[i:ii:ii:ii:_i: i :ii:_I SECTION
2 I_i:ii:ii:ii:_i:i:ii:_]
HOW YOUR WATER SOFTENER
WORKS
B. 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. 5). As
hard
water
passes
through
the bed,
each
bead
at-
tracts
and
holds
the
hardness
minerals.
This
is
called
ion-exchanging.
It is much
like a magnet
at-
tracting
and
holding
metals.
Water
without
the
hardness
minerals
(soft water)
flows out of the soft-
ener and into the house
soft water
pipes.After
a pe-
riod of time, the resin beads
hold all of the hardness
minerals
they
can, and
cleaning
with
salt brine
is
needed.
This cleaning
is called
regeneration
or re-
charge.
Regeneration
is started
at 2:00 a.m.
by the
electronic
timer
(see page
2-6).
It takes
place
in 5
stages
or cycles.
These
are:
[]
FILL
[]
BACKWASH
[]
BRINING
[]
FAST RINSE
[]
BRINE RINSE
Note:
If the Clean feature
is set to ON, additional
back-
wash
and fast rinse cycles
occur before
the fill cycle.
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. 6. 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.
Water
Flow
Through
the Softener
in Fill
soft water
hard water
OUT
IN
salt storage
tank
brine valve
\
Water
Flow Through
the Softener
in Service
soft water
hard water
OUT
IN
salt storage
tank (salt
not shown) _'_
brine valve
\
resin tank
resin bed
fill water
2-4