Kenmore 625.34847 Owner's Manual page 11

2B. SOFT WATER SERVICE AND REGENERATION
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SERVICE
When the softener is giving you soft water, it is
called "Service". During service, hard water flows
through the house main water pipe and into the
softener Inside of the softener resin tank is a bed
made up of thousands of tiny, plastic resin beads
(FIG. 4) 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 regeneration or
recharge_ Regeneration is started at 2:00 a.m. by
the electronic timer (see page 13). It takes place in
5 stages or cycles. These are:
[] FILL [] BACKWASH
r_ BRINING [_ FAST RINSE
[] BRINE RINSE
WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN SERVICE
Hard Water
IN
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 ill! 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
_WATER FLOW THROUGH THE
SOFTENER IN FILL
Hard Water
IN
Soil Water ,h
Filt Water,.. :i _!:;- !
Salt
_- Storage Tank
(salt not shown)
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