RINSE .
For emergency needs, hard water is available to the
home during the regeneration cycles. However, you
should avoid using HOT water because the water heater
will fill with the hard water.
Salt dissolved in water is called brine. Brine is needed
Hard water
to clean the hardness minerals from the resin beads.
IN
To make the brine, water flows into the salt storage
area during the fill stage as shown.
7