Water Softening And Reactivation - Miele Dishwasher Care And Maintenance

Both paths flow past each other separated by two thin stainless-steel foils,
which act as condensation surfaces.
The steam condenser in the machine side wall has cool ambient air passed
over it which speeds up the cooling of the moist warm air from the cabinet.
This has the advantage that even with connection to a hot water supply, the
drying performance is not impaired.

4.5 Water softening and reactivation

Calcareous deposits in the cabinet and on the load, stained glasses and
generally poor cleaning results would be the result of using a dishwasher
without softened water. Therefore, every modern dishwasher has a water
softener with special amber-colored grains of artificial resin. This resin (if the
softener is activated and regularly filled with reactivation salt) is loaded with
sodium ions. When hard water flows through the softener, calcium and
magnesium ions in it are retained and exchanged for sodium ions and
hence a supply of soft water for the wash program is gained. In this way the
hardness-creating calcium and magnesium bicarbonates are replaced by
sodium carbonate.
Depending on the on-site water hardness and the quantity of water passed
through the water softener, the ion exchanger resin sodium ion content is
exhausted more or less rapidly. As soon as all usable sodium ions have
been replaced by calcium and magnesium ions, the ion exchanger can no
longer supply any soft water. For this reason a concentrated sodium
chloride solution (reactivation salt dissolved in water) must regularly be
passed into the softener. This process is known as reactivation. The calcium
and magnesium ions in the softener resin are then again replaced by
sodium ions. Following this, the released calcium and magnesium ions are
flushed out with the excess brine no longer required for the ion exchange
process.
Warning!
Only special reactivation salt may be used when reactivating the water
softener. Other types such as table salt, cattle salt or rock salt must not be
used as they may contain insoluble matter, which could affect correct
operation of the softener.
For further information regarding reactivation salt, see 2.3 Reactivation salt.
Note
With widely varying water hardness levels (e.g. 8 – 17 gr/gal), the highest
value must always be set (here 17 gr/gal).
Technical Information
31