Soft Water Service And Regeneration - Kenmore 625.348321 Owner's Manual

SECTION 2
2B.
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
1
BRINING
2
BRINE RINSE
3
FIG. 7
WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN SERVICE
soft water
salt storage
tank (salt
not shown)
brine valve

SOFT WATER SERVICE AND REGENERATION

BACKWASH
4
5 FAST RINSE
hard water
OUT IN
resin tank
resin bed
HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER WORKS
REGENERATION
FILL: Salt, dissolved in water, is called brine.
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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
provide softening capacity for an average family.
You can reset this time when "fine-tuning" the
water softener, pages 18 through 20.
FIG. 8
WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN FILL
salt storage
tank
brine valve
11
soft water hard water
OUT IN
fill water